South Dakota Church Records

Before 1900 the largest religious groups in South Dakota were the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist Episcopal, and Congregational churches. The Family History Library has very few church records from South Dakota, but it has histories for some denominations.

Many denominations have collected their records in central repositories. You can write to the following addresses to learn where their records are located:

Congregational
Congregational Library 14 Beacon Street Boston, MA 02108 Telephone: 617-523-0470 Fax: 617-523-0470 E-mail: [mailto:jsteytler@14beacon.org jsteytler@14beacon.org] Internet: http://www.14beacon.org/

Lutheran
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA Archives) 8765 West Higgins Road Chicago, IL 60631-4198 Telephone: 773-380-2818 E-mail: info@elca.org Internet: http://www.elca.org/archives/

Many of their records can be borrowed for a small fee. For a list of the church records in their collection, see FHL fiche 6330690-93.

Methodist
Archives and History Library Dakotas Conference

United Methodist Church 1331 West University Boulevard Mitchell, SD 57301 Telephone: 605-996-6552 Fax: 605-996-1766 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 460 Mitchell, SD 57301 Internet: http://www.santel.net/~dumcc/

Roman Catholic
Diocese of Rapid City Chancery Office 606 Cathedral Drive Rapid City, SD 57709 Telephone: 605-343-3541 Fax: 605-348-7985 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 678 Rapid City, SD 57709 Internet: http://www.rapidcitydiocese.org/Home/HomePage.htm

Diocese of Sioux Falls Chancery Office 3100 West 41st Street Sioux Falls, SD 57105 Telephone: 605-334-9861 Fax: 605-333-3346 Internet: http://www.diocese-of-sioux-falls.org/

A dissertation about the history of the Catholic Church is Mary Claudia Duratschek, The Beginnings of Catholicism in South Dakota (Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1943; FHL book 978.3 K2d; Film 1036266 item 4).

Additional Online Resource:

 * South Dakota Churches - http://www.churchangel.com/southdak.htm This website is a great one in that you simply click on the town that your are looking for church records in, and a list will come up with the current churches in that city (including contact information: address, phone number, etc. In many towns there were churches that our ancestors might have attended, which are no longer "active" churches, but by contacting the churches that are currently functioning, we might be able to find information on where those records might be. You might also find it helpful to check the neighboring towns for churches that your ancestors might have attended. It is likely that if a church of their faith was not held in their town, they might have traveled a little to the next town, if the distance was not too far. Finding the church your ancestors attended might very well help in finding their cemetery records as many church members were buried in their church's cemetery.