by Trevia Wooster Beverly ²

In the last issue of The CLF News Letter, the author provided an overview of the importance of church records in genealogical research and discussed some of the principle sources available at Clayton Library and elsewhere. In the current article, focus is narrowed in that regard to a discussion of individual church denominations. This is potentially a very wide area of study, as the early church congregations of colonial North America evolved into hundreds of sects and branches and spawned the creation of thousands of individual church congregations. For that reason, the current article attempts only to point the reader in the right direction, placing emphasis on where to begin researching a particular church denomination. Much additional information can be found by consulting reference works found in the various library classifications mentioned later in this article.

Early American church membership was distributed among a relatively small number of religious groups. Of total church-goers, about 30% were Congregationalist, 22% Presbyterian, 15% Baptist, 15% Anglican, and 10% Dutch Reformed (German-Lutheran), with the remaining 8% made up of Quakers, Catholics, Methodists, and Jews.³ Over the years, however, these major groups and their component denominations underwent evolutionary changes that resulted in shifts in dogma and religious customs and realignments in interdenominational affiliations. Common also were changes in the actual names of denominations.

At Clayton and other libraries, books on religion and religious denominations will be found under Dewey Decimal Classification 200. Christian denominations are grouped under Dewey Decimal Classification 280; non-Christian, under 290. Understanding this classification structure will help the researcher locate specific information on a particular denomination. Following is a listing of some of the primary classifications dealing with church denominations:

280 Christian Churches and Sects

282 Roman Catholic Church

283 Anglican churches, i.e., Church of England and the Protestant Episcopal

284 Protestant denominations of Continental origin and their related bodies

284 .1 Lutheran churches

284 .5 Huguenot (French Protestant) churches

284 .6 Moravian churches

284 .8 Congregationalist churches

285 Presbyterian churches

286 Baptist churches

286 .6 Disciples of Christ (Campbellites)

286 .7 Adventist churches

287 Methodist churches

289 Other Christian sects⁴

289 .3 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (LDS/Mormons)

289 .6 Society of Friends (Quakers)

289 .7 Mennonite

289 .73 Amish and Church of God in Christ

289 .8 United Society of Believers (Shakers)

289 .9 Others

290 Other religions (non-Christian)

296 Judaism (Jewish)

Information on religious denominations and their practices can also be found under other library subjects heading. For example, in "Customs and Folklore" (Dewey Decimal Classification 390) is the subcategory "Treatment of the Dead" (Dewey Decimal Classification 393), which includes "Burial and Funeral Customs." Other areas in which information on church denominations may be found include "immigrants" and "immigration" and "settlers," "settlements," "colonists," and "pioneers," all of which fall under Dewey Decimal Classification 325. Groups of immigrants and settlers were very often part of the same religious denomination, held together during their migration and settlement by the common elements of religious customs and beliefs. This was especially true for Baptists, Lutherans (Germans), and Presbyterian (Scots-Irish).

Evolution of various branches of the Baptist denomination begins with Roger Williams, a Separatist minister, who established a Baptist church at Providence, Rhode Island, in 1639. This was followed by the formation of a number of related sects including the Six-Principle Baptists, the Seventh-Day Baptist, the German Baptist Brethren, the Free Will Baptists, the "Two-Seed," etc. Organization of the General Missionary Convention of the Baptist denomination in the U.S.A. came in 1814, followed by the formation of local and area associations such as the Duck Creek Association of Baptists in Alabama, Georgia, and Tennessee in 1825. Other associations date from as early as 1827, including such groups as Old School Baptists, Regular Baptists, and Hard-Shell Baptists. In 1845 the Baptist Church divided with the formation of the American (Northern) Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention.

The first permanent settlement of Lutherans, immigrants from Holland, was established on Manhattan Island in 1623. Also in 1623, Swedish Lutherans established the first independent colony along the Delaware River. A colony of Mennonites arrived at Philadelphia in October 1683. This latter group was principally from Crefeld and Kriegsheim in Germany, and the present city of Germantown, Pennsylvania, was laid out as a communal center for their religious activities. The history of Germans in America are tied to the history and records of their churches—the Lutherans, the Mennonites, and the Moravians. These groups can be followed further into New Jersey, the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia.

Presbyterian from Ulster were the first to leave in large companies to form settlements in America. Entering from two main routes, the Delaware River (through New Castle and Philadelphia) and Charleston, South Carolina, the Presbyterian foothold began about 1670. By 1684 the eastern shore of Maryland was the cradle of American Presbyterianism, and by 1684 New Jersey would become a Presbyterian stronghold for "Scotch-Irish" refugees. The migration pattern of these people will be seen as they moved and set up churches in Maryland, the Carolinas, and Virginia. From 1714 to 1720, some 54 vessels brought the "Scotch-Irish" to Boston, and great numbers are to be found not only in Massachusetts but also in New York.

The political history of a region or a state is closely linked to its religious history. In Texas, for example, the flags of both France and Spain flew over the region, and, therefore, the Roman Catholic religion predominated. Even after Texas became a Mexican state in 1821, that religion remained, and other denominations had a hard time getting legally established in Texas. Daniel Parker, a Primitive Baptist minister, visited Texas in 1832. Interpreting the Mexican law to mean that no Protestant would be permitted to organize a church in Texas, he simply returned to Illinois and organized a church there. The following year he brought the entire church membership to Texas. When the great influx of settlers came in 1836, and after Texas joined the Union in 1845, Texas saw an evangelistic effort pushed mostly by Baptists and Methodists, but there were Presbyterians and others as well. There are many fine histories of specific religious faiths and individual churches in Texas; however, the author recommends twoin particular: Flowers and Fruits in the Wilderness⁵ and The Texas Colonists and Religion 1821-1836.⁶

Utah is also a state tied to great migrations and religious faith. A group of Mormon pioneers entered the Great Salt Lake Valley in July 1847 under the leadership of Brigham Young. The region fell under the temporary State of Deseret in 1849, then the Territory of Utah in 1850, and finally the State of Utah in 1896. While the state’s early years saw the introduction of churches that were primarily those of Young’s persuasion (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), there was a Presbyterian Church at Corinne (Box Elder County) and several Episcopal churches in Salt Lake, Summit, and Tooele counties. Their records range from 1870-1945.

What we now know as the state of Oregon saw the Lewis and Clark expedition enter the area in 1804. The Oregon Territory was not organized until 1849, and the first federal census was not taken there until 1850. There were, however, several church congregation in the region well before these date. Presbyterians church minutes from that area date from 1838.⁷

Just from the examples of Texas, Utah, and Oregon, it is clear that state histories are an important element in any research into church denominations and their records. Within the individual state sections at Clayton, researchers will find an abundance of church-related material, including both church records and church histories.⁸

When looking for denominational histories and records, do not overlook the resources of the denomination itself. Many larger denominations have established central archives. Also, universities and seminaries operated by the larger denominations will often have collections of materials related to those denominations. In many instances, individual churches will have their own libraries containing church histories, minute books, and other records. Some such collections have been microfilmed or copied and are available at denominational repositories, at individual churches, and occasionally at academic and public libraries. Frank S. Mead’s Handbook of Denominations in the United States⁹ gives the address of many denominations’ headquarters plus brief descriptions of each denomination and a glossary of terms specific to each denomination.

Many denominations published (and still publish) newspapers or periodicals. The earlier ones will yield not only information about denominational activities, leadership changes, and organizational problems but also news of the denomination’s members. Often, especially in areas where there were no other newspapers, denominational publications will include announcements of births, marriages and deaths. In Texas, the Baptist Standard¹⁰ is one such publication, and to this day it publishes notices related to individuals active within the denominational circle. Abstracts of many of these have been published in book form¹¹ or in microform.¹²

Church related material is sometimes also found in non-religious periodicals, especially if those periodicals deal with local history and genealogy. A good finding aid for this type material is the PERiodical Source Index (PERSI), available in the USA section at Clayton (GEN 016.929 P445 USA).¹³

From this very brief treatment of church denominations, the reader can perhaps grasp the vast extent of this important subject area. But it is a subject area that every genealogist should delve into in searching for information about ancestors and the social environments in which they lived. If a denominational affiliation can be discovered, the researcher should then target that denomination and gather more detailed information using available library resources. As always, researchers should start with the electronic catalogs of the Houston Public Library. More advanced researchers will also want to take advantage of the various electronic databases that HPL has recently brought online, one of which—WorldCat—was discussed in The CLF Newsletter earlier this year.¹⁴

1. From a hymn by Frederick W. Faber (1814-1863). Reared as a Calvinist, later a minister in the Anglican church, Faber left the state church and joined the Roman Catholic fold. It is to the leaders of this church—martyred during the sixteenth century—that he refers. It was always Faber’s hope that England would be brought back into the papal fold.

2. The author speaks annually at the Angelina College (Lufkin, Texas) Summer Genealogy Conference. This year’s event, July 27-29, will cover the Civil War period, and one of her subjects will be "A House of Faith Divided."

3. E. Kay Kirkham, A Survey of American Church Records (Salt Lake City: Everton, 1958). GEN 280 K59 USA

4. Groups dissenting from an established or parent church; a denomination not always associated with "mainline" Christianity.

5. Z. N. Morrell, Flowers and Fruits in the Wilderness, 3d edition (1882; reprint, with additional preface, Fort Worth: Texas Baptist History Committee, 1976) GEN 976.4 M873 TX.

6. William Stuart Red, The Texas Colonists and Religion 1821-1836 (Austin: E. L. Shettles, 1924). Available in the Texas Room, HPL Central.

7. An inventory of the church archives of Oregon Presbyterian churches was prepared by the WPA and was filmed, with indexes, in 1968 at the Presbyterian Historical Society in Philadelphia.

8. One such reference is John Rothensteiner, History of the Archdiocese of St. Louis...1673 to 1928, 2 vols. (St. Louis: 1928) GEN 977.8 R846 MO.

9. Frank S. Mead, Handbook of Denominations in the United States, 6th ed. (Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, [1975]). Available at HPL Central.

10. First published as the Baptist News in Honey Grove, Texas, on December 6, 1888, as an alternative to the Texas Baptist and Herald, it is still published today in Dallas.

11. Brent H. Holcomb, Marriages and Death Notices from the "Southern Christian Advocate" 1837-1860 (Easley S.C.: Southern Historical Press, 1979) 975 H725 USA; Jane R. Heiss. comp., Marriages from the "Christian Worker," a Quaker Periodical 1871-1894 (n.p., 1974) 289.6 H473 USA.

12. Helen Mason Lu, "Texas Methodist" Newspaper Abstracts, 4 vols. (Dallas: Dallas Genealogical Society, 1992). Not available at Clayton.

13. See Gay E. Carter, "Perusing the PERiodical Source Index," The CLF Newsletter, vol. 9, no. 4 (November 1995), pp. 4-5. Periodical searches may now also be performed using online databases, for which see Robert de Berardinis, "Houston Public Library On-line Databases: Saving Time with PERSI, Part One," The CLF Newsletter, vol. 14, no. 2 (May 2000), pp. 6-10. The CLF Newsletter is available at Clayton Library.

14. See Robert de Berardinis, "Using WorldCat and HPL’s Interlibrary Loan Service for Genealogical Research," The CLF Newsletter, vol. 14, no. 1 (February 2000), pp. 9-13.