Mississippi Church Records

Historical Background
Under French and Spanish rule beginning in the 17th century, European colonists were mostly Roman Catholics. The growth of the cotton culture after 1815 brought in tens of thousands of Anglo-American settlers each year, most of whom were Protestants from Southeastern states. Due to such migration, there was rapid growth in the number of Protestant churches, especially Methodist, Presbyterian and Baptist.

Liberty Baptist Church, Amite County The revivals of the Great Awakening in the late 18th and early 19th centuries initially attracted the "plain folk" by reaching out to all members of society, including women and blacks. Both slaves and free blacks were welcomed into Methodist and Baptist churches. Independent black Baptist churches were established before 1800 in Virginia, Kentucky, South Carolina and Georgia, and later developed in Mississippi as well.

In the post-Civil War years, religion became more influential as the South became known as the "Bible Belt".

Since the 1970s, fundamentalist conservative churches have grown rapidly, fueling Mississippi's conservative political trends among whites.[88] In 1973 the Presbyterian Church in America attracted numerous conservative congregations. As of 2010, Mississippi remained a stronghold of the denomination, which originally was brought by Scots immigrants. The state has the highest adherence rate of the PCA in 2010, with 121 congregations and 18,500 members. It is among the few states where the PCA has higher membership than the PC(USA).[89] According to the Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA), in 2010 the Southern Baptist Convention had 907,384 adherents and was the largest religious denomination in the state, followed by the United Methodist Church with 204,165, and the Roman Catholic Church with 112,488.[90] Other religions have a small presence in Mississippi; as of 2010, there were 5,012 Muslims; 4,389 Hindus; and 816 Bahá'í.[90]

Online Records

 * 1910-1919 - Mississippi, Church Records - very incomplete index

Before 1900 the largest religious groups in Mississippi were the Baptist and the Methodist Episcopal (now United Methodist) churches. The Family History Library has a few original church records for Mississippi, including some Baptist and Presbyterian documents. However, the records of these major denominations seldom include birth, marriage, and death dates.

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

Baptist
Mississippi Baptist Historical Collection Mississippi College Library 200 S. Capitol Street Clinton, MS 39060 Phone: (601) 925-3000

The Southern Baptist Historical Library and Archives 901 Commerce Street #400 Nashville, TN 37203-3630 Phone (615) 244-0344 Fax (615) 782-4821

Histories of the Baptists include:


 * Benjamin, Griffin. History of the Primitive Baptists of Mississippi. Jackson, Miss.: Barksdale and Jones, 1853. Digital version at Internet Archive; 1958 reprint:.
 * Schilling, T.C. Abstract History of the Mississippi Baptist Association, 1806-1906. New Orleans, La.: n.p., 1908. ; digital version and index at Baptist History Homepage

An 1899 directory of Baptist ministers lists biographical details about many ministers born or serving in the state:


 * The Ministerial Directory of the Baptist Churches in the United States of America. Oxford, Ohio: Ministerial Directory Co., 1899. Digital version at Google Books.

Methodist
J.B. Cain Archives of Mississippi Methodism Millsaps-Wilson Library Millsaps College 1701 North State Street Jackson, MS 39210 Phone: (601) 974-1073 Fax: (601) 974-1082

Commission on Archives and History of the United Methodist Church 36 Madison Avenue P.O. Box 127 Madison, NJ 07940 Phone: (201) 408-3590 Fax: (201) 408-3909

A helpful history is:


 * Lindsey, J. Allen. Methodism in the Mississippi Conference. Jackson, Miss.: Hawkins Foundation, Mississippi Conference Historical Society, 1964..

Roman Catholic
Diocese of Biloxi 1790 Popps Ferry Road Biloxi, MS 39532 Phone: (228) 702-2100

The diocese includes the counties of: Covington, Forrest, George, Greene, Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, Jefferson Davis, Lamar, Lawrence, Marion, Pearl River, Perry, Stone, Walthall and Wayne.

Diocese of Jackson 237 East Amite P.O. Box 2248 Jackson, MS 39225 Phone: (601) 969-1880

The diocese includes the counties of: Adams, Alcorn, Amite, Attala, Bolivar, Benton, Calhoun, Carroll, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Claiborne, Clarke, Clay, Coahoma, Copiah, DeSoto, Franklin, Grenada, Hinds, Holmes, Humphreys, Issaquena, Itawamba, Jasper, Jefferson, Kemper, Lafayette, Lauderdale, Leake, Lee, Leflore, Lincoln, Lowndes, Madison, Marshall, Monroe, Montgomery, Neshoba, Newton, Noxubee, Oktibbeha, Panola, Pike, Pontotoc, Prentiss, Quitman, Rankin, Scott, Sharkey, Simpson, Smith, Sunflower, Tallahatchie, Tate, Tippah, Tishomingo, Tunica, Union, Warren, Washington, Webster, Wilkinson, Winston, Yalobusha and Yazoo.