Research In State Church Records

Church records rank among the most promising of genealogical records available. Indeed, for periods before the advent of civil registration of vital statistics (a very late development in many American states), church records rank as the best available sources for information on specific vital events: birth, marriage, and death.

They are also among the most under-used major records in American genealogy. Part of the reason lies in the number of denominations—there are hundreds of them. Identifying and locating the records of these various churches makes even professional genealogists hesitate. Yet the task is not impossible. Microfilming, photocopying, and indexing techniques make church records more accessible now than ever before.

Church records vary a great deal in content and emphasis according to the basic theology and social role of each denomination. However, a useful distinction is the difference between “state” churches and so-called “free” churches. State, or “established,” churches in Europe considered every Christian in the state or kingdom to be a member. Free, or “gathered,” churches emphatically rejected this inclusive view of belonging from birth. Rather, only those who had been “born again” in Christ could be considered true members of his church. The sign of this rebirth in Christ was another baptism (adult baptism) that took precedence over the person’s baptism as an infant. For this practice they were called Anabaptists—from the Latin for “rebaptizers.” The descendants of the Anabaptists include Mennonites, Hutterites, many smaller groups associated with the Pennsylvania Germans, and their British cousins, the Baptists, who form the dominant religion in much of America today.

Because Anabaptists saw the most important event in a person’s life as his or her rebirth in Christ, not his or her physical birth, their records reflect the difference. Baptist records contain much valuable historical information about the activities of adult members, but they do not always deliver accurate birth information. In contrast, Lutherans meticulously recorded infant births and subsequent parish baptisms.

Of course, theology is not the only factor that has determined the types of records kept. In Scandinavia and many German states, the Lutheran church was the established church. Thus, the pastor was a quasi-public official who was the official recorder of births, deaths, and marriages. Similarly, in England, a 1538 Act of Parliament required all ministers of the Church of England to record baptisms, marriages, and burials in their parishes. In 1597, another parliamentary act reinforced the original law, requiring that duplicates of parish records be sent annually to the bishop of the pertinent diocese, initiating the valuable “bishops’ transcripts.”

In Scotland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and certain German states where Calvinism became the established faith, pastors were also official record keepers. Not all German Protestants were Lutherans. In many German states, most notably in Prussia, the state church combined Lutheran and Calvinist elements, resulting in long-range consequences when German immigrants organized churches in the New World.

In areas of Europe where Roman Catholicism was the established faith, parish priests were the official recorders of baptisms, marriages, and burials. They were accountable to more than local parliaments, however. In 1563, the church’s Council of Trent issued a decree requiring proof of baptism before marriage. Subsequent decrees reinforced this edict, notably that of Pope Paul V in 1614, which made parish registers obligatory.

Church record-keeping transcended national and religious boundaries. It was a manifestation of a stage of European civilization that emphasized rationality and bureaucracy. Human memory and oral tradition no longer sufficed. The written record prevailed.

This background is relevant to discussion of American church records because habits, attitudes, and ecclesiastical edicts crossed oceans with the emigrants. The various immigrant churches, including those that developed in Plymouth Colony in the 1620s, reflected European philosophy and practices. In fact, most of the American colonies promptly established state churches. In New England, the Congregational Church generally held preferred status. In the southern colonies (Virginia, Georgia, and South Carolina), the Church of England (Protestant Episcopal) became the established church, as it was in Maryland for a time, even though that colony was originally founded as a haven for Roman Catholics. As long as the Dutch controlled New Netherland (now New York), the Dutch Reformed Church served as the established church.

Some of these established churches functioned on a state level until well after the American Revolution, but the variety of immigrant groups and religious preferences ultimately defeated all attempts to impose religious uniformity. The Founding Fathers recognized this fact, totally separating church and state nationally when they drew up the Constitution. The wisdom of this decision was verified by the Great Awakening of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, which shook established churches to the core and guaranteed that American religious life would be fundamentally different from that of the Old World.

The United States possesses a tremendous, sometimes bewildering, variety of religious groups that have widely differing record-keeping practices. Nevertheless, certain basic types of records found at the parish, or local, level can be identified.

Suggestions For Research

 

Effective use of church records requires following some basic rules of genealogical research and knowing the particular hazards associated with church records. Be sure to search other available records from the locality. If the church death registers are missing, try the county probate records. Note the names of witnesses at weddings and baptisms and look for your direct ancestors as witnesses; very important family relationships can be discovered in this manner. If the congregation is of a particular ethnic group, note the birthplaces of other members as listed in the marriage or death records. Even if your ancestor’s place of origin is not given, he or she may have come from the same town or area.

In frontier communities, people often attended whatever church or circuit-riding services existed, regardless of affiliation. Thus, a Methodist family may have attended a Baptist church at one time.

Knowing the particular doctrines and discipline of a denomination helps in using the record. If a church did not practice infant baptism, you need to know this or you could make serious errors in calculating birth dates.

Some churches have devised standard forms to reply to requests for information from their records. Some of these date from the 1930s, when the primary object was to verify a person’s age. Often, therefore, they do not contain all the information found in the original record. Hence, you should request all the information in the pertinent entry. If you are interested in finding an ancestor’s place of birth in Europe, indicate so.

Be aware of some of the inherent limitations of church records. Even in churches which practiced infant baptism, a significant amount of time might elapse between the date of a child’s birth and baptism. Be wary when it appears that entries have been made some time after the rite occurred. Errors often creep in when this happens.

Particularly problematical are typewritten or printed transcriptions of church records, especially if they have been translated from another language. In spite of the best efforts of the translator or transcriber, mistakes occur. Quite often, transcriptions do not include all of the data in the original entry. The names of baptismal sponsors or occupations may be omitted, for example. Sometimes alphabetized information may conceal important clues, such as children baptized in the same family or a brother and sister marrying the same day. Therefore, make every effort to locate the original record or, at least, a microfilm copy. Do not let a foreign language deter you. With common sense and a dual-language dictionary you may be able to decipher it. If not, find someone who can. The results may be worth the extra effort.

If the original record is still in the custody of the church, obtaining permission to see it may pose a problem. In several years of genealogical research, I have encountered this situation only once. A Lutheran pastor in Wisconsin felt that his congregational records were too fragile for public use and insisted that he check the records himself, while I watched. His concern was legitimate, as the records clearly needed rebinding. Depending upon the situation, you may suggest that the records could be microfilmed for safekeeping. One genealogist of my acquaintance brought some nineteenth-century church records from Ohio to Salt Lake City to be microfilmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah, the originals then being returned to the owner. Several states also have microfilming programs.

Traditionally, Catholic records have been kept at the parish level, so the vast majority of sacramental records (baptism, marriage, communion, confirmation, burial, and other original records) will be found in the church in which the event took place. However, older records and those of closed parishes have often been moved (usually by order of the diocese) to diocesan archives, or occasionally to historical societies or university archives. Locating records of older churches can be challenging. When a family is known to have lived in a particular county or in a specific neighborhood in a city, yet the parish is unknown or has been closed, local diocesan sources can at least provide information on where those records can be found. Virginia Humling, U.S. Catholic Sources: A Diocesan Research Guide (Salt Lake City: Ancestry, 1995) provides information on the more than one hundred archdioceses and dioceses in the United States, together with a description of the area encompassed by the archdiocese or dioceses, and addresses, telephone numbers, historical information, fees (if applicable), addresses, and other information on how to obtain newspapers for each archdiocese or diocese.

The press of pastoral duties has forced many priests to delegate the responsibility for answering genealogical inquiries to the parish secretary or a parish volunteer. An increasing number of Catholic diocesan archives—that of Newark, for example—have permitted the Genealogical Society of Utah to microfilm their older records. Hence, a check of the Family History Library Catalog for the locality in question is highly recommended.

When you request data from local church records, do not expect the pastor or the parish secretary to do your genealogical research for you. If your initial inquiry proves unsuccessful, visit the church yourself or hire a local genealogist. Sometimes a church officer can suggest a member of the congregation who is proficient in genealogical research. Include a check as well as a self-addressed, stamped envelope with your initial request. Five to ten dollars is a reasonable minimum; send a larger amount if your request covers more than an entry or two. Some churches will return your check. Most churches are very cooperative, certainly in answering the first inquiry.