Congregational Church in the United States

United States   Church Records   Congregational Church Records 

Online Records
"In this series you will find records of: church meetings and votes; births, deaths, baptisms, and marriages; church discipline, including admonitions, confessions, censures, and excommunications; ecclesiastical council minutes. Of particular note are the personal conversion narratives, called "relations", found in several of the collections. These documents, prepared by any individual seeking church membership, offer insight into many under-documented populations including women, children, Native Americans, slaves, and indentured servants."
 * Congregational Library and Archives Online Church Records

History

 * In 1660, approximately 75 percent of the total population of the thirteen British colonies was either Anglican or Congregationalist.
 * Congregational churches trace their history back to nonconforming Protestants, Puritans, Separatists, Independents, English religious groups coming out of the English Civil War, and other English dissenters not satisfied with the degree to which the Church of England had been reformed. The Puritans who established the Massachusetts Bay Colony and the Separatists of Plymouth Colony were the first of many groups known as Congregationalists.
 * Within the United States, the model of Congregational churches was carried by migrating settlers from New England into New York, then into the Old North West, and further. By 1776, there were 668 Congregational churches—21 percent of all churches in America.
 * Congregationalism had been a tradition largely confined to New England, but Congregationalists would migrate westward as the new United States expanded. Vermont was the first of these new territories to be opened up. The first church was established in 1762, but there were 74 Congregational churches in Vermont by 1800.
 * Congregational churches had been present in eastern New York prior to the Revolution, but expansion into the central and western parts of that state took place in the 1790s as emigration increased from Massachusetts and Connecticut. As New Englanders settled in the Old Northwest, they brought Congregationalism with them. The First Congregational Church of Marietta, Ohio, gathered in 1796, is the oldest Congregational church in the region.
 * The challenge of building churches and providing ministers for western settlements motivated many Congregationalists to engage in closer cooperation with the Presbyterians. While the two denominations had different systems of church government, they were both part of the Calvinist tradition. This shared heritage and the necessity of evangelizing the west led them to form united Presbyterian-Congregational institutions and churches in areas where ministers and resources were in short supply. This cooperation was formalized in the Plan of Union, first adopted in 1801 between the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America and the General Association of Connecticut. The plan was later adopted by the Vermont General Convention, the New Hampshire General Association and the Massachusetts General Association.
 * The Presbyterians gained more from the union than the Congregationalists. Around 2000 churches founded as Congregationalist in the states of New York, Ohio, Illinois and Michigan switched allegiance to the Presbyterian Church. The plan allowed for churches to hire pastors from either denomination and the creation of mixed churches that could belong to either a Congregational association or a local presbytery of the Presbyterian Church. Records of Congregational ancestors, therefore are frequently found in Presbyterian church records.
 * In 1825, churches of the American Unitarian Association were created as a split from the Congregational Church.
 * In the 20th century, the Congregational tradition in America fragmented into three different denominations. The largest of these is the United Church of Christ, which resulted from a 1957 merger with the Evangelical and Reformed Church. Congregationalists who chose not to join the United Church of Christ founded two alternative denominations: the National Association of Congregational Christian Churches and the Conservative Congregational Christian Conference. Source: Wikipedia: Congregational Church and Congregationalism in the United States

Congregational Religion Family Tree

 * United Church of Christ/Congregational:  This family tree diagrams the interrelationships between the various Congregational-related church organizations.

Writing to Local Churches

 * National Association of Congregational Christian Churches Member Churches Map
 * Conservative Congregational Christian Conference Church Directory

Congregational Library
Congregational Library and Archives 14 Beacon Street Boston, MA 02108 Telephone: 617-523-0470 Fax: 617-523-0470
 * Website
 * Congregational Library and Archives Online Church Records

Ministers

 * A list of Congregational ministers and the churches or circuits they served.