Tracing Genealogy through Church Records
Using church records to trace genealogical information is a great resource that is rapidly being discovered by those who are tracing their family tree information. Your church or the church that your family belonged to in the past may have extensive records. Many do.
The most well known church records for genealogy research are those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Mormons. The LDS church maintains extensive records and several web sites, and you don’t have to be a member of their church to access the records as they consider genealogy records to be part of the mission of their church. They have a free genealogy search engine, as well as links to many other sites that can assist in research. Links include US, British and Canadian census records online. The LDS church also offers a free workbook for researchers and other tools either free or at a very low cost that can prove helpful.
Many other churches also keep records of membership, marriages, births, confirmation, baptism, death, anniversaries and other important events in the lives of their members. If your church is part of a large denomination there may be a central record center where this information is kept. If you or your family belonged to a smaller church, you may have to visit the church or write to the pastor to gain this information. Many times the logs or journals of pastors will be passed down from one to another. If logs or journals are not available, church records will generally show attendance and that can help tremendously in determining if your family members were at this particular church during the specified time period.
In the country many churches have adjoining cemeteries and extensive burial records. One family researcher has been known to hang out at cemeteries reading the inscriptions on grave stones looking for long lost relatives, and has had very good results. Other researchers have had good luck with the records of church affiliated organizations. As an example, the Knights of Columbus is a Catholic organization for men that has been around for a very long time and keeps records of membership. This is a group formed to provide men of the parish with a meeting place for fellowship and an organizational structure for doing good works for the community.
The various rites of the Masonic Lodge has a similar goal and has had affiliation with many Protestant churches and one genealogic researcher discovered that most of her male ancestors were members of a particular lodge, which led her to visit that lodge and ask for help in finding records of her ancestors. The lodge members were quite helpful. It turned out that in the small community where the lodge was located most of the members were also members of the same area churches, and many of the records coincided. As fortune would have it, one of the churches also had a nearby cemetery and she was able to find the graves of many ancestors by visiting there, as well as photographs of two grandfathers and two great grandfathers who had been Lodge Masters during the years. This was a rare find, and proved the value of checking with churches, cemeteries and fraternal orders.
Family bibles often have indispensable information, and while most families keep possession of the family bible, some donate them to churches. If this is the case, checking out the family bibles of other families in the area can give clues to what may have been going on with your own family around that time.
Of course, if your family is from a rural area there may be less organization than would be found in a larger or older city. Boston for instance is filled with churches and graveyards, and most of them keep very good records. On the other hand, a small town in Arizona may not have been settled that long ago in the grand scheme of things and may not have records that are as extensive. But, you never know until you check it out, and part of family tree research is following leads to see where they go. While one lead may dry out, it also may split off and lead you in a different and more productive direction.
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