Another under utilized genealogy resource is Church Records. We tend to focus our research on civil records, but need to be aware that often church records pre-dated civil records and are a great resource as well. In the BMD Records section of this website there are about 15,000 collections of civil records that are available online. Yes, that's a lot, but we need to also search church records as well.
What can we find in church or synagogue records? Here's just a shortlist of what nuggets we can find:
- Baptisms and Christenings
- Marriages
- Deaths
- Burials
- Confirmations
- Membership lists
- Church Minutes
- Church Directories
- Transfer Letters
- Bar or Bat Mitzvahs
- Sunday School lists
- Church newsletters
In addition, many folks also documented important events in family bibles, so they need to be searched as well if the event information has been digitized.
Here are a couple of articles that you might find useful:
- U.S. Church Records Research Guide
- United States Church Records
- A Genealogist’s Guide to Using Catholic Records in Genealogy Research
There is a large number of Free Online Church Record collections; the links accessible by state below:.
Note: Some of the links listed below take you to a FamilySearch Collection of digital images. Near the bottom of the page under Film/Digital Notes is the name of each sub-collection. If there is a camera icon at the right of the name (in the Format column) then the collections' images are browsable. If there is a camera with a key icon, it is only available at a Family History Center or affiliated library. If there is a film reel icon, then it is only available in microfilm format, not digital.
(Updated March, 2020; recently added links are in BOLD):
- Alaska, Index to baptisms, marriages and deaths in the archives of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church , 1900-1936
- Alaska, Index to baptisms, marriages and deaths in the archives of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church in Alaska 1867-1889
- Alaska, Index to baptisms, marriages, and deaths in the archives of the Russian Orthodox Greek Catholic Church, 1890-1899
- Alaska, Russian Orthodox Church of America. Diocese of Alaska, Church Records, 1845-1917
- Cook Inlet deaths copied from Greek Church Records, 1867-1912
- Russian Orthodox Church. Afognak Parish Registers, 1896-1914
- Russian Orthodox Church. Atka Parish Registers, 1828-1898
- Russian Orthodox Church. Belkofski Parish Registers, 1875-1916
- Russian Orthodox Church. Ikogmiut Parish Registers, 1845-1936
- Russian Orthodox Church. Juneau Parish Registers, 1894-1918
- Russian Orthodox Church. Kenai Parish Registers, 1845-1933
- Russian Orthodox Church. Killisnoo Parish Registers, 1892-1917
- Russian Orthodox Church. Kodiak Parish Registers, 1826-1918
- Russian Orthodox Church. Kuskokwim Parish Registers, 1895-1917
- Russian Orthodox Church. Nuchek Parish Registers, 1894-1907
- Russian Orthodox Church. Nushagak Parish Registers, 1842-1931
- Russian Orthodox Church. Sitka Parish Registers, 1816-1917
- Russian Orthodox Church. St. George Parish Registers, 1877-1931
- Russian Orthodox Church. St. Michael Parish Registers, 1894-1904
- Russian Orthodox Church. St. Paul Parish Registers, 1842-1923
- Russian Orthodox Church. Unalaska Parish Registers, 1824-1913
- Sitka, Evangelical Lutheran Church. Russian-American Colony Metrical Books, 1857-1863
Good Luck and Happy Hunting!
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