Jordan Church Records

Church registers and contracts
Research use: Church books are a primary source of birth, marriage, and death information for Christians. They identify names of parents, prove other relationships, and are very useful for linking generations.

Record type: Records of births/baptisms, marriages/marriage contracts, and deaths/burials maintained by Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Armenian Catholic, Roman Catholic, and other churches.

Time period: The earliest church records date from about 1800 to the present or until the parish was closed.

Contents: Baptisms – names of individuals, birth dates and baptismal dates, parents’ names (including often the mother's maiden name and sometimes even names of grandparents). Marriages – names of candidates, their fathers' names, date and place of marriage, ages, sometimes birthplaces, witnesses’ names and residences, other pertinent facts. Deaths and Burials – names of deceased persons, death dates and places of death and burial, ages, marital status, spouse’s name, sometimes cause of death, parent’s names of children. Contracts – Name of bride and groom and their fathers, date of the contract, sometimes mention of other relatives.

Location: Armenian Apostolic Patriarchate, Armenian Catholic Archbishopric, Roman Catholic Dioceses, and at local governmental archives and local churches.

Population coverage: About 5%.

Reliability: Excellent.