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"Along Those Lines ..."
by George G. Morgan
Click Here for George Morgan's Archive
| "Tracing Ancestors Through Church Records" |
Churches and synagogues can provide terrific clues about your ancestors. In some cases, you may gain some insights into your ancestors' lives through records about them in church archives. This week in "Along Those Lines ..." we'll discuss church records and ways you can use them to trace your ancestors. The Basics Religious institutions in Europe began keeping records in the 1500's. In England in 1529-30, the crown directed that officials travel the land to register pedigrees and coats of arms of the nobility. In 1538, parishes were ordered to keep records of baptisms, marriages and burials. The Council of Trent in 1563 dictated that Catholics must be baptized before they were married. Catholic parishes subsequently began maintaining records of births, marriages and deaths. Other record-keeping requirements were imposed by governments and religious institutions. As time passed and new denominations and dissenting religious groups were formed, they began keeping records about their members. Record keeping methodologies came with the various denominations to the New World and were adapted to meet the needs of the new communities. Local, regional and national governing bodies were established and guidelines were defined. In some cases, copies of individual church or parish records were made and forwarded to a centralized location where they were maintained. In the absence of some types of vital records, these religious institutions' records may provide specific information about ancestors. Many genealogists fail to recognize the value of these detailed records in their research. And while some church records are in disarray and may contain gaps, they can provide invaluable clues for the researcher. Whether Catholic, Protestant or Jewish, all congregations maintained records of some type for their congregations. Most religious institutions maintained records about membership and church members. The specific denominations, however, dictated specific record types and variations. For example, the Presbyterian church records are usually very complete in the recording of baptisms, marriages, deaths and membership records. Baptist records are usually less complete, with marriage records usually maintained as part of the minister's personal files. Catholic records, in addition, would include confirmations. And Jewish synagogue records may contain bar mitzvah or bat mitzvah records. In short, it is important to determine the religious affiliation of your ancestor. That accomplished, you can then do a little research about the group or denomination to determine what types of records they maintained. In addition, you can locate the regional or national office for the group for information about where to search for specific records. Tracing My Grandfather's Family In trying to trace the movements of my great-grandparents, I used church records. I knew that my great-grandfather, Alvis Martin WEATHERLY was born 5 November 1852 in Munford (Talladega) AL, and that his wife, Harriette (Hattie) Morrison, was born 22 June 1857 in Greensboro (Greene) GA. I also knew that my grandfather, Walton Carey WEATHERLY, had been born 24 September 1882 in Cleveland (Bradley) TN, and that his brother, Alvis Morrison WEATHERLY, had been born 2 September 1887 back in Munford (Talladega) AL. My challenge was to determine why they moved around and why, and to confirm that my grandfather was born on the date and in the place I had been told. My mother had told me that my grandfather was raised in the Baptist church. I started with the Baptist church in the town in which my grandfather died. His obituary told me he was a member of the Baptist church there, and so I wrote a letter asking for information about his membership. In particular, I requested the name and location of the church from which he transferred his membership and the date of the transfer. I received a polite letter several weeks later advising me that his membership had been transferred from The First Presbyterian Church of Rome, GA, in May of 1915. A photocopy of the membership roll was enclosed. Following that lead, I worked my way backward and contacted the church in Rome. This time I asked for the same information as before, plus any information regarding his parents and about his marriage to my grandmother. I received a reply two months later with the information that my great- grandparents' memberships had been transferred from the First Baptist Church in Munford, AL, in September 1885. In addition, there was a record of my grandfather's baptism on Sunday, 13 November 1897 at age 12. I wrote another letter and learned that my great-grandparents had been members of the church and that their membership had been transferred to a Baptist Church in Cleveland, TN, in February of 1882 and transferred back in January of 1885. Copies of the membership rolls were included, as well as copies of the minutes books in which there were notations that the letters were officially received. For The Record Based on the information I located through letters written to four churches, I was now able to trace the movements of my ancestors from Alabama to Tennessee, back to Alabama, to Georgia, and then to North Carolina. In addition, I located another piece of corroborating evidence for my grandfather's year of birth -- a record of his baptism. Locating records may not be as easy as the case I described. Sometimes records have been lost, misfiled, destroyed by fire or never kept at all. Sometimes they have been relocated to another location or taken for storage by a member of the church or clergy. The point is that you may need to search beyond the religious institution -- to the governing body or its archives, to libraries and historical societies, to personal records of clergy, and even to cemetery and mortuary records. However, with some study of the religious group and some perseverance, you may be able to locate the invaluable clues available nowhere else. Happy hunting! George Click Here for George Morgan's Archive
This column originally appeared in the Genealogy Forum on America Online. You may send E-mail alonglines@aol.com. George Morgan would like
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