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. Cecilia Catholic Church in Sheldon, Wyoming, New York. A set of boy twins who lived only days and the Becker's toddler daughter all died in the same year.¹ If not for their baptismal and death records, I would not have understood the family's terrible losses.

"Infant" and Joannes Backer, twin sons of my third great-grandparents, were noted in Catholic burial records from St. Cecilia's Church in Sheldon, New York.

"I completely agree with you about the wealth of information contained in parish records. Baptism and marriage records in particular allow us to identify godparents and witnesses," my Belgian cousin Daniel wrote. "This information allows us, for example, to better understand the relationships between people (who was close to whom?) and thus to better understand whether the ancestors formed a united family, the family of the father or husband and the mother or wife, or only one side."

Daniel is right. I discovered the identities of my second great grandfather Charles Cassidy's godparents this year. His godfather was Daniel Cassidy, an uncle, and his godmother was Mary Ann Saul, an older cousin. Both were related on his father's side of the family; in fact, both Daniel and Mary Ann were  living on the same farm with Charles' parents when he was born and baptized.²

 

Daniel Cassidy and Mary Ann Saul were uncle and cousin to Charles Cassidy, as well as his godparents.

Reader Yvonne wrote, "I am very familiar with German church records. 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."

Excellent point, Yvonne! Catholic records in particular are usually written in Latin or even other foreign languages, depending on where your ancestors lived at the time of the record creation. Using translations tool like Google Translate or Deepl can really help you figure out the meaning of the church records. Foreign word lists like the one below from the FamilySearch Research Wiki can help you identify what a word might be by comparing the word in the record with words on the list if the handwriting is difficult to read or the spelling is unclear.

  

A Latin key word list from FamilySearch includes many words we might find in a church record.

Here are five word lists for researchers to get started with; more can be found in the FamilySearch Research Wiki: 

• Latin Genealogical Word List 
• German Genealogical Word List 
• French Genealogical Word List 
• Italian Genealogical Word List 
• Spanish Genealogical Word List

 

Finally, Howland shared this success story, "A 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."

Howland reminds researchers that sometimes we have to follow the paper trail, especially if the church records have changed hands over time due to churches closing or because of document retention practices. Well done on finding the marriage record, Howland! 

I appreciate all the comments and tips that were shared. Thanks for taking the time to help us all learn.

Until next time... 

© Nancy Gilbride Casey, 2025. All rights reserved. 

 

NOTES 

¹ St. Cecilia Catholic Church, Sheldon, Wyoming, New York, record of interments, 1857-June 1876, np, "Infant" and Joannes Bäcker, 28 August 1863; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4R-59GC-Q : 12 December 2023); citing parish records, Sheldon. Also, St. Cecilia Catholic Church, Sheldon, Wyoming, New York, record of interments, 1857-June 1876, np, Elisabeth Backer, d. 6 December 1863, buried 7 December 1863; digital image, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS4R-59GC-Q : 12 December 2023); citing parish records, Sheldon. 

² Nancy Gilbride Casey, "A Move, a Marriage, and More: Mary Jane's Story Continues," Leaves on the Tree, (https://myleavesonthetree.blogspot.com/2025/03/a-move-marriage-and-more-mary-janes.html), 19 March 2025. Also, "Only Change is a Given," Leaves on the Tree (https://myleavesonthetree.blogspot.com/2025/03/only-change-is-given.html), 26 March 2025.