Church records

Church records are great substitutes for missing vital records, particularly before county-level records were recorded. SCCGS has made great strides publishing and preserving records of major denominational churches, many translated from German or Latin into English, others rescued from obscurity.

• Read the genealogical value of church records (below).
• Search for your family name in church records published in our books.
• Find your ancestor’s surname published in Quarterly articles about churches and their records.
• Use keywords with the site search to find Quarterly articles about churches and the records, e.g., st. paul or catholic or methodist. Tap or click Search on the main menu.
• The Research Guide details on 17 pages the pre-1920 religious records available throughout the county. Read its table of contents on our book page.

Available on this website

Bethel Baptist Church Minutes Index 1809-1909.

Catholic parish records

• German Catholic Clergy in Illinois 1892 (PDF 128KB)
• St. Clare (O’Fallon) Catholic (Posted 30 April 2019)
• St. Henry (East St. Louis) Catholic (posted 26 November 2019)
• St. Joseph (Lebanon) Catholic (Posted 30 April 2019)
• St. Liborius Catholic. (Posted 29 July 2011)
• St. Luke (Belleville) Catholic (Posted 30 April 2019)
• A finding aid and introduction to microfilmed records of 140 parishes in 28 southern Illinois counties.

Belleville’s Methodist church histories with surname index to baptisms, marriage, and death registers, 1840-1998.

St. John United Church of Christ – Smithton Online index to baptisms 1869-1986 and complete surname index.

On the Member website

• St. Peter’s Catholic Church 1859-1909 burials (Belleville). Abstracts from Latin include name, age, date buried, date died, date buried, spouse (if married), and, if a child, the parents.

Genealogical value of church records

• The baptism, marriage, death, or confirmation is recorded at or very close to the time of the event and written by the officiant who was present at the event. The information then scores as highly reliable and less likely to contain errors.
• Baptisms often cite a birth date and parental names. With a few exceptions, county-level birth certificates were first recorded in 1878. Prior to that an affidavit called a “proof of birth” could be recorded.
• Sponsors and witnesses are named. These people are often related to the recipient.
• Marriages provide parental information for the bridal couple and occasionally provide the age and place of residence, some from other counties or states. It wasn’t until circa 1878 that county marriages named the parents.
• Death and burial registers often record both of these dates as well as the decedent’s age and spouse.

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