Maine Church Records

Church records and the information they provide vary significantly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age, date of baptism, christening, or birth; marriage information and maiden names; and death date. Records may include names of other relatives who were witnesses or members of the congregation. The members of some churches were predominantly of one nationality or ethnic group.

Dunham-Wilcox-Trott-Kirk indexes church, cemetery, probate and other early New England, New York and New Jersey records with links to abstracts of the records.

Before 1900 the largest religious groups in were the Congregational, Baptist, Roman Catholic, and Methodist Episcopal churches.

Some denominations have their records in central repositories. You can contact the following to learn where their records are located:

Baptist
American Baptist Historical Society 3001 Mercer University Dr. Atlanta, Georgia 30341 Telephone: (678) 547-6680

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
Early church records, for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for Maine wards and branches can be found on film and are located at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The film numbers for each ward can be located through the FamilySearch Catalog or by referring to:


 * Jaussi, Laureen R., and Gloria D. Chaston. Register of Genealogical Society Call Numbers.... 2 vols. Provo, Utah: Genealogy Tree, 1982. These volumes contain the film numbers for many (but not all) membership and temple record films.

Roman Catholic
Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland P.O. Box 11559 (mailing address) 510 Ocean Avenue Portland, Maine 04104-7559 Phone: (207) 773-6471

Sacramental records (baptism, marriage, etc.) are kept by the individual parishes.

The diocese includes the counties of: Androscoggin, Aroostook, Cumberland, Franklin, Hancock County, Maine, Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc, Somerset, Waldo, Washington and York

The Drouin Collection Early U.S. French Catholic Church Records, 1695-1954 ($) (Ancestry). This database only contains the French Catholic parish records from the United States in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New York, and Pennsylvania. It is the U.S. part of the U.S. and French-Canadian Drouin Collection. For more details see "The Drouin Collection: Six Databases"

The types of records include baptisms, marriages, and burials as well as confirmations, dispensations, censuses, statements of readmission to the church, and so on. They are written in French (mainly) as well as English, Latin, and Italian.

Congregational
The Congregational Library 14 Beacon Street Boston, Massachusetts 02108 Phone: (617) 523-0470

Episcopal
Archives of the Diocese of Maine Attn: Archivist 143 State Street Portland, ME 04101 Phone: (207) 772-1953, ext. 137

Methodist
Boston University School of Theology Library 745 Commonwealth Avenue Boston, MA 02215 Phone: (617) 353-1323

Additional Sources

 * Maine Historical Society - Collections include many Unitarian, Baptist, Quaker, Methodist, and Congregational church records.

A helpful list of churches existing in 1940 is:


 * Historical Records Survey (Maine). Directory of Churches and Religious Organizations in Maine. Portland: Maine Historical Records Survey Project, 1940. These records show locations of over 1,700 churches and religious organizations in Maine and give a brief history of the beginning of the various religions in Maine.

Church histories from the Lewiston Daily Sun and Evening Journal. Maine Genealogy Network

Wiki articles describing online collections are found at:


 * Maine Births and Christenings (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Maine Deaths and Burials (FamilySearch Historical Records)
 * Maiine Marriages (FamilySearch Historical Records)