United States Church Records

The Value of Church Records in U.S. Family History
Church records are a valuable source for proving the dates and places of births, marriages, and deaths and the identity and relationships of family members. They are particularly important prior to the advent of civil registration in each state (government birth, marriage, and death certificates). To use them effectively, become familiar with information found in them by first studying the Wiki article, What Can I Find in U.S. Church Records?. A clear understanding of content will guide your strategy in planning research.

Prepare by Collecting Background Information
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.

Where Did Your Ancestors Worship?
Start by Learning how to search a variety of records for clues to the denomination, locality, and possibly even the specific names of churches where your ancestors worshipped. Follow the tips in the Wiki article, Determining the Church Your Ancestor Attended.

How to Find Church Records in the U.S.
Because of separation of church and state in the United States, there are no central repositories for church records. Some will be digitized and available online. Others may be deposited in state, college, or ecclesiastical archives; with historical or genealogical societies; local libraries; or still at the local church itself. It can take quite a bit of "detective work" to find them.

Basic Strategies
For a thorough list of strategies, go to the Wiki article, How to Find Church Records in the United States. Learn the many different sources to locate church records with helpful links for each source. Then come back to this page to find an article on searching for records of a particular denomination and an article for records available for the state where your ancestors resided.

Searching for Church Records by Denomination
In these articles, for each denomination, you will find:
 * Lists of online record collections
 * A brief history of different break-off branches of the denomination
 * Descriptions of typical records for that denomination
 * Directories for addresses and instructions for writing to local ministers
 * Addresses for denomination archives, with collection descriptions, notes on services available, finding aids, and search engine links

Searching for Church Records by U.S. State
In these articles, for each U.S state, you will find:
 * Lists of online record collections
 * A brief history of major religions in the state
 * Instructions and links to the FamilySearch Library catalog to search by locality for records
 * Contact information, website links, collection descriptions, and services available for state, university, society, and local diocese archives within the state'''