In the spring of 1972, Dr. Eugene Sneary, professor at Furman University, taught a course in Basic Genealogy in the night school at Furman. This generated so much interest that the Greenville County Library sponsored a second course at the Library in the fall of 1972.

As a direct result of the interest indicated by those attending these courses, Gene Sneary, Morn Lindsay and Bee Bryant formed an organizational committee and sent out invitations to attend a meeting held at the Library 1 February 1973. Twenty-two interested people were present, temporary officers were selected, and a regular series of meetings was planned.

Programs for the year included: Ralph Bowers, a member, who spoke on how he had researched and published the Bowers Family History; Wylma Wates of the South Carolina Department of Archives and History spoke on records available for Archives research; Wade Campbell, a member, told of the restoration of Old Ebenezer Methodist Church in Marion County on land his great-great-grandfather had given the church; Schaeffer Kendrick, local attorney and professor at Furman, spoke on court house records; Mildred Whitmire, member of the Greenville Historical Society, spoke on research sources and her special project of compiling Greenville County cemetery inscriptions; Norma Bremer of GENEALOGY, INC., held a mini-workshop on general research sources at the Rev. Silas Lucas, rector of St. Michael’s Episcopal Church in Easley and a publisher of genealogical materials, spoke on his experiences in locating materials and on his publications. Also, two activity meetings were held, one the reading of two Greenville County tax Chapel and Double Springs—, the other a combination social hour and show-and-tell time.

As the result of efforts made by the Greenville group, the South Carolina Genealogical Society in Columbia amended its constitution to allow for state organization with chapters. The Greenville group was formally installed on 7 February 1974 as the second chapter of the South Carolina Genealogical Society by James L. Haynsworth, President. Four other state officers were present for the meeting at which Dr. Albert Sanders of Furman University spoke on the early history of Greenville.

While the low country of South Carolina had been settled for many years, Greenville County, once the stronghold of the Cherokee Indians, was not ceded until 1777. The Greenville District was created in 1786, but was known as Pleasantburg until 1831. The origins of the name Greenville County are uncertain. The county was either named for an early resident, Isaac Green or Revolutionary War general Nathanael Greene.

The first settler in present Greenville County was Richard Pearis. He married a Cherokee woman and records indicate that the Cherokee tribe thought so highly of him that he was given several tracts of land by the Cherokee Indian tribe. On part of this estate now stands the City of Greenville and Paris Mountain, it’s name a derivative of Pearis.

The city of Greenville was founded in 1770 at the site of the Reedy River Falls Park in downtown Greenville. The falls were once the source of power for early industries. The land around Greenville became a village centered around a trading post and grist mill.

Greenville evolved at the vision of Vardry McBee, whom some call the “Father of Greenville.” He was instrumental in moving Furman University to Greenville from Edgefield in 1851 and in securing Greenville’s first railroad. McBee encouraged the construction of mills to take advantage of Greenville’s proximity to fast-flowing water, the Reedy River. Soon the town was the home to a number of grist, textile and paper mills and the largest carriage factory east of the Mississippi. By the end of the 19th century and into the next, Greenville industry was expanding up and down the banks of the Reedy River.