Illinois, Diocese of Belleville, Catholic Parish Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

What is in This Collection?
The collection consists of images of parish registers recording the events of baptism, first communion, confirmation (to 1907), marriage (to 1930) or death (to 1956) in the Diocese of Belleville (Illinois), Roman Catholic Church. The index to some volumes may reference pages within a given volume beyond our current publication dates. As such, these images are not currently available. In addition to traditional parish registers, this collection includes a small number of census, church history, family and financial records.

Entries are recorded in register books in columns or paragraphs without columns. The text of the records is in Latin and/or English.

What Can These Records Tell Me?
The following information may be found in these records:

Church
 * Name of child
 * Date and place of baptism
 * Date and place of birth
 * Parents' names
 * Names of godparents
 * Notes by priest or clerk

Collection Content
Church records in the United States began in the early 1600s. They can be found in the churches, church archives, or university archives. They normally record christenings, confirmations, marriages, and deaths.

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian church in the world. Traditionally, Catholic records have been kept at the parish level, so a majority of records will be found at the church where the event transpired.

Older Catholic records and records of defunct Catholic parishes have often been moved to archives, historical archives, or university libraries. Roman Catholics were numerous in Illinois after 1860, especially in the northern industrial areas.

To know who were members, Churches were required to record the date a person was baptized in the Christian religion. Many churches also recorded the date of birth along with the date of baptism. Churches were also required to record the burial and marriage dates of the members of the local congregation. Only some churches performed confirmations and were required to record the names of those that were confirmed members of the church.

Church records are considered a primary source. They are usually reliable because they are kept by the priest or a clerk appointed by the priest, who usually recorded an event at or very near the time it occurred.

How Do I Search This Collection?
Before searching this collection, is helpful to know:
 * The name of your ancestor
 * The approximate date of a baptism, marriage or death
 * The names of your ancestor's parents
 * The name of an intended spouse

View the Images
View images in this collection by visiting the :
 * 1) Select the County
 * 2) Select the City/Town/Village
 * 3) Select the Parish
 * 4) Select the Record Type, and Year Range to view the images

How Do I Analyze the Results?
Compare each result from your search with what you know to determine if there is a match. This may require viewing multiple records or images. Keep track of your research in a research log.

What Do I Do Next?
When you have located your ancestor’s church record, carefully evaluate each piece of information given. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details. You should also look for leads to other records about your ancestors.

I Found the Person I Was Looking For, What Now?

 * Use christening and birth records of christenings (baptisms) to identify a person’s birth date and place. These are an excellent substitute for civil birth records
 * Use confirmation records to identify a person’s birth date and place and his or her age. If only the age is given, use it to calculate the person’s death date
 * Use death or burial records to identify a person’s birth date and place. Use age at the time of death or burial to calculate the person’s birth date. These are an excellent substitute for civil death records
 * Use marriage records to identify a couple and the marriage date and place and to begin compiling a family group. These are an excellent substitute for civil marriage records
 * Use church records in general to identify other family members who may have served as witnesses to an event

I Can't Find the Person I'm Looking For, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names. You should also look for alias names, nicknames and abbreviated names
 * Look for an index. There are often indexes at the beginning of each volume. Local genealogical and historical societies often have indexes to local records
 * Search the indexes and records of nearby localities

Research Helps
The following articles will help you in your research for your family in the state of Illinois.
 * Illinois Guided Research
 * Illinois Record Finder
 * Research Tips and Strategies
 * Step-by-Step Research

Citing This Collection
Citations help you keep track of places you have searched and sources you have found. Identifying your sources helps others find the records you used.
 * Collection Citation:"Illinois, Diocese of Belleville, Catholic Parish Records, 1729-1956" Images. FamilySearch. http://FamilySearch.org : 14 June 2016. Diocese of Belleville, The Catholic Church of Southern Illinois, Belleville.

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