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
 * Connecticut State Library Church Records Index The Church Records index covers about one-quarter of the church records held by the Connecticut State Library, mostly Congregational. There is no specific cutoff date for the index; most entries date before 1850, but there are some to the early 1900s.
 * Index cards to vital records of Connecticut churches at the Connecticut State Library. These records are restricted but may be viewed at anyFamily History Center.

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 religion 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.
 * Congregationalists would migrate westward as the new United States expanded. The first church on Vermont was established in 1762, but there were 74 Congregational churches in Vermont by 1800.
 * Expansion into the central and western parts of New York 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 cooperate with the Presbyterians,as they were both part of the Calvinist tradition. This led them to form united Presbyterian-Congregational churches in areas where ministers and resources were in short supply. This cooperation was formalized in the Plan of Union adopted in 1801 in Connecticut, and was later adopted in Vermont, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts.
 * 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 created 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.

Information Found in Church Records
Early Records: Records before the late 1800s were more like historical notes and minutes about the establishment of a church and its activities. The most useful information would be possible membership lists and baptisms (both adult and child) interspersed throughout the notes.

Registers: Standard printed registers of baptisms, confirmations, marriages, deaths/burials were not adopted until the later 1800s.

Births and Baptisms: Births were not recorded always and baptisms could be adult or child. Children's baptisms might name just the father. Adult baptisms might mention married couples. Occasionally, an entire family joined the church and were all baptized at once. Baptism was not required, so your ancestor might not show up at all.

Marriages: Name of bride and groom, residences, date of marriage, officiator's name.

Deaths: Mentioned on membership lists.

Membership Lists: Name, maybe maiden name, spouse's name, date joining church, prior congregation, and where moved to when leaving, death date and age at death.

Conversion Stories: Early on, members had to explain how they became converted, in order to join the church.

Other Records: Minute bools, disciplinary actions, financial records, church histories, obituaries of ministers.

Finding Aids

 * ArchiveGrid Use keyword "Congregational", town name, church name, or minister's name.

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 - Connecticut State Library
 * Website
 * Congregational Library and Archives Online Church Records
 * Website
 * List of church records in the Connecticut State Library e-book
 * Church Records Index The Church Records index covers about one-quarter of the church records held by the Connecticut State Library, mostly Congregational. There is no specific cutoff date for the index; most entries date before 1850, but there are some to the early 1900s.

Ministers

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