Methodist Church in the United States

United States   Church Records   Methodist Church Records 

History in the United States
The history of Methodism in the United States dates back to the mid-18th century. Following the American Revolution, most of the Anglican clergy who had been in America went back to England. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, sent Thomas Coke to America where he and Francis Asbury founded the Methodist Episcopal Church, which was to later establish itself as the largest denomination in America during the 19th century.

Methodism thrived in America thanks to the First and Second Great Awakenings beginning in the 1700s. Various African-American denominations were formed during this period, including the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

In the early 20th century, many of the splintered Methodist groups joined together to form The Methodist Church (USA). Another merger in 1968 resulted in the formation of The United Methodist Church from the Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) and the Methodist Church.

Other smaller Methodist denominations in the United States, including those that split from the Methodist Episcopal Church, exist, such as the Free Methodist Church, Evangelical Methodist Church, Congregational Methodist Church, Allegheny Wesleyan Methodist Connection and Bible Methodist Connection of Churches, among others. Spurce: Wikipedia

Methodist Religion Family Tree
This Methodist Family Tree diagrams the development of the various branches of Methodist religion.

Writing to Local Churches

 * United Methodist Church Find a Church
 * Local church records are kept at the local church. If that church closes and merges with another church, then the records go to the new church.  If the church closes and there is no sucessor church, then the records are usually transferred to the annual conference archives.  You will need to contact the conference archives to learn more about the status of the church and how to go about finding its records.  Feel free to use our on-line conference directory to locate the person you need to contact.


 * African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Directory
 * Christian Methodist Episcopal Find a Church
 * Evangelical United Brethren Church Find a Church
 * Wesleyan Church Find a Church
 * Free Methodist Church of North America
 * Union American Methodist Episcopal Church
 * Congregational Methodist Church Finder
 * African Union First Colored Methodist Protestant Church

'''There are several much smaller Methodist churches. Google "Churches near [TOWN], inserting the name of your ancestors' town to find other churches in the area.'''

Archives

 * United Methodist Archives Center
 * Drew University Library
 * P.O. Box 127
 * Madison, NJ 07940
 * Telephone: 201-408-3189
 * Fax: 201-408-3909


 * Website]


 * General Commission on Archives and History (GCAH) of the United Methodist Church: Guide: How to Research Your Family
 * American Methodism Project: The GCAH has teamed with other United Methodist-affiliated libraries, seminaries, and archives, and the Internet Archive to create the American Methodism Project, "a digitized collection of interdisciplinary and historical materials related to American Methodism."

Ministers
A list of Methodist ministers and the churches or circuits they served, extracted from the archives of the church minutes: https://www.ourfamtree.org/records/religion.php?denom=1615&

A list of transfers of Methodist ministers from one conference to another, extracted from the archives of the church minutes: https://www.ourfamtree.org/records/transfers.php