Montana Church Records

Before 1900 the largest religious groups in Montana were the Roman Catholic, Methodist, Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches. Each group arrived during the territorial period to proselyte among the Indians and the miners.

Missions

 * St. Francis Xavier Mission Jesuit mission 1887-1960
 * Holy Family Mission Jesuit mission 1890-1914
 * St. Ignatius Mission 1854 Catholic on Flathead Reservation
 * St. Paul's Mission 1887 Catholic on Fort Belknap Reservation
 * St. Mary's Mission Jesuit 1841-1908
 * St. Paul's Mission Catholic 1887
 * St. Peter's Mission Jesuit 1859-1898

The Family History Library has a few church records for Montana. The collection also includes histories of the United Methodists, United Brethren, and Roman Catholics.

Many denominations have gathered their records into central repositories. You can write to the following addresses to learn where their records are located.

Methodist
Montana Methodist Historical Society Paul M. Adams Memorial Library Rocky Mountain College 1511 Poly Drive Billings, MT 59102 Telephone: 406-657-1000 800-877-6259 Fax: 406-259-9751 http://library.rocky.edu/

Presbyterian
Presbyterian Historical Society United Presbyterian Church in the United States 425 Lombard Street Philadelphia, PA 19147-1516 Telephone: 215-627-1852 Fax: 215-627-0509

http://www.history.pcusa.org/

[mailto: refdesk@history.pcusa.org refdesk@history.pcusa.org]

Roman Catholic
Archives of the Diocese of Great Falls—Billings 121 23rd Street South P.O. Box 1399 Great Falls, MT 59403-1399 Telephone: 406-727-6683 Fax: 406-454-3480

Historian Archivist Diocese of Helena 515 North Ewing P.O. Box 1729 Helena, MT 59624 Telephone: 406-442-5820 Fax: 406-442-5191

The following guides may help you find church records:


 * A Directory of Churches and Religious Organizations in Montana. Bozeman, Montana: Historical Records Survey, 1941. (Family History Library book 978.6 K24h; film 908039 item 8.)
 * Inventory of the Vital Statistics Records of Church and Religious Organizations in Montana. Bozeman, Montana: Historical Records Survey, 1942. (Family History Library book 978.6 V2hi; film 1036415 item 3; fiche 6046711.) This gives the types of records available in 1942 and the years covered by the records.

A list of pre-1910 churches, their addresses, and dates they began keeping records is in Montana's Genealogical and Local History Records (see the "For Further Reading" section of this outline).