Church of the Brethren in the United States

United States   Church Records   Church of the Brethren

History in the United States

 * The Church of the Brethren is a Christian denomination with origins in the Schwarzenau Brethren (German: Schwarzenauer Neutäufer "Schwarzenau New Baptists") that was organized in 1708 by Alexander Mack in Schwarzenau, Germany, as a melding of the Radical Pietist and Anabaptist movements.
 * The first Brethren congregation was established on Christmas Day 1723 in Germantown, Pennsylvania, then a village outside Philadelphia.
 * These church bodies became commonly known as "Dunkards" or "Dunkers", and more formally as German Baptist Brethren.
 * The Church of the Brethren represents the largest denomination descended from the Schwarzenau Brethren, and adopted this name in 1908. The denomination had 122,810 members as of June 2012 and 1,047 congregations in the United States and Puerto Rico as of August 2010.
 * Other than Pennsylvania, the states with the highest membership rates are Virginia, Indiana, Maryland, and West Virginia. Source: Wikipedia

Writing for Records

 * Church of the Brethren Directory

Archives
Brethren Historical Library and Archives 1451 Dundee Avenue Elgin, IL 60120 Phone: 847-742-5100 Ext. 294 Fax: 847-742-6103 (Be sure to include Brethren Historical Library and Archives on the fax)

Brethren Heritage Center Brookside Plaza 428 Wolf Creek Street, Suite H Brookville, Ohio  45309-1297

E-mail: mail@brethrenhc.org Telephone: 937-833-5222 "The Brethren Heritage Center (BHC) has an extensive research library as well as an in-house and online bookstore. Visitors are welcome to use our large conference table and comfortable chairs to do their historical and genealogical research. Assistance in finding materials is always available."
 * Website Emphasis on Schwarzenau Brethren, Old Order churches, and Ohiuo state.

Societies

 * Fellowship of Brethren Genealogists