South Dakota Church Records

United States   South Dakota    Church Records

Before 1900 the largest religious groups in South Dakota were the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Methodist Episcopal, and Congregational churches. The Family History Library has very few church records from South Dakota, but it has histories for some denominations.

Missions
St. Francis

Many denominations have collected their records in central repositories. You can write to the following addresses to learn where their records are located:

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
Early, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Church records for South Dakota Wards and Branches can be found on film and are located at the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City. The film numbers, for each ward, can be locate through the Family History Library Catalog. Or by refering to Jaussi, Laureen R., and Gloria D. Chaston. Register of Genealogical Society Call Numbers. 2 vols. Provo, Utah: Genealogy Tree, 1982. (FHL book 979.2258 A3j; fiche 6031507). These volumes contain the film numbers for many (but not all) membership and temple record films.

Congregational
Congregational Library 14 Beacon Street Boston, MA 02108 Phone: (617) 523-0470 Fax: (617) 523-0470 E-mail: [mailto:jsteytler@14beacon.org jsteytler@14beacon.org]

Lutheran
Evangelical Lutheran Church of America (ELCA Archives) 8765 West Higgins Road Chicago, IL 60631-4198 Phone: (773) 380-2818 E-mail: info@elca.org Many of their records can be borrowed for a small fee. For a list of the church records in their collection, see fiche 6330690-93.

Odessa3.org - This site contains German-Russian emigrant ancestry in pocket settlements in mid-west states of North Dakota, South Dakota and Nebraska. Contains transcribed minutes of meetings, membership lists (some with parentage listed), birth, deaths, and marriages.]

Methodist
Archives and History Library Dakotas Conference United Methodist Church 1331 West University Boulevard Mitchell, SD 57301 Phone: (605) 996-6552 Fax: (605) 996-1766 Mailing Address: P.O. Box 460 Mitchell, SD 57301

Episcopal
The Diocese of South Dakota 500 South Main Avenue Sioux Falls, South Dakota 57104-6814 Phone: (605) 338-9751 Fax: (605) 336-6243

Roman Catholic
Diocese of Rapid City 606 Cathedral Drive Rapid City, SD 57709 Phone: (605) 343-3541

The diocese includes the counties of: Bennett, Butte, Corson, Custer, Dewey, Fall River, Gregory, Haakon, Harding, Jackson, Jones, Lawrence, Lyman, Meade, Mellette, Pennington, Perkins, Shannon, Stanley, Todd, Tripp and Ziebach

Diocese of Sioux Falls 523 N. Duluth Ave. Sioux Falls, SD 57105 Phone: (605) 334-9861

The diocese includes the counties of: Aurora, Beadle, Bon Homme, Brookings, Brown, Brule, Buffalo, Campbell, Charles Mix, Clark, Clay, Codington, Davison, Day, Deuel, Douglas, Edmunds, Faulk, Grant, Hamlin, Hand, Hanson, Hughes, Hutchinson, Hyde, Jerauld, Kingsbury, Lake, Lincoln, Marshall, McCook, McPherson, Miner, Minnehaha, Moody, Potter, Roberts, Sanborn, Spink, Sully, Turner Union, Walworth and Yankton

A dissertation about the history of the Catholic Church is Mary Claudia Duratschek, The Beginnings of Catholicism in South Dakota (Washington DC: Catholic University of America Press, 1943; and

Additional Online Resource:

 * South Dakota Churches - http://www.churchangel.com/southdak.htm This website is a great one in that you simply click on the town that your are looking for church records in, and a list will come up with the current churches in that city (including contact information: address, phone number, etc. In many towns there were churches that our ancestors might have attended, which are no longer "active" churches, but by contacting the churches that are currently functioning, we might be able to find information on where those records might be. You might also find it helpful to check the neighboring towns for churches that your ancestors might have attended. It is likely that if a church of their faith was not held in their town, they might have traveled a little to the next town, if the distance was not too far. Finding the church your ancestors attended might very well help in finding their cemetery records as many church members were buried in their church's cemetery.