Iowa Church Records

Church Records and Archives
Church records have been kept in Iowa since the 1830s. Information from church records varies greatly, depending upon the denomination and the record keeper. Records may contain such information about members of the congregation as age, dates of baptism, christening, or birth, marriage information, wife’s maiden name, and death dates. Records may include names of other relatives who were witnesses at church events or members of the congregation. The members of some churches were predominately of one nationality or ethnic group. Knowing this may help you find the foreign town from which your ancestors immigrated.

Before 1900 the largest religious groups were the Roman Catholic, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran churches along with The Society of Friends (Quakers) and other small groups were also early settlers.

Protestant church records are a prime source for identifying the German hometowns and villages of American immigrants:


 * German Immigrants in Western Iowa Protestant Church Records
 * German Immigrants in NE Iowa Protestant Church Records

Baptist
North American Baptist Conference 1 South 210 Summit Avenue Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181 Phone: (630) 495-2000 Fax: (630) 495-0333

Church and Family History Research Assistance for Primitive Baptist Churches in Iowa, Wisconsin, and Missouri

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
Early church records, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for Iowa Wards and Branches can be found on film and are located at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The film numbers, for each ward, can be locate through the FamilySearch Catalog. Or by referring to Register of Genealogical Society Call Numbers. These volumes contain the film numbers for many (but not all) membership and temple record films.

Episcopal Church
Trinity Episcopal Church, Muscatine IA, has Parish Baptism Records online.

Lutheran
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Wartburg Theological Seminary 333 Wartburg Place Dubuque, IA 52001 Phone: (563) 589-0200 Fax: (563) 589-0333

The Wartburg Theological Seminary has Lutheran records from Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and upper Michigan. Many of the records in this repository can be borrowed for a small fee. For a list of some of the records, see:


 * ALC Congregations on Microfilm. The list is alphabetical by state and then by city.
 * American Lutheran Church Shelf List Index to Their Church Records
 * St. Peter's Lutheran Church, Montpelier Twp, has Baptism and Death records online.

Methodist
Iowa Wesleyan College Library Mt. Pleasant, IA 52641 Phone: (319) 385-6317 Fax: (319) 385-6324

You can find two of the library’s collections in:


 * Iowa Churches: A File at the Iowa Wesleyan College in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa This file consists of church histories, anniversary programs, and newspaper clippings. It is arranged by towns or by the name of the church.
 * Ministerial Biographies: A File in the Iowa Wesleyan College in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa These films contain biographies, mainly of Methodist ministers.

Presbyterian
The Presbyterian Historical Society 425 Lombard Street Philadelphia, PA 19147 Phone: (215) 627-1852 Fax: (215) 627-0509

Many of the biographies and church records of this society have been microfilmed. The society and the Family History Library are continuing to collect Iowa Presbyterian church records.

The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints World Headquarters P.O. Box 1059 Independence, MO 64051 Phone: (816) 833-1000 Fax: (816) 521-3089

Records of most Iowa congregations of this church have been microfilmed and are available at the Family History Library.

Roman Catholic
Diocese of Davenport 2706 N. Gaines Street Davenport, IA 52804 Phone: (563) 324-1911 Fax: (563) 324-5842

The diocese includes the counties of: Appanoose, Cedar, Clinton, Davis, Des Moines, Henry, Iowa, Jasper, Jefferson, Johnson, Keokuk, Lee, Louisa, Mahaska, Marion, Monroe, Muscatine, Poweshiek, Scott, Van Buren, Wapello and Washington

Diocese of Sioux City 1821 Jackson Street Sioux City, IA 51105 Phone: (712) 255-7933 Fax: (712) 233-7598

The diocese includes the counties of: Boone, Buena Vista, Calhoun, Carroll, Cherokee, Clay, Crawford, Dickinson, Emmet, Greene, Humboldt, Ida, Kossuth, Lyon, Monona, O'Brien, Osceola, Palo Alto, Plymouth, Pocahontas, Sac, Sioux, Webster, and Woodbury

Diocese of Des Moines 610 Grand Avenue Des Moines, IA 50309 Phone: (515) 243-7653 Fax: (515) 237-5070

The diocese includes the counties of: Adair, Adams, Audubon, Cass, Clarke, Dallas, Decatur, Fremont, Guthrie, Harrison, Lucas, Madison, Mills, Montgomery, Page, Polk, Pottawattamie, Ringgold, Shelby, Taylor, Union, Warren and Wayne

Archdiocese of Dubuque Archdiocesan Center 1229 Mt Loretta Ave. Dubuque, IA 52004-0479 Phone: (563) 556-2580

The diocese includes the counties of: Allamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Cerro Gordo, Chickasaw, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Floyd, Franklin, Grundy, Hamilton, Hancock, Hardin, Howard, Jackson, Jones, Linn, Marshall, Mitchell, Story, Tama, Winnebago, Winneshiek, Worth, and Wright

Society of Friends (Quaker)
Friends Historical Library Swarthmore College 500 College Avenue Swarthmore, PA 19081 Phone: (610) 328-8496 Fax: (610) 328-7329

Magill Library Haverford College Haverford, PA 19041-1392 Phone: (610) 896-1161 Fax: (610) 896-1102

Two collections of the Iowa Society of Friends records are:


 * Index to Iowa Quaker Meeting Records
 * The William Wade Hinshaw Index to Quaker Meeting Records in the Friends Library in Swarthmore College, Pennsylvania. has an index to surnames and indicates in which monthly meetings those surnames are found. These microfilms contain records of many Iowa monthly meetings.

Websites for Quaker Genealogy Helps:


 * American Friend Obituary Index
 * Friends Historical Library
 * The Quaker Corner
 * The Quaker Research Guide

Iowa Published Church Records
Periodicals have published records of many Iowa churches. These are referenced in the PERiodical Source Index (PERSI) described in the "Periodicals" page. Many denominations have collected and stored their records in central repositories. You can write to the following addresses to learn where their records are located:

Family History Library
The Family History Library has: While the majority of church records remain with the local churches, the Family History Library, and Iowa Historical Society Library, have copies of local records from some churches. See A Guide to Manuscripts at the Iowa Historical Society, described in Iowa Archives and Libraries.

Many of the local church records available at theFamilySearch Catalog have been microfilmed at various archives and libraries.

Use the Keyword Search feature on catalog drop down menu of the FamilySearch Catalog to find more records under:


 * IOWA, [COUNTY], [TOWN] - CHURCH RECORDS

While no listing of Family History Library films by repository is available, the FamilySearch Catalog identifies when and where each record was microfilmed. Example:


 * Records of churches, including Catholic, Presbyterian and the Society of Friends (see the FamilySearch Catalog).
 * Histories of denominations in Iowa, including Mennonite, Congregational, Quaker, Catholic, Baptist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, and Methodist-Episcopal.

A useful list of books and articles about the various religious groups of Iowa is found on pages 116–125 in:


 * Iowa History Reference Guide. Iowa City, Iowa: State Historical Society of Iowa, 1952. This bibliography includes sections about American Indians, immigration, land, government, courts, military, schools, churches, businesses, history, and biographies. It is arranged by subject and has an index.

Websites
Various websites identify churches in Iowa:


 * Flock Finder
 * Iowa Churches
 * Iowa Church Directory