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Tips for General Cemetery Records
Cemetery records and gravestone inscriptions are a rich source of information for family historians. Cemetery and other sources of information associated with death include:
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Alabama Baptist The Baptists form the largest denomination in Alabama. The first Baptist church was founded 2 October 1808 on Flint River near Huntsville. The Baptists are the only denomination having some form of centralized state and congregational historic records. Their records are housed in the Samford University Library, Birmingham, Alabama. Included are not only microfilmed minutes of defunct and active congregations, but also the personal papers of many churchmen and a run of the denomination's state newspaper, the Alabama Baptist (1835-present). Roman Catholic The state's oldest denomination, Roman Catholic, has records dating from the coming of Iberville's colony near Mobile in 1699. Most parish records are maintained by the local parish. Episcopal The first ordained Episcopal minister in the state was licensed in 1764 to minister to British settlers. The WPA Historical Records Survey in 1939 compiled a volume surveying the records of the Protestant Episcopal church in Alabama. The inventory contains a brief history of each parish, a statement on extant parish records, and an index by location and by parish names. Parish records are maintained by the parish. A copy of Alabama Historical Records Survey, Inventory of the Church Archives of Alabama, Protestant Episcopal Church , is at the Birmingham Public Library. Methodist Methodist missionaries were sent by the South Carolina Conference into the Tombigbee area in 1809. Today, some Methodist records for north Alabama churches are housed at Birmingham Southern College, and south Alabama church records are housed at Huntingdon College, Montgomery. Birmingham Southern College has a run of the state denominational newspaper, the Christian Advocate (1880-present). Presbyterian The first Presbyterian church was organized in 1818 at Huntsville. Historical records for active Presbyterian churches are usually maintained by the local congregation. Some records of defunct churches are held by Samford University and the Alabama Department of Archives and History." Cemetery Records - No statewide systematic or comprehensive inventory of cemeteries or bibliography of published transcriptions have been compiled. Scattered volumes have been published by various patriotic, historical, and genealogical societies. Many individual cemetery transcriptions have been published in periodicals. Alaska Many church registers have been collected by the Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics and used to compile delayed birth certificates. Some of the registers collected and microfilmed by the Bureau of Vital Statistics are: Juneau Catholic church records, Nulato Catholic church records, Anvik Episcopal church records, Fort Yukon Episcopal church records, Quaker records from Douglas and Kotzebue Friends, Lutheran church records, Kake Presbyterian baptismal records, Mekoryuk Mission Convent baptismal records, and the Kodiak baptismal newsletter. For additional details see David A. Hales, “Uncle Joe Went North! Or How to Find Your Illustrious, Illusive Alaskan Ancestors,” Genealogy Digest (June 1983). The original congregation should be written to in order to obtain a record of birth or baptism. The Russian Orthodox church, Diocese of Alaska, gave their record archives to the Library of Congress in 1927. These valuable records were in turn translated from Russian, indexed, and microfilmed. This vast collection of 401 rolls of microfilm are inventoried in the volume entitled Inventory: The Alaskan Russian Church Archives (Washington, D.C.: Manuscript Division, Library of Congress, 1984). Microfilm copies of the Russian Orthodox Church Archives are available at the National Archives/Pacific Northwest Region; the University of Alaska, Rasmuson Library, Fairbanks, Alaska; the Alaska State Library, Juneau; University of Alaska Library in Anchorage; and the FHL. An index of early Russian Orthodox parish registers is found in John Dorosh, Index to Baptisms, Marriages and Deaths in the Archives of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in Alaska, 1816-1886 (Washington, D.C.: Library of Congress, 1973). The Roman Catholic church officially arrived in the Alaska territory in 1902 through efforts of the Sisters of Providence. They were responsible for establishing hospitals in Anchorage, Fairbanks, and Nome. The Sisters of Providence Archives is located at 4800 37th Avenue, S.W., Seattle, WA 90126. This archives houses the hospital records of Providence Hospital of Anchorage (1938-present); St. Joseph Hospital in Fairbanks (1910-68), and Holy Cross Hospital in Nome (1902-14). There is no central repository for Alaskan Catholic parish registers and most are still in the custody of the local parish. There are three dioceses in Alaska: Diocese of Juneau, 416 Fifth Street, Juneau, AK 99801; Catholic Diocese of Fairbanks, 1316 Peger Road, Fairbanks, AK 99701; and the Archdiocese of Anchorage, 1026 West 4th Avenue, Room 203, Anchorage, AK 99501. Moravian church records have mainly been deposited in Bethel, Alaska. Contact Alaska Moravian Church, P.O. Box 545, Bethel, AK 99559. The records for the Moravian church at Aleknagik and Dillingham are at the Dillingham Moravian Church, P.O. Box 203, Dillingham, AK 99576. Recent church records are held by the pastor in charge of a district within the church. Presbyterian ministers arrived in Alaska during the 1870s. Mission work was conducted at Fort Wrangel and Sitka. The Presbyterian church records through 1965 are deposited at the Presbyterian Historical Society, 425 Lombard Street, Philadelphia, PA 19147. The Alaska Friends church is largely Native American. Alaska Quaker records are included in the “Alaska Quaker Documents Collection” on file at the Alaska and Polar Regions Collection at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. Cemetery Records - There is no major statewide collection or inventory of cemetery records for Alaska. One major cemetery that has been indexed is the Sitka National Cemetery. This cemetery is one of the smallest national cemeteries with over 500 graves of military personnel and their families, and dates from 1867. A listing of the burials in the Sitka National Cemetery was published in the Illinois State Genealogical Society Quarterly (Spring 1975): 17-19. Additional information on the cemetery can be obtained by writing the Superintendent, Sitka National Cemetery, P.O. Box 152, Sitka, AK 99835. Another valuable research tool for the Sitka area is Thayne I. Andersen's work, Sitka, Alaska Death and Burial Register to 1986 (Fairbanks: the author, 1987). Arizona Cemetery Records - Three volumes of books published by the Arizona Genealogical Society on cemeteries in the state are located at the Arizona State Archives. The archives also holds more than three hundred sheets of microfiche alphabetically listing people who lived in the state thirty years or more prior to their death. It is derived from an index to obituaries recorded mainly in Phoenix newspapers, but covering deaths from all over the state from 1865–1986. There is also an organized group of individuals who are actively preserving some of Phoenix's old cemeteries and making accurate records for posterity. They may be reached at the following address: Pioneers' Cemetery Association, Inc., P.O. Box 63342, Phoenix, Arizona 85082-3342. Arkansas
Cemetery Records - Local county genealogical and historical organizations have copied, cataloged, and published records of local cemeteries. Most of these are in the collection at the Arkansas History Commission; many are in the DAR Library. Most of those in the DAR collection have been microfilmed by the FHL. The Arkansas Family Historian, a publication of the Arkansas Genealogical Society, publishes transcriptions of gravestones from cemeteries as do many local and regional periodicals. No statewide index to cemetery records exists. California The Spanish missions have played a central role in California's religious history. Father Junipero Serra, a Franciscan, raised the standard to his sovereign on 2 June 1769 and began the trek that led him the length of the state of California. He founded a string of missions that would lead the state in the settlement of the vast uncharted land and the conversion of its natives. About a third of the total missions built were founded by Father Serra. Microfiche of an alphabetical list of some vital records from the missions is available at the FHL in addition to the microfilm entries below: • Mission San Diego de Alcala—San Diego Cemetery Records - Printed secondary sources of transcribed cemeteries exist for most California counties. The California State Society of the DAR has collected hundreds of such records. Transcripts are housed both at the national DAR and with some local chapters and libraries. They are also available on microfilm through the FHL and the Sutro Library in San Francisco (see Archives, Libraries, and Societies). A complete set of the DAR records (over 180 volumes) is also in the California Room of the California State Library. Included in this collection are census, newspaper, cemetery, court, Bible, and family records. Several cemeteries previously located in San Francisco were “moved” out of the city in the 1930s to South San Francisco and Coloa, for example. Colorado A few Colorado church records have been microfilmed and are available for loan through the FHL. A more detailed discussion of church records can be found in Hinckley's article “Genealogical Research in Colorado” Cemetery Records - Kay R. Merrill, ed., The Colorado Cemetery Directory (Colorado Council of Genealogical Societies, 1985) attempts to identify, locate, and publish information from every known cemetery in the state of Colorado. The book is divided by county and then by alphabetical name of the cemetery. Location, type of cemetery, history, status, and whether published records exist are included in this comprehensive publication. The Colorado National Guard maintains an incomplete military graves registration which covers military burials from 1862–1949. This index is located at the Colorado State Archives and is restricted, but information from it can be accessed through the archives. If a copy of the original or cause of death is desired, the researcher will need authorization from the Office of the Adjutant General, Colorado Department of Military Affairs, Administration, 6848 S. Revere Parkway, Englewood, Colorado 80112. There are two national cemeteries in Colorado: Fort Logan National Cemetery, 3698 S. Sheridan Boulevard, Denver, Colorado 80235, and Fort Lyon National Cemetery, VA Medical Center, Fort Lyon, Colorado 81038. Connecticut Many town churches have deposited their older records for safe keeping with the Connecticut State Library. A List of Church Records in the Connecticut State Library is available at the cost of a photocopy, which updates the library holdings. Approximately one-quarter of those records housed at the Connecticut
State Library has been indexed in a format similar to that of
the Barbour and Hale collections with individual index slips and
bound compilations of individual churches. This Church Record
Index File is state-wide, goes beyond 1850, but does not include
all church records. Even in a town with more than one Congregational
church, generally only the first is included in this index. Notably,
many church records in incorporated cities have not been indexed. Cemetery Records - Centralization is the norm for Connecticut's cemetery records. The Connecticut State Library holds the Hale Collection containing over one million gravestone inscriptions. The project to collect these began in 1916 by Charles R. Hale but was continued by act of the General Assembly and the WPA through the 1930s. While clearly many stones had been lost or destroyed by that time, over 2,000 cemeteries were located state-wide and included in the collection. Each town's inscriptions are bound in separate volumes, but an alphabetical index across towns is available. Both have been microfilmed and are available through the FHL. Cemeteries might have been church, family, town, or private ones. Only twentieth-century death records have place of burial indicated, but most administrators operating cemeteries in the state have records of their own, and many historical societies in the state have collections of town cemeteries not included in the Hale Collection. As with other states, the DAR chapter produces annual volumes of Bible, cemetery, and family records, which are deposited at the Connecticut State Library and the DAR Library in Washington, D.C. Delaware Some Delaware church records have been printed in the Delaware Genealogical Society Journal, Delaware History, and in other publications. Original and WPA-transcribed records of many Delaware churches are at the state archives and some are at the Historical Society of Delaware. At the historical society, the Kelso Collection contains a large amount of nineteenth- and twentieth-century Methodist records, mostly from rural circuits and charges, for Delaware and Maryland's eastern shore. An index to this valuable collection is in progress. Some Quaker records are at the state archives and the Historical Society of Delaware; others are at the Friends Historical Library in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Recommeded Reading
Cemetery Records - The largest central file of grave marker transcriptions and abstracts is in the Tatnell Tombstone Collection at the Delaware State Archives, compiled by the Historical Records Survey. Also at the state archives is the Hudson Collection of Sussex County tombstones, which is more thorough than the Tatnell. For Kent County see also Raymond Walter Dill and others, Souls in heaven, names in stone: Kent County, Delaware, cemetery records District of Columbia There is a WPA inventory for Episcopal records: Inventory of Church Archives in the District of Columbia: The Protestant Episcopal Church, Diocese of Washington, Vol. 1—District of Columbia, Montgomery, Prince George's, Charles, St. Mary's counties, Maryland (Washington, D.C.: Historical Records Survey, 1940); and Vol. 2—Washington Cathedral (Washington, D.C.: Historical Records Survey, n.d.). Cemetery Records - The DAR has the best collection of tombstone inscriptions for the area, including the original registers of burials in the District of Columbia cemeteries. The six-volume set covers 1847 to 1938 and is at the DAR Library in Washington, D.C. Other publications include a series compiled and published by the Columbian Harmony Society. The following are representative: Paul E. Sluby, Sr., and Stanton L. Wormley, Sr., Civil War Cemeteries of the District of Columbia Metropolitan Area; Register of Burials of the Joseph F. Birch Funeral Home (4 vols., covers the period 1847 to 1938; Mt. Zion Cemetery Washington, D.C.: A Brief History and Interments; and Selected Small Cemeteries of Washington, D.C. Florida The Episcopalians by 1845 had parishes at Apalachicola, Jacksonville, Key West, Pensacola, and Tallahassee in addition to others in several smaller towns. In 1840 Florida Presbyterian churches were divided among the Florida, Georgia, and Alabama Presbyteries. An incomplete but voluminous list of Florida churches in existence fifty years ago is the WPA volume Preliminary List of Religious Bodies in Florida. A microfiche edition is available from the Florida State Archives, and the original survey forms from which the volume was compiled are now in the state library's Florida Room. Church records are also to be had in the holdings of most libraries and archival depositories throughout the state, and denominational representatives should be consulted for repositories peculiar to their particular persuasions. Saint Augustine's Roman Catholic Cathedral Parish records beginning in 1594 are maintained by the parish's current archivist at St. Augustine Catholic Diocese, 11625 St. Augustine Rd., Jacksonville, Florida. It includes marriages, baptisms, and burials Cemetery Records - Cemetery records are held by most Florida libraries and archives. One important compiled source is the WPA Register of Deceased Veterans Buried in Florida, which covers fifty-one of the sixty-seven counties. Access to the massive amount of cemetery information scattered throughout the state is being facilitated by a continuing cemetery location project of the Florida State Genealogical Society. The information will be published, but queries on locations and published surveys may in the meantime be directed to Cemetery Survey Chairman, Florida State Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 10249, Tallahassee, FL 32302. It is important to note that this is a directory of cemeteries and published records, not of personal names GeorgiaChurch Records - Few of Georgia's major religious groups maintained records rich in genealogical information. However, their historical records provide a deeper understanding of religious life in earlier times and document someone's residence when they are listed on membership rolls. Georgia's major religious denominations include the
Other early denominations present in Georgia in fewer numbers include Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Congregationalists. While their respective repositories house historical records, the Georgia Department of Archives and History has a good collection of church records on microfilm. Consult the holdings of other major genealogical libraries with southern collections for additional sources, including the FHL. Cemetery Records - No statewide systematic or comprehensive inventory of cemeteries or bibliography of published transcriptions have been compiled. Scattered volumes have been published by various patriotic, historical, and genealogical societies. Many individual cemetery transcriptions have been published in periodicals. The Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and others have compiled and published volumes of cemetery records. DAR publications include Bible, court, and probate records in addition to cemetery inscriptions. Consult holdings of the Georgia Department of Archives and History , Daughters of the American Revolution Library (see page 6), and the FHL for major collections of published tombstone inscriptions. Other public and private libraries may have smaller collections. There is a online Cemetery database for the book 30,638 Burials in Georgia an list of 30,638 burials in the state of Georgia was copied over a 35-year period from headstones and markers in 600 cemeteries located in nearly 100 Georgia counties. Hawaii Cemetery Records - Idaho Cemetery Records - Illinois Cemetery Records - Indiana Cemetery Records - Iowa Cemetery Records - Kansas Cemetery Records - Kentucky See also Kentucky Bible Records, 6 vols., from files of the Genealogical Records Committee, Kentucky Society of Daughters of the American Revolution. Volume 4 was compiled by Malle B. Coyle and Anne W. Fitzgerald for the Kentucky Records Research Committee (Florence, Ky.: Kentucky State Society Daughters of the American Revolution, 1966). Volume 5 was compiled by Malle B. Coyle and Lorena C. Eubanks (1981). Each volume is individually indexed. Most entries include only name, date, and name and address of the owner of the Bible at the time of publication. These are available at the Kentucky Historical Society. Local genealogical groups publish Kentucky Bible records in genealogical publications such as Bluegrass Roots, and Kentucky Ancestors. Cemetery Records - Many collections of cemetery records are available for Kentucky. In 1977 the Kentucky Historical Society began computerizing extant cemetery records for the state. Cemetery tombstone transcriptions are included in the Ardery collection. The main repositories for cemetery compilations are the Kentucky Historical Society, University of Kentucky Library, Filson Club Library, DAR Library in Washington, D.C., local libraries, and the FHL. Kentucky regional libraries and some other large genealogical libraries outside the state have collections of Kentucky cemetery transcriptions. In addition, publications pertaining to Kentucky and Kentuckians frequently contain cemetery records for the state. Louisiana Cemetery Records - Maine Cemetery Records - Maryland Cemetery Records - Massachusetts Cemetery Records - Michigan Cemetery Records - Minnesota Cemetery Records - Mississippi Cemetery Records - Missouri Cemetery Records - Montana Cemetery Records - Nebraska Cemetery Records - Nevada Cemetery Records - New Hampshire Cemetery Records - New Jersey Cemetery Records - New Mexico Cemetery Records - New York Cemetery Records - North Carolina Cemetery Records - North Dakota Cemetery Records - Ohio Historical Records Survey for Ohio produced an Inventory of the Church Archives of Ohio Presbyterian Churches . Records of the Quakers in the Miami Valley and the Church of the Brethren of the Southern District of Ohio are available on microfilm through the FHL. The Western Reserve Historical Society has an extensive Shaker manuscript collection. Bluffton College in Bluffton, Ohio, has Mennonite records Cemetery Records - According to the Ohio Genealogical Society, the majority of Ohio counties have published cemetery records in one form or another. They suggest contacting local societies or one of the major genealogical libraries in the state.
Oklahoma The Chronicles of Oklahoma frequently publishes articles concerning specific churches or denominations. An example is Walter N. Vernon, “Methodist Beginnings Among Southwest Oklahoma Indians,” The Chronicles of Oklahoma 58 (1980): 392–411. Find Oklahoma Church Record Books at Amazon.com Numerous missions provided through the Presbyterian, Baptist, and Moravian churches were established to serve Native Americans. Both teachers and missionaries constituted part of the nonnative population in Indian Territory. Some records are on microfilm in the Archives and Manuscript Division of the Oklahoma Historical Society. Others are maintained by denominational archives. Records for Methodists, Catholics, and Baptists are housed in state facilities:
Cemetery Records - The Oklahoma Historical Society Library has the state copies of cemetery transcriptions completed by the state DAR, although this group of compilations is by no means comprehensive. A card file index at the library lists cemeteries in the DAR collection and some other cemeteries that have been canvased. The card index is alphabetical by name of county and indicates the cemetery. Find Oklahoma Cemetery Record Books at Amazon.com Many other cemetery records exist that are not on the card file. Published records include some for Carter, Garfield, LeFlore, Murray, Muskogee, Payne, Roger Mills, Sequoyah, and Woodward counties. The FHL has Cemetery Records of Oklahoma. 9 vols. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1959–62). Also see James W. Tyner and Alice Tyner Timmons, OUR PEOPLE AND WHERE THEY REST 8-Vol Set. Oregon Cemetery Records - Pennsylvania Some major religious bodies have libraries in the commonwealth with collections that include not only Pennsylvania church records, but those for other states as well. These include the following:
Cemetery Records - Large collections of cemetery records are located at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania, and at many local libraries and historical societies. The Pennsylvania State Library maintains the state's DAR cemetery collection. Several funeral director records for Philadelphia are in the Collections of the Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania. Rhode Island Cemetery Records - South Carolina Cemetery Records - South Dakota Cemetery Records - Tennessee Cemetery Records - Texas Cemetery Records - Utah Cemetery Records - Vermont Cemetery Records - Virginia Since colonial times, many religious groups have established congregations in Virginia, including Baptist, Catholic, Jewish, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Quaker or Friends, to name a few. Except for the Quakers, few of these groups kept records containing such genealogical information as birth, marriage, and death dates. A number of church vestry books and registers have been published and are available at The Library of Virginia and the FHL.
Cemetery Records - The list of published tombstone inscriptions for Virginia, if a comprehensive list existed, would be lengthy. The DAR has compiled an extensive collection of Virginia tombstone inscriptions. The collection, along with other cemetery record publications, can be found at the DAR Library in Washington, D.C., The Library of Virginia, the Virginia Historical Society, and the FHL. Cemetery interment registers and gravestone inscriptions may often be sources of useful information for Virginia researchers. The state government does not have a long, uninterrupted, centralized file of birth and death records that are readily accessible to researchers. Wars, floods, and fires have destroyed the vital record of many of Virginia's counties. Oftentimes, information found in cemetery records and on gravestones cannot be found anywhere else. When looking for a specific cemetery in Virginia, you may wish to start with the following comprehensive resource. Virginia Cemeteries: A Guide to Resources It is also possible to search for specific cemeteries through your computer. Use your search engine to enter specific keywords. Books abstracting the information on tombstones and/or registers are also useful resources. Check the Online Catalog of the Library of Virginia by going to the Library's home page. An online series on Research in Virginia Documents. Prepared by Daphne Gentry, Publications and Education Services Division. Copyright by The Library of Virginia; this note may be reproduced in full if proper credit is given and no changes are made.
Washington Cemetery Records - West Virginia Since colonial times dozens of religious groups have established congregations in West Virginia including the following: Baptist, West Virginia Baptist Historical Society, P.O. Box 1019, Parkersburg, West Virginia 26101; Methodist, Methodist Historical Society, West Virginia Wesleyan College, Annie M. Pfeiffer Library, College Avenue, Buckhannon, West Virginia 26201; Roman Catholic, Diocese of Wheeling/Charleston, P.O. Box 230, Wheeling, West Virginia 26003; and United Brethren, Historical Library, Church of the Brethren, 1451 Dundee Avenue, Elgin, Illinois 60120, denominations. Many religious groups have deposited their records at the West Virginia and Regional History Collection. Church record inventories compiled as part of the Historical Records Survey are available there and at the FHL. Cemetery Records - The most extensive collection of West Virginia tombstone inscriptions was compiled by the Historical Records Survey. Available at the West Virginia and Regional History Collection and on microfilm at the FHL, the collection includes inscriptions through 1939-40. The DAR and others have published volumes of cemetery records. Wisconsin Cemetery Records - Wyoming Cemetery Records -
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, with a supplemental Catalogue and Errata, translated and edited by Horace Burr, in Papers of the Historical Society of Delaware, 9 and 9-A (Wilmington, Del.: Historical Society of Delaware, 1890, 1919). Because of the erroneous translations, this work should be used with material by Courtland B. Springer and Ruth L. Springer in Delaware History, vols. 5 and 6 (1954, 1957); the Delaware Genealogical Society Journal; and in manuscript at the Historical Society of Delaware. Other major publications of church records include Records of the Welsh Tract Baptist Meeting, Pencader Hundred, New Castle County, Delaware, 1701 to 1828, Papers of the Historical Society of Delaware, 42 (Wilmington, Del.: Historical Society of Delaware, 1904); Friends in Wilmington 1738–1938 (N.p., n.d.), which includes marriages, burials, and genealogies; and Christopher M. Agnew, ed., God with Us: A Continuing Presence (New Castle, Del.: Immanuel Church, 1986), with an alphabetical list of baptisms, marriages, and burials, 1714–1985, of New Castle's historic Immanuel Church (Episcopal). 
by Elizabeth Waterston (Author)
, 2 vols. (Baltimore, Md.: Gateway Press, 1989). Some cemetery records are at the 
, (Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma, 1969–78), and Madeline S. Mills and Helen R. Mullenax, 
(Tulsa, Okla.: the authors, 1974).
, edited by Anne M. Hogg, with Dennis A. Tosh (Charlottesville, 1986) contains descriptions and locations of hundreds of Virginia cemeteries, which are indexed both by cemetery name and by location. For cemeteries that were still being used or maintained when the editors were compiling the data, the name and address of the keeper is also included, although some of that information may now be obsolete.
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