Pennsylvania Church Records

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Historical Background
Pennsylvania was founded as a place of refuge and religious freedom for many diverse groups from Great Britain and Europe. Important religious groups in colonial Pennsylvania were the Society of Friends (Quakers), the German Lutheran, German Reformed, Presbyterian, Episcopal/Anglican/Church of England, Baptist, and Roman Catholic churches, and the German Pietist groups, including the Brethren (Dunkard), Mennonites, and Moravians.

Information Found in the Records
To effectively use church records, become familiar with their content. Click on these links to learn about a specific record type:

Look for online records.
'''Ancestry.com, FindMyPast.com, and MyHeritage.com can be searched free of charge at your local family history center or the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Online Records
Births
 * Historical Society Of Pennsylvania, Births & Baptisms, index, incomplete, ($)
 * Index.
 * Historical Society Of Pennsylvania, Marriages, index, incomplete.
 * Pennsylvania, Marriage Records, 1700-1821 ($)
 * Index.
 * [https://search.fin
 * , index.

Catholic
Catholic Heritage Archive, ($)

Congregational

 * Historical Society Of Pennsylvania, Congregational Records, index, incomplete, ($)

Look for digital copies of church records listed in the FamilySearch Catalog.

 * The Family History Library (FHL) has a substantial collection of original church records and transcripts on microfilm for churches in the United States.
 * Online church records can be listed in the FamilySearch Catalog under the state, county, or town.
 * If you find a record that has not yet been digitized, see How do I request that a microfilm be digitized?
 * Some records might have viewing restrictions, and can only be viewed at a Family History Center near you, and/or by members of supporting organizations.
 * To find records:
 * a. Click on the of United States, Pennsylvania'''.
 * b. Click on Places within United States, Pennsylvania and a list of counties will appear.
 * c. Click on your county if it appears.
 * d. Click on the "Church records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * e. Click on Places within United States, Pennsylvania [COUNTY] and a list of towns will appear.
 * f. Click on your town if it appears, or the location which you believe was the parish which served your town or village.
 * g. Click on the "Church records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.
 * h. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the listing for the record. FHL icons.png. The magnifying glass indicates that the record is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the records.

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Consult available finding aids.
These aids generally provide lists of records that are known to exist and information on their location.
 * Inventory of Church Archives in Pennsylvania
 * Charles H. Glatfelter, Pastors and Peoples, 2 vols. (Breingsville, PA: Pennsylvania German Society, 1980 and 1981) as vols. 13 and 15 of The Publications of the Pennsylvania German Society in the . To check for a copy nearest you, search WorldCat.

Correspond with or visit the actual churches.
Some records are still held in the local churches. Contact the current minister to find out what records are still available.
 * Make an appointment to look at the records. Or ask the minister of the church to make a copy of the record for you.
 * To find church staff available, you might have to visit on Sunday.
 * Ask for small searches at a time, such as one birth record or a specific marriage. Never ask for "everything on a family or surname".
 * A donation ($25-$40) for their time and effort to help you would be appropriate.
 * If the church has a website, you may be able to e-mail a message.
 * See the Letter Writing Guide for Genealogy for help with composing letters.
 * Each denomination page offers an online address directory of local churches for that denomination.

Check the church records collections in archives and libraries.
Some church records have been deposited for preservation in government archives or in libraries. Watch for links to digitized, online records offered by the archives. Some archives provide research services for a fee. For others, if you cannot visit in person, you might hire a researcher. '''Here you will find archive information unique to the state. Many more archives are kept by denomination. For denominational archives, go to  Searching for Church Records by Denomination.

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Episcopal
Only a small percentage of Colonial Pennsylvania's population belonged to the Church of England. Of 26 Episcopalian churches established in Pennsylvania before 1800, 12 have surviving parish registers covering that period.

Diocese of Pennsylvania The History Committee 240 S. 4th Street Philadelphia, PA 19106 Telephone: (215) 627-6434 Fax: (215) 627-7550

This diocese has records for churches that are now closed for Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery, and Philadelphia counties only. Churches that are not closed should be contacted for their records.

Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh 325 Oliver Avenue, Suite 300 Pittsburgh, PA 15222-2403 Phone: (412) 721-0853 E-mail: info@episcopalpgh.org

The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, founded in 1865, covers the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania. This diocese has records for churches that are now closed for the current counties of Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Fayette, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington, and Westmoreland. Churches that are not closed should be contacted for their records.

Lutheran

 * Archives hold records for closed churches. For open churches write directly to the local church.

Among the files of the Region 7 archives at Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia are those of the Ministerium of Pennsylvania, which was the first North American Lutheran church body, founded in 1748.

For all synods except the Slovak-Zion Synod: Lutheran Archives Center at Philadelphia 7301 Germantown Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19119-1794 Phone:(215) 248-6383 Fax: (215) 248-6327 E-mail: mtairyarchives@uls.edu

For Slovak Zion Synod: Slovak Zion Synod P.O. Box 1003 Torrington, CT 06790-1003 Phone:(860) 482-6100

Region 8 Older material in the Tri-Synod Archives collection relates to the former Pittsburgh Synod of the General Council. For Western Pennsylvania: Tri-Synod Archives Thiel College 75 College Avenue Greenville, PA 16125 Phone: (724) 589-2131

For Central Pennsylvania: A.R. Wentz Library United Lutheran Seminary 61 Seminary Ridge Gettysburg, PA 17325-1795 Phone: (717) 339-1313
 * Also housed in the Gettysburg Seminary's archives are the records of the first large confederation of American Lutheran synods, namely the General Synod. This archives also has significant personal papers collected by the Lutheran Historical Society. The A. R. Wentz Library records are not available to the general public, but the Family History Library has filmed many of their church records.

A helpful source is Frederick S. Weiser, Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Records, 4 vols. included in the. This includes records from Adams, Columbia, Cumberland, Franklin, Fulton, Lebanon, Northumberland, Snyder, and York counties.

Genealoger.com has a bibliography of Pennsylvania Lutheran Church Records and Histories

For an index to birth (baptism) information for Colonial Pennsylvania Lutherans, see:
 * Humphrey, John T. Birth Index; Southeastern Pennsylvania, 1680-1800. n.p.: Brøderbund, 1998. CD-ROM no. 9 pt. 196.

For a history of colonial German Lutheran churches, read:


 * Dubbs, Joseph Henry. "The Founding of the German Churches of Pennsylvania," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 17 (1893):241-262. For free online access, see WeRelate.

Mennonite
The Mennonite Heritage Center 565 Yoder Road Harleysville PA 19438-1020 (215) 256-3020 Edit: [mailto:library@mhep.org library@mhep.org] Hours: Tuesday thru Friday, 10am–5pm, Saturday, 10am–2pm

The Mennonite Historians of Eastern Pennsylvania support the John L. Ruth Historical Library and Museum at the Mennonite Heritage Center. Located in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania the records and resources of this treasure also cover the counties of Bucks, Chester, Berks, Lehigh, Northampton, and Philadelphia. The website provides a comprehensive overview of library resources, online cemetery database, manuscript collections, photo collections, archival collections, and more. Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society 2215 Millstream Road Lancaster, PA 17602-1499 Phone: (717) 393-9745 Fax: (717) 393-8751 E-mail: lmhs@lmhs.org This Society has a genealogy card file which has been filmed and is available on Ancestry.com $. It covers the counties of Adams, Berks and Lancaster.

Moravian
The Moravian Archives 41 West Locust Street Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18018 United States of America Phone: (610) 866-3255 Fax: (610) 866-9210

For information concerning missions to the American Indians visit The Moravian Missions to the Indians. For a map and list of missions visit Early Moravian Missions in Eastern Pennsylvania and Surrounding Areas 1740-1773.

Mission records are also available in the. The records are indexed in the Book 970.1 F642i.

Presbyterian
Presbyterian Historical Society 425 Lombard Street Philadelphia, PA 19147 Telephone: (215) 627-1852 Fax: (215) 627-0509

The society and the have "Miscellaneous Biographical Collection". This collection contains information from the 1600s up to 1960s. It includes obituaries, funeral discourses, memorial sermons, newspaper clippings, records of ministerial service, published genealogies, histories, golden anniversary of work in the ministry, church newsletters with biographical information, ordination service bulletins, installation service bulletins, biographical sketches and photographs. The collection is national in scope.

Inventory of the Church Archives of Pennsylvania Presbyterian Churches. Works Progress Administration, compiled from 1936-1940 and is available in the. Also try Candace Belfield's book Inventory of the church archives of Pennsylvania : Presbyterian churches. 

Reformed
Evangelical and Reformed Historical Society Philip Schaff Library Evangelical and Reformed Historical Library 555 W. James Street Lancaster, PA 17603 Telephone: (717) 290-8734

A guide to the records in the above named archive is, Florence M. Bricker, comp. and ed., Church and Pastoral Records in the Archives of the United Church of Christ and the Evangelical and Reformed Historical Society, Lancaster, PA Lancaster, PA: The Society, 1982; and is available in the. To locate the book nearest you, search WorldCat.

Roman Catholic
The beginning of the Catholic faith in Pennsylvania can be dated back to French explorers who visited the area in the seventeenth century. The first Catholic church was a chapel built in Fort Duquesne in 1754. In 1808, the Diocese of Philadelphia was organized. It covered the entire state. It was split in 1843 when the Diocese of Pittsburgh was erected to oversee Western Pennsylvania. Other dioceses were erected at later dates.

At present there are eight dioceses in Pennsylvania:

Diocese of Allentown P.O. Box F Allentown, PA 18105-1538

The diocese consists of the counties of Berks, Carbon, Lehigh, Northampton and Schuylkill.

Diocese of Altoona 927 S. Logan Boulevard hollidaysburg, PA 16648 Phone: (814) 695-5579

The diocese consists of the counties of Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Centre, Fulton, Huntingdon and Somerset.

Diocese of Erie St. Mark Catholic Center 429 East Grandview Blvd. Erie, PA 16504

The diocese coonsists of the of counties of Cameron, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Forest, Jefferson, Mercer, McKean, Potter, Venango and Warren.

Diocese of Greensburg 723 East Pittsburgh St. Greensburg, PA 15601 Phone: (724) 837-0901

The diocese consists of the counties of Armstrong, Fayette, Indiana and Westmoreland.

Diocese of Harrisburg 4800 Union Deposit Road Harrisburg, PA 17111 Phone: (717) 657-4804

Archive houses many records of genealogical value. Website includes guide Genealogy Research for Families. Professional look-up services are available.

The diocese of Harrisburg consists of the counties of Adams, Columbia, Cumberland, Dauphin, Franklin, Juniata, Lancaster, Lebanon, Mifflin, Montour, Northumberland, Perry, Snyder, Union and York.

Archdiocese of Philadelphia 222 North 17th Street,Philadelphia, PA 19103-1299 Phone: (215) 587-3600


 * Philadelphia Archdiocesan Historical Reseach Center 100 E. Wynnewood Wynnewood, PA 19096 Telephone: (610) 667-3394

The diocese (erected 1808) consists of the counties of Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia.

Diocese of Pittsburgh 111 Blvd. of the Allies Pittsburgh, PA 15222 Phone: (412) 456-3000

The diocese (erected 1843) consists of the counties of Allegheny, Beaver, Butler, Greene, Lawrence and Washington.

The Diocese of Pittsburgh originally included Catholic churches throughout Western Pennsylvania, including: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Butler, Cambria, Clarion, Clearfield, Crawford, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, McKean, Mercer, Potter, Somerset, Venango, Warren, Washington, and Westmoreland counties.

For a centennial history, see:


 * "100 Years of the Pittsburgh Catholic Diocese 1843–1943," Western Pennsylvania Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Summer 1990):9-33. . Chronology, map, county-by-county information.

Diocese of Scranton 300 Wyoming Avenue Scranton, PA 18593 Phone: (570) 207-2238

The diocese consists of the counties of Bradford, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Lycoming, Monroe, Pike, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, Wayne, Wyoming.

The Northeast Pennsylvania Genealogical Society, Inc. located in Wilkes-Barre, PA, has digitized the Sacramental Registers of the Diocese of Scranton churches. The collection encompasses over 300 churches in eleven PA counties. Registers 70 years and older are available for research at the Society headquarters. Visit https://www.nepgs.com for more information.

For a listing of many vital records, see Albert H. Ledoux. Catholic Vital Records of Central Pennsylvania, 4 vols. (Altoona, PA: A. H. Ledoux, 1993-1996; see . Also check WorldCat for a copy of the book nearest you.

Society of Friends (Quakers)
For Hicksite records:

Friends Historical Library of Swarthmore College Swarthmore College 500 College Avenue Swarthmore, PA 19081 Telephone: (610) 328-8496 Email: [mailto:friends@swarthmore.edu friends@swarthmore.edu]

For Orthodox records:

Quaker Collection Haverford College James P. Magill Library 370 Lancaster Avenue Haverford, PA 19041-1392 Telephone: (610) 896-1000

A card index to Quaker records is William Wade Hinshaw, The William Wade Hinshaw Index to Quaker Meeting Records in the Friends Library in Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania can be found in the.

For help in finding Quaker records, see:


 * Inventory of Church Archives, Society of Friends in Pennsylvania. Philadelphia, PA: Historical Records Survey, 1941, can be searched in the.
 * Hinshaw, William Wade. Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy. 6 Vols. Ann Arbor, Mich.: Edwards Brothers, 1936-1950. Volume II covers Pennsylvania Monthly Meetings. ; digital version at Ancestry ($). To locate copies nearest you, use WorldCat.
 * The William Wade Hinshaw Index to Pennsylvania Quaker Meeting Records. 8 vols. (Kokomo, Indiana: Selby Publishing &amp; Printing, 1990; available in the . To locate copies nearest you, use WorldCat.

An important resource for Eastern Pennsylvania is Jack Eckert, Guide to the Records of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting (Philadelphia, PA: Haverford College, Records Committee of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting, Swarthmore College, 1989; available in the . It also contains a bibliography, a glossary, and the record location for the other yearly meetings throughout the United States and Canada. The yearly meeting includes the monthly and quarterly meeting records, etc., under its jurisdiction. To locate a copy of the book nearest you, use WorldCat.

Many sources are also listed in the Place Search of the FamilySearch Catalog under PENNSYLVANIA - CHURCH HISTORY.

A few church records have been indexed for most Pennsylvania Counties in the I Dream of Genealogy website. They are indexed by County, Township and then Church.

For a history of Welsh Quakers in Pennsylvania, read:


 * Levick, James J. "The Early Welsh Quakers and Their Emigration to Pennsylvania," The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 17 (1893):385-413. For free online access, see WeRelate.

See also:


 * U.S. Quaker Research (Society of Friends)
 * Society of Friends (Quakers) in the United States
 * Pennsylvania, Schuylkill County Digital Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

Correspond with genealogical or historical societies.
Some church records have been given to historical societies. Also, historical societies may be able to tell you where the records are being held. To find a society near you, consult these lists:
 * Society Hill List of Pennsylvania Societies

Next, go to the Wiki article for your ancestors' denomination.
There are frequently additional, nationwide or regional archives and online collections for each denomination. Find the article for your ancestors' denomination and follow the instructions there to access these sources.

Carefully compare any record you find to known facts about the ancestor
You will possibly find many different people with the same name as your ancestor, especially when a family stayed in a locality for several generations, and several children were named after the grandparents or aunts and uncles. Be prepared to find the correct church records by organizing in advance as many of these exact details about the ancestor as possible:
 * name, including middle name and maiden name
 * names of all spouses, including middle and maiden name
 * exact or closely estimated dates of birth, marriage, and death
 * names and approximate birthdates of children
 * all known places of residence
 * occupations
 * military service details

Carefully evaluate the church records you find to make sure you have really found records for your ancestor and not just a "near match". If one or more of the details do not line up, be careful about accepting the entry as your ancestor. There are guiding principles for deciding how to resolve discrepancies between records that are seemingly close. For more instruction in evaluating evidence, read the Wiki article, Evaluate the Evidence.