Genealogy
Subject Guide
Introduction
Church records include parish registers, recorded marriages, baptisms, christenings, confirmations, and burials. Other church records document the church history - its organizational structure, the clergy, meeting minutes, financial records, and membership lists (including admissions and dismissals).
Church records are especially important because they "provide the best source of vital records information" from the earliest times, before civil (county and city) records existed. Church records are often more complete and accurate than civil records. For example, baptism and christening records may include the date and place of birth, the parents' names and residence, the sponsors'/godparents' names, the officiating clergy, and the mother's maiden name. In some cases church records are the only place wives' names appear.
"Church records are among the earliest evidence of ethnic groups in a particular locale." As in their native countries, immigrants' lives "centered upon their religious activities" and they depended on their churches to record "the vital records of their lives." "Church death registers have been the single most valuable source for tracing an immigrant's place of birth."
Genealogical researchers should also check this website's Vital Records and Marriage Records sections. The compilers of these sources and of town histories frequently used church records for their work.
The W.E.B. Du Bois Library's rich historical collections include a number of published church records and histories as well as an interesting selection of assorted sources.
Selective List of Materials in the W.E.B. Du Bois Library
- Ancient burying-grounds of the town of Waterbury, Connecticut, together with other records of church and townCall Number: F 104 W3 P7
Includes burials from Gunntown Episcopal Church records (1801-1857), burials and marriages (1742-1875) from the Parish of Northbury, and Congregational Church records (1765-1809) of Northbury Parish (later Plymouth). - The colonial clergy and the colonial churches of New EnglandCall Number: BR 520 W4
Special Collections BR 520 W4 1936
"For the first time a complete list of New England colonial churches and clergymen of all denominations is herein presented" (1620-1776). Alphabetically arranged by surname. Includes the individual's birthplace, date of birth, parents' names, education, death date, career, publications (sermons), dates of installation and dismissal, etc. Also offers a geographical index. - Early Connecticut marriages as found on ancient church records prior to 1800Call Number: F 93 B16
The "most complete collection extant of printed Connecticut church marriage records" to 1800. A seven-volume work solely of church records. Each volume contains a surname index. "The first settlers of Connecticut came from Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth Colonies and located at Windsor, Hartford, and Wethersfield" - Guide to church vital statistic records in the state of Rhode Island. Supplement to Guide to public vital statistics, births, marriages, deaths. Prepared by the Historical Records Survey, Division of Service Programs, Work Projects Administration.Call Number: CD 3481 H52
"The purpose of the compilation is to offer an actual guide to all extant records of births, marriages, and deaths located in the churches throughout the State or in the custody of church officials." - A history of the Episcopal church in Narragansett, Rhode Island, including a history of other Episcopal churches in the stateCall Number: Special Collections BX 5980 N2 P3 1847
The first entry in the church records was made in 1718. Includes a name and subject index. - History of the First Church in Hartford, 1633-1883Call Number: Special Collections BX 7255 H4 F57 1884
First Church of Christ - History of the Second Church of Christ in HartfordCall Number: Special Collections F 104 H3 P2 1892
This church was established in 1670. Volume contains a "Catalogue of the early members of the church, and the record of baptisms, marriages, and deaths." - Inventory of the church archives of Connecticut. Lutheran. Prepared by the Connecticut Historical Records Survey, Division of Community Service Programs, Work Projects Administration.Call Number: BX 8042 C8 H5
Another WPA project which provides a history of the church, describes the church records, and notes the locations of those records. Includes chronological, geographical, and church name indexes. - Inventory of the church archives of Vermont. Prepared by the Vermont Historical Records Survey, Division of Professional and Service Projects, Work Projects Administration.Call Number: CD 3550 H48 Number 1
"In this inventory one can readily find what the records are and where they are located. It also provides a survey of source material for the history of the Episcopal Church in Vermont." This volume is the first of the WPA's Vermont series. Contains church, clergy, and location indexes. - Les Mariages de Notre-Dame, Central Falls, R.I. (1873-1979).Call Number: F 89 C33 M37 1982
- Memorial. Genealogy, and ecclesiastical history [of First Church, New Britain, Conn.] To which is added an appendix, with explanatory notes, and a full indexCall Number: F 104 N5 A5
Highlights all members "who have been communicants of the first Church of Christ in New Britain, from its organization, April 19, 1758, to 1867." Provides very complete biographical information including lists of members' children. Also contains a name index. - New England Yearly Meeting of Friends Records, 1654-2016.Call Number: Special Collections MS 902
Quaker records which include business meeting minutes, newsletters, financial records, some personal papers, printed books and serials, and an assortment of photographs. Of particular note are the vital statistics recorded by the Monthly Meetings, including general information on births, deaths, marriages, membership, and specifically-Quaker information on removals (formal letters written as members moved from one meeting to another), denials, testimonies (beliefs and convictions), and sufferings (penalties suffered by Quakers for following testimonies). The collection includes several thousand Quaker books and pamphlets. - The New Hampshire churches; comprising histories of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches in the state, with notices of other denominations: also containing many interesting incidents connected with the settlement of townsCall Number: BR 555 N4 L3
Arranged by county and thereunder by city or town. Contains indexes of towns and clergymen. - Records of the Congregational church in Canterbury, Connecticut, 1711-1844, published jointly by the Connecticut Historical Society and the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the State of Connecticut.Call Number: F 104 C18 C2
"Many of the early settlers of Canterbury were descendants of passengers who came to Plymouth on the 'Mayflower' in 1620." - Records of the Congregational Church in Turkey Hills, now the town of East Granby, Connecticut, 1776-1858.Call Number: Special Collections F 104 E1 E13 1907
The church was organized in 1737. Records include births, baptisms, marriages, and deaths, admissions, meeting minutes, church votes, excommunications, and names of members. Has a name and subject index. - The two hundredth anniversary of the First Congregational Church of Haddam, Connecticut, October 14th and 17th, 1900. Church organized, 1696. Pastor installed, 1700.Call Number: F 104 H14 H3
Includes baptisms, marriages, deaths as well as a name index to the church records.
Also of Interest
The Special Collections and University Archives Department of the W.E.B. Du Bois Library houses a collection of more than 7,500 community cookbooks. The Beatrice McIntosh Cookery Collection includes cookbooks prepared by a variety of churches and synagogues from the 1880s to the present. "These cookbooks document important aspects of the lives of families and women in the region, as well as ethnic groups and their adaptation of traditional foods to New England. The collection is focused primarily on New England, but includes cookbooks from other states for comparative purposes." Many of the community cookbooks offer an historical introduction to the organization and most of the recipes are signed by the contributing members.
Find More
Search the Five College Catalog by Subject. Examples of subject searches:
- Church buildings - New England
- Church buildings - New Hampshire
- Clergy - New England
- New England - Church history
- Registers of births, etc. - Rhode Island
