Church Records Can Lead To a Bonanza of Information

Church records can provide a large piece in the reconstruction puzzle of the history of your family. If you can determine the religion with which your ancestors had affiliation, you may be able to gain more information from church records than from civil records.

Religious affiliation has been a part of some family groups for as long as that group has existed. Unfortunately for future searchers, however, since church affiliation is quickly becoming more about “community” than about denominational loyalty, this may not continue to be the case. This means searching older denominational records will continue to be easier than those being made now- or in the future,

Some religions, such as Roman Catholics and Jews, have an amazing number of resources available online. Many other denominations have good records as well, either online or in some sort of “master” library.

Professional genealogists often say the records kept by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (or Mormons) are some of the best in the world – far surpassing anything kept by civil or governmental clerks.

Simply typing “Mormon Church records” onto a search line will bring up a plethora of places to click and begin a free search. For some reason, this denomination did not only record its own ranks, but persons of every other denomination they could find as well. In fact, their records are so comprehensive there are even websites you can visit to request removing your family members from the Mormon search records if you wish!

Once logged onto first page of sites under “Mormon Church records” you will have more than a million choices to hit, with the first page being the most productive.

It is easier to find church records in Europe than in the United States because in the U.S., church and state are separated to a degree not found elsewhere where religion is prevalent. This leaves Americans with more problems determining the church of affiliation (which may be different for different ancestors) and then locating the records from the church where the ancestor lived.

The places to go to solve these initial problems will be many; perhaps you can locate an answer in a will or a deed or an obituary. This is easier if you are tracing an ancestor who lived during the period of “frontier days” when Americans moved west, because usually, there was only one church in each town where all residents went to worship.

As the years passed, obituaries and death certificates added a line containing “statement of religious preference” and now, even hospital admissions clerks ask this question and record the answer on patient’s medical record.

There is no complete guide to American church records simply because of the separation of church and state. But there are ways to narrow your search. Records from many churches have been published and can be found in libraries. Look under the locality of interest online or in newspapers and periodicals, and ask questions of ministers, priests, rabbis and other religious leaders.

Knowing an ancestor’s denomination and the area from which he or she came certainly gives you an edge when searching in the U.S. But not knowing can’t stop the search. Hitting the right database or online bulletin board could suddenly turn a dark alley into the home-stretch, sending you to a church or other house of worship that has recorded whole branches of your family’s births, marriages, deaths and burial records, and maybe even tombstones or family plots. Then suddenly, the lives of whole families may open up like the pages of a book, bringing you more results than you ever dreamed possible.