German Reformed Church in the United States

United States Church Records  German Reformed Church Records

History in the United States

 * The Reformed Church in the United States (RCUS) is a Protestant Christian denomination in the United States. The present RCUS is a conservative, Calvinist denomination. Originally known as the German Reformed Church, the RCUS was organized in 1725 thanks largely to the efforts of John Philip Boehm, who immigrated in 1720. He organized the first congregation of German Reformed believers near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, some of them descendants and German immigrants from the turn of the century. Some had immigrated from the Palatine area.
 * Boehm was eventually ordained by the Classis of Amsterdam in 1729, which oversaw the American branch of the Dutch Reformed Church (now the Reformed Church in America). The German Reformed remained under Dutch Reformed oversight until 1793, when the German Reformed adopted their own constitution.
 * In 1934 the RCUS merged with the Evangelical Synod of North America (ESNA) to form the Evangelical and Reformed Church. ESNA featured a mix of both Lutheran and Reformed theology.
 * The Evangelical and Reformed Church in 1957 merged with the Congregational Christian Churches (which had formed from earlier Congregational and Restorationist churches) to become the United Church of Christ. Source: Wikipedia

Books in Print
Barbara Manning."Genealogical Abstracts from Newspapers of the German Reformed Church, 1840-1843 1St Edition". Heritage Books, Inc; 1St Edition edition (December 30, 2019) Limited search at HathiTrust. Copies in libraries: WorldCat

Writing to a Local Church

 * Reformed Church in the United States
 * United Church of Christ Find Churches Near Me, Church Directory
 * Southern New England Conference United Church of Christ Directory
 * Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island Conferences of the United Church of Christ have joined to form the Southern New England Conference.

Check the church records collections in archives and libraries.
United Church of Christ does not keep records for the German Reformed congregations.

Evangelical and Reformed Historical Society Lancaster Theological Seminary 555 W. James Street Lancaster, PA 17602 Phone: (717) 290-8734 E-mail:info@erhistoricalsociety.org
 * Website
 * The Evangelical and Reformed Historical Society holds a variety of church records for church congregations that originated in the former Reformed (German) Church in the United States, Evangelical (German) Synod of North America, the Evangelical and Reformed Church, and the present United Church of Christ. Many of these record collections contain original documents, whereas others include photocopies, digitized scans, or transcriptions of the original documents.


 * Click on your state in the clickable map to see records available for each state. Covers 800 individual churches.

Evangelical and Reformed Historical Society 475 E. Lockwood Avenue Webster Groves, MO 63119 Phone: (314) 252-3141 E-mail:sholl@eden.edu
 * Website
 * The Archives has the records of some United Church of Christ congregations, most of which were founded by the Evangelical Synod of North America in the St. Louis metropolitan area, Missouri, and southern Illinois. The Archives accepts requests for lookups in church records not held by St. Louis County Library.
 * Most church records held by the archives have been microfilmed and are available for research at the St. Louis County Library History and Genealogy Department.
 * The library staff will also do lookups.
 * Call (314) 994-3300, ext. 2070 or contact the library by email at genealogy@slcl.org for more information.
 * Please provide the name of the person, the name of the church, and the specific record you are looking for.
 * Church records usually include baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and deaths.

Reading the Records
Some of the records will be written in Fraktur (old German) script. These articles will teach how to read the records.
 * Reading German Handwritten Records  Practice exercises to build your skills and confidence.
 * Old German Script Transcriber (alte deutsche Handschriften): See your family names in the script of the era. Type your name or other word into the font generator tool. Click on the 8 different fonts. Save the image to your computer and use it as you work with old Germanic records.
 * Print these handouts for ready reference when reading German Handwriting:
 * Kurrent Letters Handout
 * Numbers Handout
 * Birth Records Handout
 * Marriage Records Handout
 * Death Records Handout
 * Days and Months Handout
 * Common Symbols Handout
 * Common Abbreviations Handout
 * List of Names in Old German Script A comprehensive list of German given names,  written in old script, with possible variations.
 * [[Media:Fraktur_Font_help_-_Wiki.pdf|Fraktur Font]]--Many forms and books are printed in this font.
 * Fraktur Script - [[Media:1-Fraktur-Instruction.pdf|Instruction]], [[Media:2-Fraktur-Assignment.pdf|Activity]], [[Media:3-Fraktur-Answer_Key.pdf|Answer Key]]

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 gathering 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.