Methodist Church in the United States

United States   Church Records   Methodist Church Records 

History in the United States
The history of Methodism in the United States dates back to the mid-18th century. Following the American Revolution, most of the Anglican clergy who had been in America went back to England. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, sent Thomas Coke to America where he and Francis Asbury founded the Methodist Episcopal Church, which was to later establish itself as the largest denomination in America during the 19th century.

Methodism thrived in America thanks to the First and Second Great Awakenings beginning in the 1700s. Various African-American denominations were formed during this period, including the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

In the early 20th century, many of the splintered Methodist groups joined together to form The Methodist Church (USA). Another merger in 1968 resulted in the formation of The United Methodist Church from the Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) and the Methodist Church.

Other smaller Methodist denominations in the United States, including those that split from the Methodist Episcopal Church, exist, such as the Free Methodist Church, Evangelical Methodist Church, Congregational Methodist Church, Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection and Bible Methodist Connection of Churches, among others. Spurce: Wikipedia

Types of Church Records

 * Baptisms (infant and adult)
 * Marriages
 * Burials
 * Ministerial Records

Writing to Local Churches

 * United Methodist Church Find a Church
 * USA Churches Methodist Church Directory

Archives
United Methodist Archives Center Drew University Library P.O. Box 127 Madison, NJ 07940 Telephone: 201-408-3189 Fax: 201-408-3909 Internet: www.gcah.org

The website for the General Commission on Archives and History (GCAH) includes a guide for family history researchers: http://www.gcah.org/research/how-to-research-your-family

The GCAH has also teamed with other United Methodist-affiliated libraries, seminaries, and archives, and the Internet Archive to create the American Methodism Project, a "a digitized collection of interdisciplinary and historical materials related to American Methodism." It can be accessed here: https://archive.org/details/americanmethodism

Cyndi's List - Methodist http://www.cyndislist.com/methodist/

Ministers
A list of Methodist ministers and the churches or circuits they served, extracted from the archives of the church minutes: https://www.ourfamtree.org/records/religion.php?denom=1615&

A list of transfers of Methodist ministers from one conference to another, extracted from the archives of the church minutes: https://www.ourfamtree.org/records/transfers.php