Google Ancestor Church Records

How to Google church records for ancestry research.

Church registers are often the only way to determine birth, marriage, and death dates in the years before states started to keep vital records. They are a valuable substitute when vital records do not exist. Most churches keep their records, but libraries usually have several books, copies of church records, a few manuscript volumes of original records, and microfilmed church records.

Google Ancestor Church Records
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What You Will Find in Church Records

Each denomination will have different types of records that they keep. The types of church records you will find include records they kept by their theology. Some church records found include christenings or baptisms, marriages, burials, confirmations, communion, admissions and removals, financial records, Sunday school lists, church censuses, and church-related newsletters. The basic information found in each type of record varies also. For example, when I have researched christenings or baptisms records, I have often found the birth information of a child, parents of the child, and witnesses or godparents, who were often relatives.

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Research Insight for Church Records

When you Google Ancestor church records, look for records of the entire family and relatives. As a general rule, the more individuals a church serves, the more information you’ll get about the individuals. In order of priority, search the following church records:

Burial. From these records, you can learn the ancestor’s death date and place, find the ancestor’s last residence, find the date or at least year of birth, find names of surviving relatives, learn the maiden name of a woman, learn the cemetery of burial for further research or visit, and determine death date for obituary or death notice search.

Wedding

If you can find a public record of an ancestor’s marriage, you will note who performed the marriage. If you see the title of the officiator as Pastor, Reverend, Father, or listed as minister of the gospel, your ancestors probably had a church wedding. You can determine the church the individual belonged to and search for records there. From these records, you can find ancestors’ marriage date and place, find ancestors’ place(s) of residence, determine a year of birth for the bride and groom, learn of previous marriages, learn the groom’s occupation, find clues to family relationships (usually through names of witnesses), discover the names of the preceding generation, correctly ascribe children to appropriate marriage if a parent has married more than once, learn of other possible religious affiliations, see the handwriting of an ancestor, narrow the period for the death of the first spouse in the case of the widow(er) remarrying, and learn of other family connections through dispensation remarks.

Baptism

From these records, you can find an ancestor’s birth date, discover the names of the preceding generation, find a family’s place of residence, find clues to family relationships (through names of sponsors), learn about previously unknown children who died young, learn the parental association in the case of multiple marriages by one of the parents (to determine which one a particular child came from), and learn about changes in church affiliation.

Confirmation

Most church records simply list those that were confirmed on a specific day. On rare occasions, you might find information such as their birth dates, parents’ names, and place of birth. Information will vary somewhat by religion, with Scandinavian and Lutheran, for instance, generally providing more details.

Minutes or Communicant Lists

These records can help reconstruct family history. The disappearance of a couple from the list may signify their departure from the community. The disappearance of one but not the other may indicate death, an important clue if the death records no longer exist. These lists may also provide insight as to where persons have moved. These records also help to build a picture of what your ancestors were like and how they worshiped.

When you Google ancestor church records, be aware that church affiliation can change from within a generation and from one generation to the next. If you are not sure of the church affiliation of your ancestors, note the location where they lived for possible churches to research. Look for names of clergymen who performed the marriage and burial. Often the obituary includes church membership. Check the state, regional, and local historical and genealogy societies for church records they might have. Some churches have archives of their records.

Our immigrant ancestors were religiously devout and connected closely through the church. If you know your ancestor’s country of origin and don’t know their religious denomination, use the following table as a clue where to start. The table also provides the name of the American name for the church.

Country of Origin Prominent Church Church in the United States
Denmark Lutheran Lutheran
Finland Lutheran Lutheran
France Roman Catholic Roman Catholic
Germany Roman Catholic Roman Catholic
Italy Roman Catholic Roman Catholic
Latin Countries Roman Catholic Roman Catholic
Norway Lutheran Lutheran
Poland Roman Catholic Roman Catholic
Scotland Church of Scotland Presbyterian
Sweden Lutheran Lutheran
England Church of England or Anglicans Protestant Episcopal

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Where to Find Church Records

Contact the current minister to ask about record availability if you know the church an ancestor attended. When a church closes, or sometimes by practice, the records may be transferred to the denomination’s archive. The following are locations for finding the archives for major United States religious denominations:

  • Adventists: Washington, DC
  • American Baptists: Rochester, NY
  • Southern Baptists: Nashville, TN
  • Brethren in Christ Church: Grantham, PA
  • Church of Christ, Scientist: Boston, MA
  • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons): Salt Lake City, UT
  • Churches of Christ: Memphis, TN
  • Congregational: Boston, MA
  • Disciples of Christ: Nashville, TN
  • Greek Orthodox: New York, NY
  • Jewish: Cincinnati, OH; Waltham, MA
  • Evangelical Lutherans: Chicago, IL
  • Missouri Synod Lutherans: St. Louis, MO
  • United Methodists: Madison, NJ
  • Pentecostal: Tulsa, okay
  • Presbyterians: Philadelphia, PA; Montreat, NC
  • Episcopalian: check local parishes
  • Reformed Church: New Brunswick, NJ
  • Roman Catholic: Notre Dame University, South Bend, IN; Catholic University, Washington, DC
  • Quakers (Society of Friends): Swarthmore, PA, for Hicksite
  • United Church of Christ: Boston, MA; Lancaster, PA
  • Unitarian and Universalist: Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, MA

Check FamilySearch.org to see what has been microfilmed and can be accessed through the Family History Library system. These include records of many denominations, particularly the Society of Friends (Quaker), Presbyterian, Congregational, Lutheran, Reformed, and Roman Catholic churches. Some churches have donated their records to local genealogical and historical societies. Many local universities and public libraries have copies of church records. Most libraries and societies have websites and list their holdings online.

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Google Ancestor Church Records

The following are sample search queries you can use to find online databases for church records:

  • “history OR heritage” Baptist “Illinois”
  • “records OR registers” “Catholic”
  • “ancestry OR genealogy” “Lutheran”
  • “library OR archives” “Jewish”
  • “cemetery OR cemeteries” “Catholic” “New Jersey”

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Google 18 Types of Ancestor Records

The following is an overview of the common 18 types of ancestor records that I have found constantly valuable in my historical and genealogy research and hundreds of other resources I have learned to research and use through the years. When I mastered researching these resources, I could quickly expand my research to other records to help me connect the pieces of my genealogy puzzle.

Google Ancestor Records
Cemetery Records Census Records Church Records
Civil Vital Records Directory Records Family Histories
Histories and Biographies Land Records Maps
Message Boards, Mailing Lists, and Wiki’s Military Records Naturalization Records
Newspaper Records Photographs Probate Records
Publications and Periodicals Ship Passenger Lists Writings of Ancestors

In my profile of each resource, I have included what you will find, how to use the resource, and research insights for each resource. I would encourage you to use this section as a starting point from which you can search out and find other genealogical tutorials, and guides that help to provide deeper insights.  The common websites that researchers first think of are Ancestry, Archives, FamilySearch, FindMyPast and MyHeritage.

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Google Other Ancestor Records

The following are other articles you may enjoy to help you Google your ancestry.

 

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