Spartanburg Death Records Database
Spartanburg is the county seat of Spartanburg County and one of the largest cities in the South Carolina Upstate region. Death records for Spartanburg residents are maintained at the state and county level, with several pathways available depending on the age of the record and the purpose of the request. This guide covers how to obtain certified Spartanburg death certificates, what role the county coroner plays, which online tools support records searches, and where to find the rare pre-1915 death registers held locally. Researchers working on family history will find Spartanburg County particularly well-documented for the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Spartanburg Quick Facts
Spartanburg Death Certificates and Ordering Options
Certified death certificates for Spartanburg residents are issued by the South Carolina Department of Public Health. The main state vital records office is at 2600 Bull Street, Columbia, SC 29201, phone (803) 898-3630, with full details at dph.sc.gov/public/vital-records/death-certificates. Statewide registration has been required since January 1, 1915. Every Spartanburg death from that date forward is on file with the state.
A regional DPH office serves Spartanburg County at 151 E. Wood Street, Spartanburg, SC 29303, phone (864) 585-1816. This location accepts in-person requests and can process same-day orders. You will need a valid government-issued photo ID. If you are requesting a record on behalf of a deceased family member, bring documentation showing your qualifying relationship to the decedent. Under Section 44-63-84, only immediate family members can receive certified copies of deaths within the last 50 years.
Mail requests to the state office cost $12 and take about four weeks to process. Online orders through VitalChek cost $17 and arrive in five to seven business days. GoCertificates also processes online orders at $17. Each additional certified copy on the same order is $3. The City of Spartanburg website at cityofspartanburg.org and Spartanburg County at spartanburgcounty.org provide information about local government services but do not issue death certificates.
Spartanburg County Coroner Records
The Spartanburg County Coroner is Rusty Clevenger. The office is at 8100 Fairforest Road, Spartanburg, SC 29303, phone (864) 596-2603. The coroner investigates deaths that are violent, sudden, suspicious, or occur without medical attendance. When the coroner determines the cause and manner of death, that finding is incorporated into the official death certificate filed with the state vital records system.
The image below is sourced from Spartanburg County's official website and shows the county's regional vital records services used to process Spartanburg death certificate requests.
Autopsy reports and full coroner case files are separate documents and are not part of the standard death certificate. Immediate family members and authorized legal representatives may request these files directly from the Spartanburg County Coroner's Office. Coroner files can be important for insurance claims and estate proceedings when the cause or manner of death is a factor. All deaths within the city of Spartanburg fall under the county coroner's jurisdiction.
Note: Coroner records may contain medical and investigative information not found on the standard death certificate, and they must be requested separately from the coroner rather than through the state DPH.
Searching Spartanburg Death Records Online
The Spartanburg County Public Index at publicindex.sccourts.org/spartanburg provides access to court and probate filings that often contain death information. Probate records list the decedent's name, date of death, and beneficiaries, making them a useful supplement to official vital records. scprobate.net extends that search across all 46 South Carolina counties and can help when a family member died in a different county.
FamilySearch offers free access to South Carolina death collections and has indexed many Spartanburg County records from 1915 through the 1960s. The South Carolina Department of Archives and History at scdah.sc.gov, phone (803) 896-6100, maintains a searchable death index from 1915 to 1960. This index is a practical starting point for genealogical research before pulling original microfilm.
The CDC guide at cdc.gov/nchs/w2w/south_carolina.htm outlines South Carolina's vital records system and is a helpful orientation for new researchers. It explains which offices hold records for each period and how to order documents from each source.
Note: Searching both FamilySearch and the SC Archives death index for the same name is worthwhile because they draw from different sources and sometimes cover different years.
Historical Spartanburg Death Records at the Kennedy Room
Spartanburg County holds one of the more complete pre-1915 death record collections in the Upstate region. A Register of Deaths for 1895 through 1897, and again for 1903 through 1915, survives in the Kennedy Room at Spartanburg County Public Libraries. This collection predates the statewide registration mandate and gives researchers access to Spartanburg deaths from the final years of the nineteenth century through the early twentieth century. The Kennedy Room is located at Spartanburg County Public Libraries, 151 S. Church Street, Spartanburg, SC 29306, phone (864) 596-3500, website spartanburglibraries.org. It is open to the public and staffed by librarians experienced with local history research.
The photograph below comes from Spartanburg County Public Libraries and shows the Kennedy Room where the pre-1915 Spartanburg death records are housed and available for research.
For deaths from 1915 through 1963, the SC Department of Archives and History holds microfilm copies of Spartanburg County death certificates. These can be viewed in person at the Archives in Columbia or through FamilySearch's online collections. Church registers and newspaper obituaries from Spartanburg-area papers supplement the official record, especially for the periods between the two pre-state registers (1898 through 1902). The Spartanburg County Public Libraries hold local newspaper archives that can help fill those gaps.
South Carolina moved to electronic death filing in 2022. Earlier Spartanburg deaths were registered on paper forms and later added to the state's digital system. The transition has sped up processing for recent deaths, but researchers looking at records from the mid-twentieth century will still work with digitized versions of original paper documents.
Spartanburg Vital Records Law and Access Rules
South Carolina's vital records statutes at Title 44, Chapter 63 govern how all Spartanburg death records are filed and accessed. Section 44-63-74 requires that the attending physician, or the coroner when no physician was present, file the death certificate within five days. This rule applies to every death in Spartanburg, and the state DPH enforces it through penalties for late filings. The full statute is at scstatehouse.gov/code/t44c063.php.
Section 44-63-84 restricts certified copies of deaths from the last 50 years to immediate family and legal representatives. Qualifying relationships include spouse, parent, child, sibling, and grandparent. After 50 years, the record is open to anyone without restriction. People who do not qualify for a certified copy can request a confirmation of death, which verifies the death occurred without providing the full record. All requests, whether by mail, online, or in person, follow the same access rules.
Spartanburg County Death Records
All death records for Spartanburg residents are maintained through the Spartanburg County and state vital records systems. The county page below provides full coverage of Spartanburg County vital records, offices, historical collections, and resources for everyone who lived or died within the county.
Nearby South Carolina Cities
These nearby Upstate South Carolina cities share similar vital records procedures and are served by the state DPH system.