Editing Sumter County, South Carolina (section)

==History==
[[Image:Thomas sumter 1352.JPG|175px|thumb|Statue of [[Thomas Sumter]] on the Sumter County Courthouse lawn in Sumter]]
Sumter County was created from [[Clarendon County, South Carolina|Clarendon]], [[Claremont County, South Carolina|Claremont]] and [[Salem County, South Carolina|Salem]] Counties as Sumter District in 1798, named after [[Thomas Sumter|General Thomas Sumter]],<ref name=FSsumterco>[https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Sumter_County,_South_Carolina_Genealogy#History Sumter County, South Carolina Genealogy], FamilySearch.org, accessed April 2020.</ref> and became effective in 1800.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/SC_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm| title=South Carolina: Individual County Chronologies| website=South Carolina Atlas of Historical County Boundaries| publisher=The Newberry Library| date=2009| access-date=March 21, 2015| archive-date=January 3, 2017| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170103154824/http://publications.newberry.org/ahcbp/documents/SC_Individual_County_Chronologies.htm| url-status=dead}}</ref> When the home of Sumter District's clerk of records burnt in 1801, the formative records of the three predecessor counties were also destroyed in the conflagration.<ref name=FSsumterco/> So documentary evidence that the three counties were within St. Mark's Parish (formed in 1757 from Prince Frederick's Parish, [[Craven County, South Carolina|Craven County]]) in Camden District (formed 1769) derives from family genealogies and legislative records.

On December 19, 1855, a legislative act was passed partitioning Sumter District by forming [[Clarendon County, South Carolina|Clarendon District]], with the same boundaries as defined for Clarendon County in 1785. When effectuated in 1857, a northeastern part of Sumter District (formerly in Salem County) was also separated in the partition (the area east of a line drawn from the northernmost point of old Clarendon County continued north-northeasterly to a point on the boundary line with [[Darlington County, South Carolina|Darlington District]] (Sumter County's northeastern cornerpoint abutting [[Florence County, South Carolina|Florence County]] since 1888).

The Sumter District gained a form of self-rule and was renamed Sumter County under the [[Constitution of South Carolina#Constitution of 1868|1868 Constitution]].<ref>[https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Sumter_District,_South_Carolina Sumter District, South Carolina]. FamilySearch.org, accessed April 2020.</ref>

In 1898, a northwestern part of Sumter County was detached to form part of the first Lee County, but its formation was declared unconstitutional in 1899. In 1902, an even larger northern part of Sumter County (more or less the remaining part of former Salem County) was properly legally detached to form the major sections of the current [[Lee County, South Carolina|Lee County]], of which some acreage reverted in 1914.

In 1921, southern Sumter County received a section from Clarendon County, of which some acreage reverted in 1922, creating the current boundaries of Sumter County.