by Annalou Mack

Created on: February 07, 2011   Last Updated: February 09, 2011

Church and cemetery records are valuable assets for genealogists.  Sometimes those are the only records available to give information about your ancestors.  Church records tell about births, marriages, baptisms, deaths and burials. Gravestones are an excellent source of dates, birthplaces, maiden names, spouses' names and parents' names that you can add to your growing genealogical records. They can also provide evidence of military service, membership in a fraternal organization and religious affiliations.

How to research church records

To begin your research you must first determine to which church your ancestor was affiliated.  That may be easier if your ancestors lived in a country outside the United States because many of them had either a State religion or there was one dominant religion.  In the United States after the colonial period there was a proliferation of protestant denominations and people changed religions, sometimes several times during their lifetime. 

Val Greenwood gives clues to finding the church of your ancestor in the book The Researcher’s Guide to American Genealogy.  Some of the clues are in knowing the origin of the family, a will, an obituary, a tombstone or a deed.  Where your ancestor lived is another clue. 

The professional genealogist, Myra Vanderpool Gormley, suggests that when looking at where your early ancestors lived, remember that the Congregational church was prevalent in New England, many families were Roman Catholics in Maryland, Pennsylvania was predominantly Quaker and the South was dominated by the Church of England.

Once you determine the religious affiliation, the next problem is to locate the records of that church.  Churches changed. Congregations split or disbanded. When these things happened, what became of the records?  If you find that the church is still in existence, contact the current minister or church leaders who will probably know where the records are located.

Some church records have been copied by genealogical societies and can be found in published form.  Quaker church records can be found in book form and contain abstracts of Monthly Meetings.  One thing to be mindful of when consulting copied records is that mistakes can and often are made in transcription. The LDS church has microfilmed many church records from throughout the U.S. It is a good idea to check their holdings.

Be aware that some churches kept more extensive records

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