Readers Add More Tips for Using Church Records
Grace Church, New York, 1850. (Smithsonian Open Access) Several readers commented on last week's post on finding church records , adding tips and insights that are too good not to share. My friend Barbara from Pennsylvania wrote, "Baptismal records often reveal children that were not known. I know this to be true from all the research I've done here in Pennsylvania in Catholic sacramental registers of parishes that existed long before civil records were in place. Those unknown children often died young and were 'forgotten' because families didn't discuss losing small children, no one recorded the death, cemetery records were not diligently kept, or nothing appeared in the local newspaper. If it weren't for those baptismal records, they truly would be unknown or forgotten." I was reminded by Barbara's comment that I had found the baptisms of three children I was not aware of previously in my Becker family in Catholic church records from St. ...
Can't wait to read it!
ReplyDeleteA great grandfather and great grandmother were married in New Jersey and I have a lovely form that has the signatures of all of the attendees. But it is not a marriage certificate and I wanted that. I could not find it so I contacted the New jersey vital records; they searched but found nothing. About a week later, I received a call from the archivist. She had done some searching using the minister's name (also on that form). He had been a visiting minister from an Episcopal Church in Philadelphia. I looked for the church but found that it was no longer active. Being Episcopalian, I knew that the records of former churches went to the diocese so I contacted them. They had the marriage certificate and provided me with a copy.
ReplyDeleteThis is great! It's really key to know the jurisdictions and where the records are kept, isn't it. Awesome detective work!
DeleteAnonymous, I'd like to use your comments in a blog post this week. Can you contact me at ngcintx@gmail.com or let me know your name? Thanks.
DeleteBonjour Nancy. Je suis tout-à-fait d’accord avec toi à propos de la richesse des documents paroissiaux. Les actes de baptême et de mariage en particulier permettent de retrouver les parrains, marraines et témoins. Cette information permet par exemple de mieux connaître les liens entre les personnes (qui était proche de qui ?) et d’ainsi mieux savoir si les aïeux formaient une famille unie, la famille du père ou époux et de la mère ou épouse, ou seulement d’un des deux côtés. Bonne continuation. Cousin Daniel
ReplyDeleteThank you Daniel!
DeleteInformative article, thanks very much! And especially your tip about looking for records that once resided in churches that are now closed.
ReplyDeleteGlad I was able to offer you a tip! Thanks for reading.
DeleteI am very familiar with German church records. I might write about it in my blog. I have gone through whole church books and found many of my ancestors and their descendants. Most of the church book are written in Latin. I never learnt Latin in school; however, you really only need to know a few words. Once you figure out what the pastor was writing, it's always the same with different names and dates. If there is a different word, you can use google translate or ask someone who knows the language.
ReplyDeleteI love to use a translator - either Google Translate or Deepl depending on the language. FamilySearch has some great word lists that help as well when trying to decipher church records. Thank you for reading.
DeleteMight I quote you in my next blog post? Some good ideas here...
DeleteYes, of course.
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