Presbyterian Church in the United States

United States   Church Records   Presbyterian Church Records

Online Records

 * U.S., Presbyterian Church Records, 1701-1970, index and images, Ancestry.com, ($)
 * Miscellaneous Biographical Collection. Presbyterian Historical Society (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1967.
 * Presbyterian Ministers': A list of ministers and the churches they served.

History
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism, which traces its origins to Great Britain, particularly Scotland. Presbyterian churches derive their name from the presbyterian form of church government, which is governed by representative assemblies of elders. A great number of Reformed churches are organized this way, but the word Presbyterian, when capitalized, is often applied uniquely to churches that trace their roots to the Church of Scotland.

n the late 1600s, economic problems and religious persecution prompted many Scotch-Irish to migrate to America, and most settled in the Middle Colonies. Their numbers were augmented by Presbyterian migration from Puritan New England, and soon there were enough Presbyterians in America to organize congregations. The first ministers were recruited from Northern Ireland, including Francis Makemie, who is known as the "father of American Presbyterianism." While several Presbyterian churches had been established, they were not yet organized into presbyteries and synods.

In 1706, Makemie and seven other ministers established the first presbytery in North America, the Presbytery of Philadelphia. A long history of conflict and disagreement has produced many different Presbyterian denominations, explained in this chart. Source: Wikipedia

Presbyterian Religion Family Tree
This Presbyterian Religion Family Tree also diagrams the relationships of the various branches of the religion.

Types of Records
Christening Marriage Death and Burial

The Presbyterian Historical Society has an online index for their collection. This includes a Congregation Vertical Files Index, a Biographical Vertical Files Index and Hall's Index of American Presbyterian Congregations. Hall's index includes a brief history of each Congregation with date it was formed, changed, and/or ended and also has a link to the Historical Society's search engine called CALVIN which leads to the records the Society holds in regards to that Congregation.

Presbyterian Missionary Correspondence -


 * Indian Correspondence, 1830-1895; index, 1830-1895.57 microfilm. FHL first film 906123
 * Indexes include Biography, Chronological and Tribal indexes.

Finding Aids

 * Benedetto, Robert. Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Presbyterian Church, USA. New York, New York: Greenwood Press, 1990. Book 973 A3ben. Indexed.

Writing to Local Churches

 * Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Find a Congregation
 * Presbyterian Church in America Church Directory
 * Cumberland Presbyterian Church Directory
 * Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (General Synod) Church Locations
 * Orthodox Presbyterian Church Locator
 * Cumberland Presbyterian Church in America
 * Bible Presbyterian Church Contact Information
 * Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America

Archives

 * Southern Region


 * Presbyterian Church (USA) Dept. of History 318 Georgia Terrace Box 849 Montreat, NC 28757 Telephone: 704-669-7061 Fax: 704-669-5369
 * Website


 * Northern Region


 * Presbyterian Historical Society 425 Lombard Street Philadelphia, PA 19147-1516 Telephone: 215-627-1852 Fax: 215-627-0509 Address inquiries to: Genealogical Inquiries, Dept. of History and Record Management Services at the above address. To conduct a family name search, the name of the family's congregation must be known.
 * Website