How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records, A Genealogist’s Guide was recently written by Sunny Jane Morton and Harold A. Henderson, CG. I find the book to be extremely useful, and it’s a guide I now will go to regularly. Years ago, While publishing Heritage Quest Magazine, I ran a regular column detailing the holdings of various churches. It was at that time that I realized how important, and underused U.S. church records happened to be. Now we’ve got a guide to help us find those records. Following are the details on this new book.
How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records, A Genealogist’s Guide: With Specific Resources for Major Christian Denominations before 1900; by Sunny Jane Morton and Harold A. Henderson; 154 pp; paperback; 8.5×11; Published: 2019; ISBN: 9780806320953; Item # GPC3911D
Records created by the major Christian denominations before 1900 in the United States are an underutilized resource for family historians. In these records, you may find ancestors’ births, maiden or married names, marriage details, deaths, family relationships, other residences, and even immigrants’ overseas birthplaces. You may uncover information about ancestors who have been unnamed in other records–women, children, ethnic minorities, immigrants, and the poor. You may find details about your ancestors recorded long before the existence of civil records.
However, it is not always an easy task to track down U.S. church records. How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records is a unique, peer-reviewed publication that takes researchers step-by-step through the process of identifying, locating, and gaining access to these genealogical gems.
Included in this book are hundreds of links to church research resources, as well as chapters devoted to specific resources for the major Christian denominations before 1900. More than 30 archivists, historians, and genealogical experts in specific faith traditions have contributed their knowledge to these denominational chapters.
The following is from the Table of Contents:
Introduction
PART 1: FAMILY HISTORY RESEARCH IN CHURCH RECORDS
- 1. What’s in Church Records?
- 2. How to Identify Your Ancestor’s Church
- 3. How to Find and Order Church Records
- 4. Tips For Working With Old Church Records
- 5. More Records About Church Life
PART 2: THE DENOMINATIONS
- 6. Anglican/Episcopal
- 7. Baptist
- 8. Congregational
- 9. Dutch Reformed/Reformed Church in America
- 10. German Churches: Reformed and Sectarian
- 11. Latter-Day Saint (Mormon)
- 12. Lutheran
- 13. Mennonite and Amish
- 14. Methodist
- 15. Quaker (Religious Society of Friends)
- 16. Presbyterian
- 17. Roman Catholic
- Index
How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records, A Genealogist’s Guide: With Specific Resources for Major Christian Denominations before 1900; by Sunny Jane Morton and Harold A. Henderson; 154 pp; paperback; 8.5×11; Published: 2019; ISBN: 9780806320953; Item # GPC3911D
