Church and Local Records

This is the last of the course entitled, "European Sources for Tracing Immigrant Origins." The last group of sources which will name the immigrant are local sources in the town where he or she lived. Indeed, you will eventually need to search these records, for without them, you will not know if you have located the immigrant in his or her home country.

Also as a side-note, we don’t mean to leave out your immigrant ancestors from other areas of the world, but because the records are just starting to be made available for these other areas, we will use as case studies those of Europe, Scandinavia, and the British Isles.

Local Sources

Several sources exist locally including:

• Civil Registrations
• Church Registers
• Census Records
• Tax Lists
• Probate Records
• Local History

The most prominent local sources for most of our ancestors' countries are civil (government) records of births, deaths, or marriages and church records. Often these are the only records in which we will find evidence of our immigrant in the old country. Many of our immigrant ancestors did not own land, nor were they mentioned in probate records in the old country (they didn't die there, and usually their father was too poor to bother with probate). Most countries did not have a regular census, or else the immigrant left before census records started. Tax lists are meager, incomplete, and difficult to access, if they exist at all.

Hence, the records of choice for documenting an immigrant's birth and life in his or her birth country are the local records of birth, marriage, or death kept by the church or the government. For most countries, however, the government did not begin keeping civil records until very late in the 1800s, so church records are the "default" records we turn to.

Church Records

Unlike the United States, virtually every European and British resident belonged to a church and was recorded in its registers. Often there was only one church because it was the "state or established" church. In some European countries, there may have been two or three churches, but in any given locality, the great majority of residents belonged to just one denomination. That denomination was usually Catholic, the Church of England, the Church of Scotland (Episcopalian or Presbyterian) or a Protestant church such as Lutheran or Reformed. Smaller church denominations, such as Quakers, Mennonites, Baptists, or other religions, such as Judaism, comprised only a few percent of the population, at most.

Although church records are virtually universal (since the 1650s anyway) for our immigrant ancestors, and they have generally survived intact to today, they are not easy to search. There are no true nationwide indexes to church records for any foreign country except Scotland (and that only for the established Church of Scotland, which only accounts for about two-thirds of the population).

The International Genealogical Index (IGI) provides a unique roll as a combined, partial index of church records for all denominations, for many countries. Its collection contains millions of entries for England, Mexico, some German states, several Scandinavian districts, and other countries. It is not comprehensive, since many parishes in each country are not abstracted in the IGI. However, it is an actively growing index in which millions of names are added yearly. With its variant name and varied location capabilities, it is an easy source to search and is readily available on the Internet.

Parish Registers - What Are They?

When you cannot find your individual on the IGI, and without central indexes, church records must be approached at the local level, which is generally called the "parish." The books in which parish priests and ministers kept records of baptisms, weddings, and burials (church records of birth, marriage, and death) are typically called parish registers.

What Makes Parish Registers Difficult to Use?

The first great difficulty in using foreign church records is in determining which parish included your ancestor. Hence, church records are seldom used to learn an immigrant's original home, rather they are used to confirm research findings, and to extend the ancestry in the old country. It is actually possible, however, in some cases, to use local parish registers to identify where an immigrant came from, without first knowing (in advance) the town where they were born, but more on that later. We must first understand the use of parish registers.

The second problem is accessing the registers. Thankfully, thousands of foreign parish registers are available on microfilm through the Family History Library and its Family History Centers. These are listed in the library’s catalog. Many more, unfortunately, are not on microfilm. Some have been gathered into church, city, or state archives in the native country. Many still reside in the parish. A few have been lost or destroyed over time.

The third problem is reading the records themselves. Unless the immigrant came from Great Britain, the records will seldom be in the English language. Reading a handwritten foreign language can be daunting for some researchers. It can be done, but it takes time to learn the language and the script. Even British church records may be hard to read. Older styles of handwriting formed letters differently than we are used to. Sometimes the writing is faint, or obscured by ink stains, water damage or other problems.

Finding the Correct Parish

ChurchNow, what about using parish registers when you don’t know the exact parish? Well, it can be done, but only if you have learned enough about the immigrant. There are times in your immigrant origins research when you can’t learn the name of the home town. If you have learned enough information, you may be able to search parish registers for an area or region, and find the immigrant that way. This can be a slow and difficult search, but it has proven successful for many researchers.

The key is to narrow the geographic location as much as possible. Perhaps you discover the name of a major city associated with the family. If you don’t find them in the city, they likely came from the district of which the city is the "capital." Maybe you found an old picture of the family taken in the old country, and the photographer’s city is on the back of the picture. They probably came from a nearby village, but you could search a dozen or so parishes around that city. Your research may have uncovered the origins of their neighbor, known to have come from the same country, but the immigrant is not in the neighbor’s home parish. Then you can search neighboring parishes.

Positive Aspects of Parish Registers

1. Fortunately, parish registers are remarkably similar, from country to country and denomination to denomination, in their content and format. Baptismal registers provide the name of the child, the parents' names, and the date of baptism. Marriage registers identify the bride and groom, and the date of marriage. Burial registers give the name of the deceased, date of burial, and often the age.
2. Sometimes there is more information. Generally the further forward in time you search, the more information you will find in parish registers. Also, typically parish registers in European countries provide more information than do British registers. They usually list the witnesses or sponsors (Godparents) at a baptism, as well as the mother's maiden name. Marriage registers usually give the bride and groom's ages, status or occupation, their parents' names, and often their residence or birth place. Burial records may also name parents or the birth place of the deceased and virtually always give their age.
3. Some parishes have indexes, and some don't, but the arrangement (format) makes them relatively easy to search. Of course, they are chronological, recording events in order. However, usually the three main events, baptism, weddings, and burials are in separate registers, or on separate pages of the same book. Most registers arrange the information in columns (either well-defined or roughly ordered). The subject's name or date is listed first, followed by other information in a standard format throughout that register. Thus you can scan down the list of names for the person you are seeking.
4. Some registers, especially those in Catholic parishes, use a paragraph style with narrative text. Hence there are more verbs, conjunctions, and articles (a, an, the) in the text to sort through, as well as grammatical endings on some words. The information is the same, and most paragraphs arrange the information in a consistent manner throughout the register. Often the surnames are underlined, written in the margin, or written in a larger and different script which aids you in seeking a specific name. Many Catholic records are written in Latin, regardless of the local language. These registers can contain more information than just the name, date and relationships. Be sure to look up words you don't understand as they might provide valuable research clues to relationships.
5. You may find other records in some parish registers. Some church books include confirmation and member lists, minutes of the local meeting, and other acts of the parish leaders. However, these are less common, and not nearly as universal as the birth, marriage, and death information in the parish registers.

Positive Aspects of Parish Registers

Fortunately, parish registers are remarkably similar, from country to country and denomination to denomination, in their content and format. Baptismal registers provide the name of the child, the parents’ names, and the date of baptism. Marriage registers identify the bride and groom, and the date of marriage. Burial registers give the name of the deceased, date of burial, and often the age.

Sometimes there is more information. Generally the further forward in time you search, the more information you will find in parish registers. Also, typically parish registers in European countries provide more information than do British registers. They usually list the witnesses or sponsors (Godparents) at a baptism, as well as the mother’s maiden name. Marriage registers usually give the bride and groom’s ages, status or occupation, their parents’ names, and often their residence or birth place. Burial records may also name parents or the birth place of the deceased and virtually always give their age.

Some parishes have indexes, and some don’t, but the arrangement (format) makes them relatively easy to search. Of course, they are chronological, recording events in order. However, usually the three main events, baptism, weddings, and burials are in separate registers, or on separate pages of the same book. Most registers arrange the information in columns (either well-defined or roughly ordered). The subject’s name or date is listed first, followed by other information in a standard format throughout that register. Thus you can scan down the list of names for the person you are seeking.

Some registers, especially those in Catholic parishes, use a paragraph style with narrative text. Hence there are more verbs, conjunctions, and articles (a, an, the) in the text to sort through, as well as grammatical endings on some words. The information is the same, and most paragraphs arrange the information in a consistent manner throughout the register. Often the surnames are underlined, written in the margin, or written in a larger and different script which aids you in seeking a specific name. Many Catholic records are written in Latin, regardless of the local language. These registers can contain more information than just the name, date and relationships. Be sure to look up words you don’t understand as they might provide valuable research clues to relationships.

You may find other records in some parish registers. Some church books include confirmation and member lists, minutes of the local meeting, and other acts of the parish leaders. However, these are less common, and not nearly as universal as the birth, marriage, and death information in the parish registers.

See, it’s really not that hard. Since you should have learned all about your immigrant, and his or her family, from other records, it should be easy to search the baptismal records for the year of birth, and, when you find a person with the right name, see if the parents also have the right names. Then check for the brothers, sisters, or other relatives you have learned about in your previous research.

About Genealogy Research Associates

Karen Clifford is the Founder and President of Genealogy Research Associates. She is an Accredited Genealogist, an instructor in an Associates Degree program in Library Science-Genealogy and Computers at Hartnell College (Salinas, California) and Monterey Peninsula College (Monterey, California). She has authored several family histories and textbooks including Genealogy & Computers for the Complete Beginner; Genealogy & Computers for the Determined Researcher; Genealogy & Computers for the Advanced Researcher, and Becoming an Accredited Genealogist.

Karen currently serves as Vice-president of the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and Vice-president of the Utah Genealogical Association (UGA). She is a member of the California State Genealogy Alliance, the Association of Professional Genealogists, the National Genealogical Society, and the New England Historic Genealogical Society. In 1998 and 1999, Karen served as Director of UGA's Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy.

She has received several awards for her volunteer work in the genealogy community including the FGS Award of Merit and the FGS Outstanding Delegate Award.