Determining the Church Your Ancestor Attended

Determining the Church your Ancestor Attended

 * Learn what family traditions about the church your ancestor’s may have attended. Are there any pictures of your ancestors with a church in the background?  Does anyone in the family have a baptism or marriage certificate?  Look at your ancestor’s marriage record to see if they were married by a Minister of the Gospel.  Does a family Bible exist, giving the church affiliation of your ancestor?


 * Learn the national origin of your ancestor—immigrants usually attended the same church in the new country that they had in the old country.


 * Learn what churches were available in the towns where your ancestor settled. They may have attended the local church because of its proximity, even though they were members of another church. On the other hand, your ancestor may have traveled some distance to attend their preferred church in the next town or county.  There is also the possibility that an ancestor may have started out with one church and converted to another church.  Look at county histories and city directories for this information.
 * To find county histories and city directories at FamilySearch.org, look at Digitized Books and the FamilySearch Catalog.
 * For county histories at Ancestry.com, click on search, click on the state you are searching, and click on the county you are searching.
 * To find a city directory at Ancestry.com, click on Search, and then click on City & Area Directories under Schools, Directories & Church.


 * Find an obituary of your ancestor or one of their siblings. The church your ancestor attended is often mentioned in obituaries.  Also look for funeral notices to see where the funeral took place. Newspaper websites:
 * Chronicling America
 * World Vital Records.
 * Google newspapers (this project is no longer being worked on)
 * USGenWeb Archives Obituary Project
 * Do a Google search with keywords: "town name", "newspaper" or "state", and "digital newspapers".
 * Ancestry.com United States Obituary Collection
 * Fold3.com. Newspapers are in Non Military Collections.
 * United States Online Historical Newspapers
 * FamilySearch Catalog for your town, county, or state of research.
 * Another Resource is Library of Congress Catalogs, Newspapers in Microform: United States 1948-1983, Volume 1 and 2, Washington: Library of Congress, 1984, Film #1145942, available at the Riverton FamilySearch Library.


 * Look at cemetery records. If your ancestor was buried in a church cemetery, they would have belonged to that church at some time. Also look for sexton records of the cemetery and funeral home records, if it is possible.   Cemetery websites are:
 * Findagrave.com
 * Billiongraves.com
 * NamesInStone.com
 * Do a Google search for other online cemeteries.


 * Check family histories to see if the church your ancestor attended has already been determined.
 * Search Digital Books and the FamilySearch Catalog at FamilySearch.org.
 * At Ancestry.com click on Card Catalog and type the family name into the keyword box.
 * Also, do a Google search for your family.