"Hallelujah!" Researching African American Church Records

Role of Religion in African American Communities
African American churches provided a great deal of support for local communities and people. Their role in local jurisdictions helped to promote record keeping and preservation which helps us to conduct genealogical research. As you discover more about churches that your ancestor's attended, it can paint a more accurate of your ancestor and their values. Religion helped to:


 * Connect communities
 * Give hope
 * encourage civil rights
 * lead school and education initiatives
 * promote and lead social welfare functions

Here are a couple articles and websites to read and discover more about the role of religion in local communities:


 * JSTOR articles:
 * "The Enduring Legacy of an African-American Plantation Church" https://www.jstor.org/stable/2717754?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents
 * "The Church, the Family, and the School in the African American Community" https://www.jstor.org/stable/2295494?seq=9#metadata_info_tab_contents
 * The Church in the Southern Black Community
 * African American Church Records
 * Historic African American Churches

Genealogical Value
Church records are a great resource for any genealogical research, but it can especially be helpful in African American research especially as you consider a lack of other record types in the 1800s. Church records are valuable as they a good substitute for vital records and provide community context. Many family members would attend the same local churches, thus their records may also be located in the same church. This allows for easier connections to be made between family members. One of the key values to church records is that there are possible documents and information available for ancestors during their enslavement.

There are three main types of church records:


 * Baptism
 * Information in these records could include: name of baptized child/adult, parents of child, date of baptism, date of birth, godparents/witnesses, and enslaver
 * Marriage
 * Information in these records could include: bride and groom names, ages, residences, parents, occupations, and marital status; date of marriage, person preforming marriage, and place of marriage
 * Burial
 * Information in these records could include: name and age of deceased, previous residence, date and place of death, and date and place of burial

Another record type that you may often find, especially pre-1865, are member lists or lists of communicants. These records are generally just lists of names, but sometimes they would even list the enslaver of African Americans listed. This can help to track your ancestors to different households, jurisdictions, and possibly to plantations. This expands the ability to conduct research on your ancestor.

Identifying Churches
When researching your ancestors in church records, trying using the following steps:


 * 1) Determine where your ancestor lived (preferably the town level)
 * 2) Determine your ancestor's denomination (ask relatives as many continued to worship in the same denomination through generations)
 * 3) Locate possible churches in the area of residence
 * 4) Locate the repositories for the church's records (call the church or contact the nearest diocese office)
 * 5) Use indexes or previously known information to locate records for your ancestors in those collections

One of the biggest issues when doing church record research in the United States is know what church or denomination your ancestor was a member of. There are a few ways to attempt to hurdle this barrier.


 * Try looking for clues in other records; were there any mentions of religious officials in vital records or was your ancestor buried in a church cemetery? Many marriage licenses and registers stated who married the couple and they may have even written the church that they were married at too. Go through your current sources and records, making sure to read carefully and completely.
 * Ask living descendants. Many families stay in the same church/denomination for generations after, and you may be surprised to discover that your grandmother knew what church her parents and grandparents attended.
 * Research neighbors and other family members. Do your FAN (friends, associates, neighbors) methodology and expand your research parameters. People associated with those with like-lifestyles and this includes those who attended the same church.
 * Use geography as a clue. Open up local or historical maps of where your ancestor resided. What churches were in this area? What churches were the closest to where your ancestor lived?

Locating churches is the next step once you've identified some possible churches. This step could also help you to determine the denomination of your ancestor. Contact these churches to find where they house their records. Try the following:


 * Talk to local genealogical or historical societies. These societies often created lists or have contacts with the local churches. They could also be caretakers of certain church records. Societies might even get you in contact with someone to help search physical records at the church.
 * Use Google or other mapping applications. A simple google search for the name of the church can pull up phone numbers, addresses, websites, and emails. Other mapping applications sometimes have a similar feature. Keep in mind that the church your ancestor attended may have changed their name.
 * Use records for church information and clues. Try looking into city directories, newspapers, county histories, and even cemetery records. City directories have an entire section for local churches, and they often wrote the current pastor or preacher running the church. Newspaper notices for life events could also mention the churches that your ancestor attended. You can even search the name of the church in the newspaper to learn more about their community and events. County histories may have denominational histories, religious leader biographies, and more history involving the church.
 * Use the FamilySearch Research Wiki. There are church sections for each county in the United States pages. For many, there could be contact information on these churches

Finding Church Records
Once you have located the church for your ancestor, the next step is to view their records and find your ancestors. This step can be the most frustrating as many church records are not digitized, and you may have to contact a number of places and people in order to get access to their records. There are some great online resources to start with:

Don't stop at the individual church records for your ancestors. If you are not finding records on your ancestors, try checking denominational histories, histories of congregations, biographies of church leaders and officials, newspaper articles on churches, and societal articles on local churches and African American history. There is always a chance that your family could be mentioned in these records or they might give you other ideas on churches that you could research in.
 * FamilySearch:
 * Using the FamilySearch Catalog Search for the town or the county where your ancestor lived to find church record collections that we have available on our website. If you find a collection of interest, be sure to read the notes section on the collection page to learn more or even learn where to find an index in the record.
 * Using the FamilySearch Wiki Search at the county level and locate the church records section. There may be links to record collections or contact information for local churches
 * Ancestry:
 * Using Ancestry's Card Catalog Search in the keyword section for your ancestor's denomination, area of residence, or the word "church." They have a great number of church record collections, but you may have to filter by location or record type on the left-hand bar.
 * State/Local Library, Societial, and Archive websites:
 * There are a lot of great websites that have information on local churches and their records. Below are a few to get you started, but try doing a simple Google search for your state/county/town and church records or African American church records to find more websites.
 * Library of Virginia
 * Gale Family Library

Here are a few tips and things to be aware of when doing church record research:


 * Need to know the town of residence or general area within a county to start your research
 * Locate any indexes, check the front and back of collections for these
 * Expand your search parameters
 * Record EVERY name
 * Write down possible relatives in indexes
 * Not all church records are digitized. You may get to visit the churches in person to locate records
 * Keep an eye out for segregated or mixed record collections. Be aware of which collections you are searching in and read any notes on the collection before getting into them.

Other Links to African American Church Record Resources

 * NEHGS African American Resources
 * African American Genealogy
 * African American Church Records
 * US Gen Web
 * Encyclopedia of the African Methodist Episcopal Church
 * AccessGenealogy African American Genealogy

Other FamilySearch Helpful Links

 * Previous webinars can be viewed on the Family History Library Facebook Page for a limited time at https://www.facebook.com/familyhistorylibrary
 * Visit the Family History Library Website at https://www.familysearch.org/family-history-library
 * View upcoming webinars at on the Family History Library Webinars Wiki page at https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Family_History_Library_Classes_and_Webinars
 * Watch recorded classes in the FamilySearch Learning Center at https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/learning-center
 * Sign-up for a free Virtual Genealogy Consultation Strategy Session at https://www.familysearch.org/family-history-library/family-history-library-research-consultations
 * Request a record lookup at https://www.familysearch.org/family-history-library/family-history-library-records-look-up-service
 * Join a FamilySearch Community at https://community.familysearch.org/s/

In-Class Links and Resources
During this webinar, there may be links or resources that may be helpful with your research. We will update this section with ideas, record collections, or resources that may get mentioned either in the chat or in the Q&A section of the webinar.