Before the United States government required birth certificates, before county courthouses kept systematic records of marriages and deaths, before any of the civil record keeping systems we rely on today existed, churches were keeping records.
Baptism registries. Marriage books. Death records. Membership rolls. Burial registers. Account books. Meeting minutes.
For hundreds of years in communities all across this country and going back much further in Europe, the church was where the record of ordinary life got kept. And a remarkable amount of that record still exists.
What Church Records Contain
A baptism record will give you a child's name, date of baptism, and often the names of both parents and godparents. For genealogists trying to trace a family back before civil registration began this is often the only record that a person existed at all.
Marriage records contain names of both parties, often the names of witnesses who were frequently family members, and sometimes the names of parents. They place people in a specific community at a specific time.
Death and burial records give dates and often causes of death. In some traditions they give ages, which allows birth dates to be estimated even when no birth record exists.
Membership rolls list everyone who was part of a congregation over time. For communities where many people were part of the same church these rolls can serve as a census of the community going back generations.
Where These Records Are Now
Some old church records are still in the possession of the congregation that created them. If the church is still active, a polite inquiry to the pastor or church secretary can sometimes get you access.
Many old records have been donated to or deposited with local historical societies, county libraries or state archives. Some have been microfilmed and are available through the Family History Library operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which has one of the largest collections of genealogical records in the world and makes much of it available free online at FamilySearch.org.
Some denominations have centralized archives where historical records from congregations across the country are preserved. The Catholic Church, various Protestant denominations and other religious traditions each have their own archival systems.
What You Can Do
If you are doing family history research, identify the churches your ancestors were likely members of and search for their records. FamilySearch.org is a good starting point and is completely free.
If you belong to a church with old records, advocate for their preservation. Records stored in a church basement can be damaged by floods, fire or simple deterioration. Getting them scanned and deposited with a library or archive is the safest way to ensure they survive.
If you know of an old church building that has been abandoned or converted to another use, try to find out what happened to its records. Sometimes they were saved. Sometimes they are still sitting somewhere in need of attention.
These records are older than the country in many cases. They have lasted this long. With a little effort they can last much longer.
Robert Lee Beers III is a writer and digital preservation advocate based in North Charleston South Carolina.
