9.2 Church Records
The FamilySearch Wiki is a good jumping off point for church records research because the Wiki for the place of interest will list the most valuable church collections in that area. This is not a comprehensive list. Once the collections listed on the Wiki have been searched, check the catalog for the place to determine if other record sets may prove useful.
One of the best uses of church records is as BMD substitutes. A baptism may substitute for a birth record by listing the date of birth. Even if the birth is not listed, the baptism of an infant is an important record that gives an approximated time period in which the infant was most likely born.
CHICAGO STYLE:
Begin with the collection in quotation marks, person’s name with event and standardized date, describe the database, add the italicized website, then accessed date in spelled out month, numerical day, year format, end with the text of the url.1
“Mexico, Baptisms, 1560-1950,” Nicolasa Camal Coy christened 1 November 1673, indexed database, MyHeritage, accessed February 5, 2025, https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-30039-40697672-M/ursula-coy-in-mexico-baptisms.
EVIDENCE EXPLAINED:
If there is an author listed that name goes first. For church records it is possible the name of the church could be considered the author and would be followed by (location). List the collection name in quotations, next describe the database, list the website in italics, in parenthesis paste the url : standardized access date, follow with “entry for” name and event with details about the document like item, film, page, or certificate numbers.2
San Francisco De Asis (Conkal, Yucatan, Mexico), "Mexico, Baptisms, 1560-1950,” indexed database, MyHeritage (https://www.myheritage.com/research/record-30039-40697672-M/ursula-coy-in-mexico-baptisms : accessed 5 February 2025), entry for Nicolasa Camal Coy christened 1 November 1673, film 648173, batch C61899-1, reference 2:Q4JHPC.
SENSIBLE CITATION:
Start with the collection in quotation marks, then list the person’s name with the event followed by standardized date and place, describe the database, insert identifying information about the record like film, page, or certificate numbers, add the website in italics, end with the standardized access date. Embed the url within the citation from the person’s name to the end of the standardized place.
“Mexico, Baptisms, 1560-1950,” Nicolasa Camal Coy christened on 1 November 1673 in San Francisco De Asis, Conkal, Yucatan, Mexico, indexed database, film 648173, batch C61899-1, reference 2:Q4JHPC, MyHeritage, accessed 5 February 2025.
Marriage records are more clear-cut. If the church record is for the marriage ceremony, the date of the marriage will be listed as clearly as it would be on a civil record.
CHICAGO STYLE:
Begin with the collection in quotation marks, person’s name with event and standardized date, describe the database, add the italicized website, then accessed date in spelled out month, numerical day, year format, end with the text of the url.3
“Sri Lanka, Colombo District Dutch Reformed Church Records, 1677-1990,” John Raffel married Jane Caroline deRun on 17 January 1863, image only database, Ancestry, accessed February 5, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60169/images/MM9.3.1_2FTH-1-9954-11147-97?usePUB=true&_phsrc=qeJ3748&pId=7708.
EVIDENCE EXPLAINED:
If there is an author listed that name goes first. For church records it is possible the name of the church could be considered the author and would be followed by (location). List the collection name in quotations, next describe the database, list the website in italics, in parenthesis paste the url : standardized access date, follow with “entry for” and details about the document like item, film, page, or certificate numbers.4
“Sri Lanka, Colombo District Dutch Reformed Church Records, 1677-1990,” image only database, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/60169/images/MM9.3.1_2FTH-1-9954-11147-97?usePUB=true&_phsrc=qeJ3748&pId=7708 : accessed 5 February 2025) entry for John Raffel married Jane Caroline deRun on 17 January 1863, image 3 of 37.
SENSIBLE CITATION:
Start with the collection in quotation marks, then list the person’s name with the event followed by standardized date and place, describe the database, insert identifying information about the record like film, page, or certificate numbers, add the website in italics, end with the standardized access date. Embed the url within the citation from the person’s name to the end of the standardized place.
“Sri Lanka, Colombo District Dutch Reformed Church Records, 1677-1990,” John Raffel married Jane Caroline deRun on 17 January 1863 in the Presbyterian Church at Colombo, Sri Lanka, image-only database, image 3 of 37, Ancestry, accessed 5 February 2025.
A church burial record will usually list the date of death. As discussed previously, slow down when researching church records and be deliberate about recording exactly what the document states. Do not make assumptions. Record the dates and places exactly as they are recorded on the document.
CHICAGO STYLE:
Begin with the collection in quotation marks, person’s name with event and standardized date, describe the database, add the italicized website, then accessed date in spelled out month, numerical day, year format, end with the text of the url.5
“Styria, Austria, Catholic Church Registers, 1614-1938,” Maria Anna John buried on 30 April 1901, database with images, Ancestry, accessed February 5, 2025, https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61848/records/19074?tid=&pid=&queryId=fa391989-9131-4673-b522-c9de90abeeea&_phsrc=qeJ3737&_phstart=successSource.
EVIDENCE EXPLAINED:
If there is an author listed that name goes first. For church records it is possible the name of the church could be considered the author and would be followed by (location). List the collection name in quotations, next describe the database, list the website in italics, in parenthesis paste the url : standardized access date, follow with “entry for” and details about the document like item, film, page, or certificate numbers.6
“Styria, Austria, Catholic Church Registers, 1614-1938,” database with images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/61848/records/19074?tid=&pid=&queryId=fa391989-9131-4673-b522-c9de90abeeea&_phsrc=qeJ3737&_phstart=successSource : accessed 5 February 2025), entry for Maria Anna John burial, image 619 of 773.
SENSIBLE CITATION:
Start with the collection in quotation marks, then list the person’s name with the event followed by standardized date and place, describe the database, insert identifying information about the record like film, page, or certificate numbers, add the website in italics, end with the standardized access date. Embed the url within the citation from the person’s name to the end of the standardized place.
“Styria, Austria, Catholic Church Registers, 1614-1938,” Maria Anna John buried on 30 April 1901 in Admont, Beerdigung, Styria, Austria, database with images, image 619 of 773, page 227, line 12, Ancestry, accessed 5 February 2025.
Although baptism/christening records, marriage records, and burial records are the main documents that come to mind when speaking of church records, there are many different types of documents available under the “church records” umbrella. Churches provided social services and other functions in communities long before civil government began offering help to the poor or setting up courts in every area.7 Because of this, even if someone is sure their ancestors were not religious, there may be records about them kept in a church. In England, “for hundreds of years the parish was the most important unit of local government,”8 so records like pauper’s roles, account books, donations, court documents addressing local disputes, and meeting records may all have been recorded by the church.
Besides serving as a local court, the church could also be a repository for items now considered legal documents. Researchers may find wills, property deeds, business agreements, and other items of interest within church records. Even the usual church attendance and participation records may contain details about ancestors who were not religious. For example, in the early 1800s, Australian law demanded that convicts attend church services.9
Researching a specific church can uncover historical context to use in reports and visually appealing elements like photographs, maps, and illustrations may also be discovered.
An interesting type of church record that can be used as a census substitute is a document ministers give to a parishioner when that person moves to a different place; this document states they are in good standing with the church and an upright citizen of the community. These recommendations may have been recorded in the place where someone moved to, but a note of that person leaving and their intentions may also exist in the place of previous residence.
Church records may go back centuries in some places and may not have survived in others. Even within the same country, the availability of records will vary. In the United Kingdom, “extensive records have survived for some parishes, including minutes of meetings of parish officials, apprenticeship records, rate books, poor relief expenditure books, and papers about settlement and bastardy. However, many records have been lost or destroyed, so that few papers survive for some parishes.”10