September – Resources

Resources for US & European Church Records

Was your ancestor a church member?

One way to determine the religious affiliations of your ancestors is search for their obituaries and cemetery records. Pay attention to family traditions, children’s names, and marriage returns; the style, translation and language of old family Bibles. Check for local histories, and county history biographies (often called “mug books”). Local histories frequently mention early churches or the predominant denominations in their localities. Check local newspapers and deed book entries for your ancestor’s surnames.

Resources for Church Records – USA, Sweden, Netherlands

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/U.S._Church_Records_Class_Handout

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Category:U_S_States_Church_records

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Category:United_States_Church_Records

https://wiki.rootsweb.com/wiki/index.php/Overview_of_Church_Records

https://sok.riksarkivet.se/ Click other languages for English – Search Swedish National Archives   & Digital Research Room – Databases, Indexes, Church records, Census records, Topics, etc.

https://www.wiewaswie.nl/en/ (Search 24 different Netherlands Archives at one time)

https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Finding-Church-Records

https://www.cyndislist.com/religion/general/

https://www.cyndislist.com/religion/libraries/

Ancestry.com – Card Catalog – https://support.ancestry.com/s/article/Finding-Church-Records  

“Church records contain information about births, marriages, deaths, baptisms, and christenings. Prior to the 1800s (when many Western countries began taking censuses), church records are often the most reliable documentation of major life events.”

“Identify a denomination first, and use it in your search; church records are organized by denomination.

Customarily, weddings took place in the bride’s (parent’s) church.

Look for clues in family Bibles, baptismal certificates, wedding announcements.” 

“Our Parish records page contains a search field for all parish records in the UK and Ireland, as well as search tips and a list of parish collections for the region.”

“See our collection of U.S. Evangelical Lutheran Church of America records …”                          “Search our entire collection of Church Histories & Records to find church histories…”