Connecticut Church Records

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U.S. Church Records

Connecticut

Church Records

For greater success, use all the Wiki Articles in this series: What Can I Find in U.S. Church Records? Determining the Church Your Ancestor Attended How to Find Church Records in the United States Searching for Church Records by Denomination Searching for Church Records by U.S. State

Historical Background

The Congregational Church was predominant in early Connecticut and was the state church until 1818. Other prominent churches in the state are the Methodist and Episcopal churches (colonial period), and the Roman Catholic and Baptist churches (19th century).

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:

Baptisms or Christenings Marriages

Funerals or Burials Membership Lists

Minutes or Historical Narrative

Finding the Records

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 databases are incomplete. This can lead to two common errors: Near matches: Researchers might mistakenly accept an entry very similar to their ancestor, thinking it is the only one available. Only use information that matches your ancestor in date, place, relationships, and other details. Stopping research: Researchers might assume the database proves church records do not exist. Actually the record is still out there, just not in this incomplete collection of records. Keep searching!

• Index cards to vital records of Connecticut churches at the Connecticut State Library
• 1630- 1920 - Connecticut, Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920. Index.
• 1660-1955 - Connecticut, Church Records, 1660-1955. Index, incomplete

• 1649-1906 - Connecticut, Births and Christenings, 1649-1906 is a name index to birth, baptism, and christening records.  Description of records.
  

• 1630-1997 - Connecticut, Marriages, 1630-1997 is a name index to marriage records. Description of records.
  
• Early Connecticut Marriages as Found on Ancient Church Records Prior to 1800, Bailey, Frederic W. , 7 vols. New Haven, Conn.: Bureau of American Ancestry for Family Research, 1896-1906.
• 1772-1934 - Connecticut Deaths and Burials, 1772-1934 is a name index to death and burial records from the state of Connecticut.  This set contains 2,010,979 records. Description of records.
  
• Dunham-Wilcox-Trott-Kirk indexes church, cemetery, probate and other early New England, New York and New Jersey records with links to abstracts of the records.

Community of Christ, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

• Early Members of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, ($). Index
  
  
• 1867-1965 - Church records (New York-Philadelphia District), 1867-1965, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. New York-Philadelphia District. Includes records for the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey.
• 1865-1904 - Church records (Philadelphia District), 1865-1904, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Philadelphia District (Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey). Includes records for the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey.
• 1842-1905 - Church records 1842-1905, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. New York and Connecticut District. Includes records for the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey.

Lutheran

• 1800-1947 - U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Swedish American Church Records, 1800-1947, index and images, incomplete.($)

Methodist

• 1787-1922 - New England, Select United Methodist Church Records, 1787-1922. Index. ($)
• 1809-1845 - Church records 1809-1845, Methodist Episcopal Church. Includes records for the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey.

Universalist

• 1832-1941 - Church records 1832-1941(Connecticut), Connecticut Universalist Convention. Includes records for the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey.
• 1836-1899 - Church records 1836-1899 (Connecticut), Southern Association of Universalists (Connecticut). Includes records for the states of New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Connecticut and New Jersey.

Other Collections

• The Ancestor Hunt: Free Connecticut Online Church Records

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

Family History Library
Salt Lake City, Utah

The Family History Library has an extensive microfilm collection of records of the Baptist, Congregational, Episcopal, Methodist, and Methodist Episcopal churches. Published histories are available for denominations, such as Episcopal, Roman Catholic, Latter-day Saint (Mormon), and Universalist.

• 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 records of United States, Connecticut.

b. Click on Places within United States, Connecticut 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, Connecticut [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. . 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.

Consult available finding aids.

These aids generally provide lists of records that are known to exist and information on their location. To learn about church records existing in 1942, see:

• Guide to Vital Statistics in the Church Records of Connecticut. (New Haven, Conn.: Connecticut Historical Records Survey, 1942). FHL Collection 974.6 K23g; film 924002 item 2; fiche 6051300

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.

Connecticut State Library
231 Capitol Avenue
Hartford, Connecticut 06106
Telephone: 860-757-6500 or toll free: 866-886-4478

• E-mail
• Website

More than 600 churches have deposited their records with the Connecticut State Library.

• Index cards to vital records of Connecticut churches at the Connecticut State Library

Congregational

Connecticut Historical Society
1 Elizabeth Street
Hartford, CT 06105
Phone: (860) 236-5621
Fax: (860) 236-2664

The Congregational Library
14 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108-3704
Phone: (617) 523-0470
Fax: (617) 523-0491

Episcopal

Requests should be sent to local parish. Only records for churches that have been closed are kept by the diocese.
Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut
135 Asylum Avenue
Hartford, CT 06105-2295
Phone: (860) 233-4481
Fax: (860) 523-1410

Roman Catholic

Diocese of Bridgeport
238 Jewett Avenue
Bridgeport, CT 06606
Phone: (203) 416-1354

• Requests should be sent to the local parish.

The diocese includes the county of: Fairfield

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Diocese of Norwich
201 Broadway P.O. Box 587
Norwich, CT 06360
Phone: (860) 887-9294
Fax: (860) 886-1670

• Requests should be sent to the local parish.

The diocese includes the counties of: Middlesex, New London, Tolland and Windham

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Diocese of Hartford
134 Farmington Avenue
Hartford, CT 06103
Phone: (860) 541-6491
Fax: (860) 541-6309

• Requests should be sent to the local parish.

The diocese includes the counties of: Hartford, Litchfield and New Haven

Quakers (Society of Friends)

• Quaker Census of 1828: Members of the New York Yearly Meeting, the Religious Society of Friends of New York, Ontario, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Quebec, at the Time of the Separation of 1828 Fay, Loren V., editor. Rhinebeck, N.Y.: Knshp, 1989 and is available in the FHL Collection. Use this to determine the monthly meeting a person attended. It includes name, age, and family group.
  • To locate a copy nearest you, use WorldCat.

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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.

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 Connecticut 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.

Wiki Articles for Records of Major Religious Denominations
Adventist Amish Anabaptist Anglican Apostolic Christian Armenian Catholic Armenian Evangelical Armenian Orthodox Assemblies of God Baháʼí Baptist Buddhist Catholic Apostolic Church of the Brethren Community of Christ Confucianism Congregational	Coptic Orthodox Disciples of Christ Dutch Reformed Episcopal German Reformed Greek Orthodox Hinduism Huguenot Hutterites Jehovah's Witnesses Jewish The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) Lutheran Maronite Catholic Church Melkite Greek Catholic Methodist	Mennonite Moravian Muslim Orthodox Church in America (OCA) Pentecostal Presbyterian Roman Catholic Russian Orthodox Schwenkfelders Serbian Orthodox Sihkism Society of Friends (Quakers) Syriac Orthodox Church Ukrainian Orthodox United Church of Christ United Brethren in Christ Unitarian/Universalist

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.

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