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Since vital records in South Carolina are largely a 20th-century phenomenon, the publication of any source containing records of births, marriages, and deaths prior to that time is important. The Prince George Winyah registers are even more important because of the loss of records in Georgetown District for the antebellum period.

Prince George Winyah Parish was formed in 1721, and its bounds were defined to be "to the South-West on Santee River and to the North-East on Cape Fear River, to the Eastward on the Ocean and to the Westward as far as it shall be inhabited by his majesty's subjects." Though they do not commence until 100 years after the parish's inception, the registers for Prince George Winyah are densely packed with birth, baptismal, marriage, and death records for the period. The first extant parish register for Prince George begins in 1815 and ends in 1916; the second register spans the period 1916-1936. In transcribing the registers, Mr. Holcomb has followed the form of the original as closely as possible, preserving all genealogical content of any value. For the most part, the records are arranged in chronological order by record type. In the case of baptisms, for instance, we are given the name of the child and parents, date of birth, year of baptism, and officiating minister. Marriages indicate the names of the bride and groom, date and place of the wedding, the ages of the wedding party (in the case of 20th-century weddings), sometimes the couple's race, and the name of the minister. Death records indicate the name of the deceased, age at death, sometimes the burial place or cause of death, and the date. Still other data extracted from the registers include lists of confirmations, communicants, and departures with dates. In all, more than 3,000 persons are identified in the volume, every one of them readily accessible from the full-name index at the back.