Presbyterian Church in the United States

United States   Church Records   Presbyterian Church Records

History in the United States
Seventeenth and eighteenth century immigrants from Scotland and Northern Ireland brought Presbyterianism to Pennsylvania and later to many of the middle and southern colonies. By the mid-eighteenth century, Presbyterianism had nearly as many members as the Anglican and Congregationalist churches.

Types of Records
Christening Marriage Death and Burial

The Presbyterian Historical Society has an online index for their collection. This includes a Congregation Vertical Files Index, a Biographical Vertical Files Index and Hall's Index of American Presbyterian Congregations. Hall's index includes a brief history of each Congregation with date it was formed, changed, and/or ended and also has a link to the Historical Society's search engine called CALVIN which leads to the records the Society holds in regards to that Congregation.

Where they are Located

 * Southern Region


 * Presbyterian Church (USA) Dept. of History 318 Georgia Terrace Box 849 Montreat, NC 28757 Telephone: 704-669-7061 Fax: 704-669-5369 Internet: http://www.upress.virginia.edu/epub/pyatt/mont01.html


 * Northern Region


 * Presbyterian Historical Society 425 Lombard Street Philadelphia, PA 19147-1516 Telephone: 215-627-1852 Fax: 215-627-0509 Address inquiries to: Genealogical Inquiries, Dept. of History and Record Management Services at the above address. To conduct a family name search, the name of the family's congregation must be known. Internet: www.history.pcusa.org


 * The Presbyterian Church website at pcusa.org has a locator for finding congregations in the United States.


 * Ancestry.com $ has a wide selection of Presbyterian records. To access these records, click on "search" then "search all records"  find the card catalog and type "presbyterian" in the "keyword" box.


 * For their obituaries, news clippings, ministerial service, genealogies, histories, and biographical sketches see:


 * Presbyterian Historical Society (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). Miscellaneous Biographical Collection. Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1967. (On 69 Family History Library films starting with 506383
 * Benedetto, Robert. Guide to the Manuscript Collections of the Presbyterian Church, USA. New York, New York: Greenwood Press, 1990. Book 973 A3ben. Indexed.


 * Ulster Ireland Presbyterian Immigrants An account of the (mainly) Ulster Presbyterians who immigrated to America in the 18th century and includes genealogical information. It also provides detail on the social and political conditions that the immigrants faced during that period. An extensive index is included.