Alabama Church Records

United States   Alabama    Church Records

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. book 976.1 K2d; film 1026262 item 8

The Family History Library has a few church records for Alabama, but most remain with the local churches. 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.

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. book 976.1 K21h. 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.

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 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.

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. book 976.1 K2h; film 897366 item 3; digital version at Family History Archives. 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.

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

A history of the Methodist Church in Alabama is:


 * Lazenby, Marion Elias, History of Methodism in Alabama and West Florida. N.p., 1960. book 976.1 K2L. This book includes a list of deceased ministers and a name and subject index.

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

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

THE DROUIN COLLECTION:

Drouin Collection 1621-1967 at Ancestry.ca. When searching these databases, be creative in the spellings as well as the various focuses in searching for an ancestor. The French language has many possible spellings for a name, as well as there are errors in the indexing.

This French-Canadian collection has over 15 million genealogical and vital records entries; they were microfilmed by the Institut Généalogique Drouin. In Quebec, under the French Regime, there were two sets of records kept: a copy for the civil government archives and a copy for the ecclesiastical church archives. The Drouin collection is a civil copy of these entries. Please note that the cutoff date of this collection is in the early 1940s; only a small percentage of entries were covered from 1948 to 1967.

This collection is divided into six databases: 1. Quebec Vital and Church Records, 1621-1967 2. Ontario French Catholic Church Records, 1747-1967, 3. Early U.S. French Catholic Church Records, 1695-1954, 4. Acadia French Catholic Church Records, 1670-1946, 5. Quebec Notarial Records, 1647-1942, and 6. Miscellaneous French Records, 1651-1941. For details about these six databases, see "The Drouin Collection: Six Databases".

Early U.S. French Catholic Church Records, 1695-1954: 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. 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.

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

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 HISTORY

ALABAMA- CHURCH RECORDS

ALABAMA, [COUNTY], [TOWN]- CHURCH HISTORY

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