When the civil registration of a birth, marriage, or death cannot be found or does not exist, where can you turn? A good starting place will be religious records. Most Americans families have been affiliated with at least one religious group, even if they were not consistently practicing. In the not-so-distant past when recording vital events was not required, religious records usually play an important role in providing the information you need.

However, finding these records can often present a problem. The first step in locating the records is finding the ancestor's whereabouts at the time of the event. By creating a timeline using other records such as census records or directories, an ancestor's location may become evident.

Once the general location is determined, county histories can provide information about churches in the area. Many city or local directories will also contain the names and locations of churches in the area (usually in either the front or the back). Family tradition, biographies, mementos, Bibles or prayer books, and documents like birth, marriage, or death certificates can also narrow the search by providing critical denominational and church information that will be needed to find the records you seek. Obituaries will often tell where services were held, and civil records where extant can also provide critical information. Marriage licenses may provide the name of the clergyman that performed the marriage service. Then by looking up his name in a city directory, one can find the church with which he was affiliated. Death certificates may list a denominational or church cemetery. Religious records that have been saved for other family members may also provide clues.

Be sure to find out what churches were in existence at the time your ancestor lived in the area. If a church for his denomination was not available, he may have attended the closest church he could get to. Immigrants who still hadn't learned English may have attended a church that held services in their native tongue.

Once you have determined what church your ancestor attended, you may find that it no longer exists, or if it does, it may not have the records you seek. If it does exist, a call to the church may be all it takes to find the location of the records, but if the church is no longer in existence, it may take a little digging to find the records. Many denominations have their own archives where records are kept, while others may be held in local or state historical society.

The LDS Church's Family History Library Catalog is a great source of information on church records. It is available online at: http://familysearch.org/Search/searchcatalog.asp. Here you can find what records have been microfilmed by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and are available in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, and in family history centers across the country and around the world.

Church records can provide vital information in your search, and although you might have to look a little harder for them, they are well worth the search.