Alabama Church Records

United States   Alabama    Church Records

Alabama Churches General Information
Church records and the information they provide vary greatly depending on the denomination and the record keeper. They may contain information about members of the congregation, such as age; dates of baptism, christening or birth; marriage information, such as the bride’s maiden name and the names of both sets of parents; death or burial date; admissions; and removals. Records may include names of other relatives who were witnesses or members of the congregation. The members of some churches were predominately of one nationality or ethnic group. Church records are important for Alabama family research because civil authorities in Alabama did not begin registering vital statistics until after 1908.

Roman Catholic church records for Mobile date from about 1700. In the 1800s, the largest religious groups in Alabama were the Baptist, Methodist, and Presbyterian churches.

To find information about churches up to 1870, such as when the churches were founded, names of ministers and early members, and associated cemeteries, see:


 * Daughters of the American Revolution (Alabama). Some Early Alabama Churches (Established Before 1870). Birmingham, Alabama: Parchment Press, 1973.

The has a few church records for Alabama, but most remain with the local churches. Also search for local (city and county) church records in the Family History Library Catalog. Some denominations have collected their records into central repositories. You can write to the following addresses to learn where records of a particular denomination are located.

Baptist
Special Collection, Samford University Library. See Alabama Archives and Libraries. The Samford University Library Website has an inventory of their records and contains many different Alabama denominations in their collection besides Baptist. Also included are microfilmed records of the American Missionary Association, a interdenominational missionary society devoted to abolitionist principles beginning in 1846.

For histories of the Baptist Church, see:


 * Holcombe, Hosea. A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Alabama. 1840. Reprint, Bessemer, Alabama: West Jefferson County Historical Society, 1974. This history of the Baptist Church to 1840 is indexed.
 * Flynt, F. Wayne. Alabama Baptists: Southern Baptists in the Heart of Dixie. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press, 1998.
 * Bledsoe, W.C. History of the Liberty (East) Baptist Association of Alabama. Atlanta, Ga.: Constitution Job Office, 1886. Digital version at - free.
 * Riley, B.F. A Memorial History of the Baptists of Alabama: Being an Account of the Struggles and Achievements of the Denomination from 1808 to 1923. Philadelphia: The Judson Press, 1923. Digital version at - free.

An 1899 directory of Baptist ministers lists biographical details about many ministers born or serving in the state:


 * The Ministerial Directory of the Baptist Churches in the United States of America. Oxford, Ohio: Ministerial Directory Co., 1899. Digital version at Google Books.

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons)
Early church records, for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, for Alabama 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 located through the Family History Library 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.

Episcopal
A list of the Episcopal congregations in Alabama before 1939 is:


 * Inventory of the Church Archives of Alabama: Protestant Episcopal Church. Birmingham, Alabama: Alabama Historical Records Survey Project, 1939. ; digital version at FamilySearch Books. This gives the location of each church with a brief history and describes the types and years of records that existed for each congregation in 1939.

For a history, consult:


 * Whitaker, Walter C. History of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Alabama 1763-1891. Birmingham, Ala.: Roberts &amp; Son, 1898. Digital version at FamilySearch Books - free.

Methodist
Houghton Memorial Library Huntingdon College 1500 E. Fairview Avenue Montgomery, AL 36106-2148 Phone: (334) 833-4421 Fax: (334) 263-4465 E-mail: [mailto:edidwell@huntingdon.edu edidwell@huntingdon.edu ]

Charles Andrew Rush Library Birmingham-Southern College 900 Arkadelphia Road P.O. Box 549020 Birmingham, AL 35254-9990 Phone: (205) 226-4740 Fax: (205) 226-4743

Histories of the Methodist Church in Alabama include:


 * Lazenby, Marion Elias, History of Methodism in Alabama and West Florida. N.p., 1960. . This book includes a list of deceased ministers and a name and subject index.


 * West, Anson. A History of Methodism in Alabama. Nashville, Tenn.: Pub. House, Methodist Episcopal Church South, 1893. Digital version at FamilySearch Books - free.

Presbyterian
Presbyterian Historical Society 425 Lombard Street Philadelphia, PA 19147 Phone: (215) 627-1852 Fax: (215) 627-0509

Early Presbyteries (with years organized): Alabama Presbytery (1821), Elyton Presbytery (1831), Birmingham Presbytery (1896), Talladega Presbytery (1836), Springville Presbytery (1880), Robert Donnell Presbytery (1890), The New Hope Presbytery(1838), and The McGready Presbytery (1840/1).

Histories of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church include:


 * Hall, James H.B. "The History of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in Alabama Prior to 1826," Transactions of the Alabama Historical Society, Vol. 4 (1904):365-394. Digital version at Internet Archive - free. Identifies minute books available for early Presbyteries. The early Presbyteries did not keep records of baptisms, marriages, and burials.

Roman Catholic
Diocese of Birmingham 2121 3rd Ave. P.O. Box 12047 North Birmingham, AL 35202-2047 Phone: (205) 838-8322

The diocese includes the counties of: Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Chambers, Cherokee, Chilton, Clay, Cleburne, Colbert, Coosa, Cullman, DeKalb, Etowah, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Hale, Jackson, Jefferson, Lamar, Lauderdale, Lawrence, Limestone, Madison, Marengo, Marion, Marshall, Morgan, Perry, Pickens, Randolph, Shelby, Sumter, St. Clair, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, Walker and Winston.

Archdiocese of Mobile Archives 14 S. Franklin St. Mobile, AL 36602 Phone: (251) 415-3850

The Archdiocese includes the counties of: Autauga, Baldwin, Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Choctaw, Clarke, Coffee, Conecuh, Covington, Crenshaw, Dale, Dallas, Elmore, Escambia, Geneva, Henry, Houston, Lee, Lowndes, Macon, Mobile, Monroe, Montgomery, Pike, Russell, Washington and Wilcox.

For further information about local church records, please refer to county or city pages.

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 mainly in French, as well as English, Latin, and Italian.

State of Alabama

Dept. of Archives and History 624 Washington Ave. Montgomery, AL 36130-3601 Collection includes:


 * Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception (Mobile, Alabama)
 * Family Records, 1700-1860
 * Scattered issues of Mobile and Birmingham Catholic newspapers in originals
 * Local Catholic cemetery gravestone transcriptions and funeral home records
 * Items pertaining to Catholic education in Alabama (yearbooks, students and faculty lists), scattered localities and dates.

Some of the records of this diocese are available on microfilms at the Family History Library.

Alabama church records are listed in the Place Search of the Family History Library Catalog under:


 * ALABAMA — CHURCH RECORDS
 * ALABAMA, [COUNTY] — CHURCH RECORDS
 * ALABAMA, [COUNTY], [TOWN] — CHURCH RECORDS

Websites

 * http://www.genealogy.com/5_grnwd.html
 * http://www.accessgenealogy.com/church/alabama.htm
 * http://www.censusfinder.com/alabama.htm