New York, New York City, Saint Peter's Lutheran Church Records - FamilySearch Historical Records

United States  New York

What is in the Collection?
The collection consists of images of births and christenings, deaths and funerals, and marriages for the years 1862 to 1955.

Church records in the United States began in the early 1600s. They can be found in the churches, church archives, or university archives. They normally include records of christenings, marriages, and deaths. Churches kept records to determine who were members of their sect and to track the vital events in their member's lives. Church records are considered a primary source. They are usually reliable because they are kept by the priest or a clerk appointed by the priest, who usually recorded an event at or very near the time it occurred.

Sample Images
Information in a baptism record may include:


 * Full name of person being baptized
 * Child's gender
 * Baptism date
 * Birth date
 * Name of father
 * Place of baptism
 * Name of mother

Information in a death, burial, or funeral record may include:


 * Name and residence of deceased
 * Date and place of death
 * Cause of death
 * Age and place of birth (sometimes, birth date)
 * Date and place of funeral services
 * Burial information
 * Names of survivors

Information in a marriage record may include:


 * Date and place of marriage
 * Name and residence of groom
 * Groom's birth date and place of birth
 * Name of groom's father and his birthplace
 * Maiden name of groom's mother and birthplace
 * Name and residence of bride
 * Bride's birth date and place of birth
 * Name of bride's father and his birthplace
 * Maiden name of bride's mother and birthplace
 * Names of witnesses and their residence

How Do I Search the Collection?
To begin your search you will need to know the following information:


 * The ancestor’s name
 * The approximate date of the event, such as the christening or baptism

View images in this collection by visiting the Browse Page: To search the collection you will need to follow this series of links: ⇒Select the "Browse" link in the initial search page ⇒Select the "Record Type, Date Range and Volume" category which takes you to the images

Look at each image comparing the information with what you already know about your ancestors to determine if the image relates to them. You may need to look at several images and compare the information about the individuals listed in those images to your ancestors to make this determination. Keep in mind:


 * There may be more than one person in the records with the same name.
 * You may not be sure of your own ancestor’s name.
 * Your ancestor may have used different names or variations of their name throughout their life.

I Found Who I was Looking for, What Now?
When you have located your ancestor in a church record carefully evaluate each piece of information in the record. These pieces of information may give you new biographical details that can lead you to other records about your ancestors. For example:


 * Use christening and birth records of christenings (baptisms) to identify a person’s birth date and place. These are an excellent substitute for civil birth records.
 * Use confirmation records to identify a person’s birth date and place and his or her age. If only the age is given, use it to calculate the person’s death date.
 * Use death, burial, or funeral records to identify a person’s birth date and place. Use age at the time of death or burial to calculate the person’s birth date. These are an excellent substitute for civil death records.
 * Use marriage records to identify a couple and the marriage date and place and to begin compiling a family group. These are an excellent substitute for civil marriage records.
 * Use church records in general to identify other family members who may have served as witnesses to an event.
 * Use the date of the event along with the locality to find the family in census records and land records.
 * Use the residence and names of the parents to locate church and land records.

Tips to Keep in Mind

 * Extract the information on all children with the same parents. If the surname is unusual, you may want to compile entries for every person of the same surname and sort them into families based on the names of the parents. Continue to search the birth records to identify siblings, parents, and other relatives in the same or other generations who were born in the same county or nearby.
 * An infant’s christening usually took place within a few days or few weeks of the birth, depending on the religion. Some churches, such as the Baptists, baptized only adults not infants. Members of other sects blessed their infants when they were a few weeks or a few months old.
 * Many religions tested the church knowledge of those that had been baptized as infants and then confirmed them a member of that religion. Frequently, a person’s age at confirmation was between 14 and 20.
 * Church records are considered a primary source. They are usually reliable because they are kept by the minister, or a clerk appointed by the minister, who usually recorded an event at or very near the time it occurred.
 * There is also some variation in the information given from record to record.

I Can’t Find Who I’m Looking for, What Now?

 * Look for variant spellings of the names.
 * Check the records of other congregations in the area or nearby communities.
 * Check the records of other religious sects in the area or nearby communities.

Known Issues with This Collection
For a full list of all known issues associated with this collection, see the attached Wiki article. If you encounter additional problems, please email them to [mailto:support@familysearch.org support@familysearch.org]. Please include the full path to the link and a description of the problem in your e-mail. Your assistance will help ensure that future reworks will be considered.

Citing This Collection
When you copy information from a record, you should list where you found the information; that is, cite your sources. This will help people find the record again and evaluate the reliability of the source. It is also good to keep track of records where you did not find information, including the names of the people you looked for in the records. Citations are available for the collection as a whole and each record or image individually.

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