FamilySearch Wiki:WikiProject World Survey Church Records Part 1

Church Records Project for Underserved Countries

Project Leader: Taylor Huguely
Examples: Angola Church Records and New Zealand Church Records
Purpose: To add content to every country Church Records page. Each Church Records page will have information on every major Christian denomination in the country. Such information will include: how to find the records, historical background, and information recorded in the records.

Task List

Church Records Task List

Instructions

If there is already content on the page

The information should just be reorganized according to the template, usually with moving the information that is already on the page to the bottom. The two most common that you will see are the following:

• If there is a section about the history of church records for the country, cut the information and paste it on the bottom of the page under all the denominations with the header

==History==

• If there is a section about the information found in the records, will cut that and move it to the bottom of the page as well. That header will be:

==Information recorded in the records==

Step 1: Copy and Paste Code

1. Go to the country in the wiki. Click on the Church Records link in the sidebar (the link may be red if the page hasn't been created yet).
2. Copy and paste the following code onto the page:

{{COUNTRY-sidebar}}{{breadcrumb
| link1=[[COUNTRY Genealogy|COUNTRY]]
| link2=
| link3=
| link4=
| link5=[[COUNTRY Church Records|Church Records]]
}}
''For information about records for non-Christian religions in COUNTRY, go to the [[COUNTRY Religious Records|Religious Records]] page.''






== References ==

[[Category:COUNTRY]]

• Change COUNTRY to the name of the country you are working on (not in all caps).

Step 2: Add Christian Denominations

1. Go to the sidebar and click on Religious Records (open it in a new tab). Religious Records lists all of the religions in the country.
2. Find all of the Christian churches (Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches)
3. Add all these Christian churches onto the Church Records page in alphabetical order using the following code:

== CHURCH/DENOMINATION Records ==
=== How to Find the Records ===

==== Online Resources and Websites ====

=== Historical Background ===

=== Information Recorded in the Records ===

• Change CHURCH/DENOMINATION to the name of the church (not in all caps).

We also want to check what Christian denominations Wikipedia lists for the country, so we'll do the following:

1. Go to the country's religion page on Wikipedia. This page will usually be titled like "Religion in COUNTRY."
2. Scroll down to the Christianity section
3. Look to see what denominations they list as the most common and add them to the page
4. Some sections might link to a "Christianity in COUNTRY" page, and feel free to look at this page as well to see if there is any useful information on that page

If you find records online for other denominations that are listed as major denominations in either spot, you may decide to add them to the page as well.

See Angola Church Records as an example.

Step 3: Research Each Denomination

Research each church one at a time.

How to Find the Records

The first step in research is figuring out how to find the records/where the records are located.

This heading will include information concerning:

• Where the physical records are kept (such as in national archives or individual parishes)
• How they can be accessed (such as the contact information)
• Any other information or resources the patron may need to locate the records.

To find this information, go to these websites:

FamilySearch Historical Records

Go to FamilySearch Historical Records.

1. Underneath "Research by Location" click on the African continent and then choose the country you are working on.





2. Look at all the online collections to see if there are any church records.





3. If there are church record collections, add them as a bullet point underneath the ==== Online Resources and Websites ==== subheading for the correct denomination.



Template for adding the collection:

*'''YEAR-YEAR:''' [URL Collection name] at [URL General website name]

For example (would go under Catholic Records heading):

1787-1957: Cape Verde, Catholic Church Records, 1787-1957 at FamilySearch

4. If there are church record collections, copy the following into the code under the "How to Find Records" section, and then replace "COUNTRY" with the name of the country on which you are working:



Some of COUNTRY's church records have been digitized and are available on FamilySearch.org.

FamilySearch Catalog

Go to FamilySearch Catalog.

1. In the Place search box start typing the name of the country and choose it from the dropdown.





2. Click Search.





3. Click on the "COUNTRY-Church records" subheading and see if there are any online church records.










4. Click on each record collection to determine if the images are online (there will be a camera in the "Format" column).

Page with look like:





Look for the camera:





5. If there are church record collections, add them as a bullet point underneath the ==== Online Resources and Websites ==== subheading for the correct denomination.



Template for adding the collection:

*'''YEAR-YEAR:''' [URL Collection name] at [URL General website name]

For example (would go under Dutch Reformed Records heading):

1918-1958: Parish registers, 1918-1958 on the FamilySearch Catalog




6. To determine which church these records belong to, look at the "Notes" section on the page.





7. If there are church records available on the Catalog, and there were not any records on FamilySearch Historical Records, copy the following following into the code under the "How to Find Records" section, and then replace "COUNTRY" with the name of the country on which you are working:



Some of COUNTRY's church records have been digitized and are available on FamilySearch.org.

8. After looking at all of the collections underneath "Church records", click on "Places within COUNTRY" located near the top of the page. Click on each listed place and look underneath their "Church records" heading for more online collection. Add church record collections where applicable.

Ancestry

1. Go to www.search.ancestry.com/Places.


2. Go to the box on the right side of the page that says "Select another state or region".
   
   



3. Choose the region (in the dropdown) where the country you are working on is located.
   
   



4. Look in the Select dropdown menu to see if the country you are working on is there.
   
   



5. If the country is not there, then Exit out of Ancestry.


6. If the country is there, select it.


7. On this country page, look under the "COUNTRY Birth, Marriage & Death" heading and click "View all"
   
   



8. Look at all of the collections underneath "Unique to COUNTRY" and add all of the church record collections as a bullet point underneath the ==== Online Resources and Websites ==== subheading for the correct denomination.
   
   




Template for adding the collection:

*'''YEAR-YEAR:''' [URL Collection name] at [URL General website name]

For example (would go under Dutch Reformed Records heading):

1660-1970: South Africa, Dutch Reformed Church Registers, 1660-1970 at Ancestry ($)

9. Then add the following to the "How to Find the Records" section, and then replace "COUNTRY" with the name of the country on which you are working:



Some of COUNTRY's church records have been digitized and are available on Ancestry.com ($).

Google

There may be church records available at other smaller websites or repositories. Make sure to search google to find these church records as well.

Wikipedia

Go to Wikipedia.

1. Search for the country in the search bar.
2. Go to the "Religion" heading on the page.
3. Go to the "Religion in COUNTRY" page OR go to the "Christianity in COUNTRY" page if one exists.
4. Wikipedia may give more information on where records are located/stored. Add this information underneath the === How to Find the Records === heading. Cite the information.

Historical Background

The next step in research is figuring out the historical background of the religion in the country.

This heading will include information concerning:

• History of the church in the country (including the efforts of missionaries)
• Record keeping practices of the church

To find this information, go to:

Wikipedia

Go to Wikipedia.

1. Search for the country in the search bar.
2. Go to the "Religion" heading on the page.
3. Go to the "Religion in COUNTRY" page OR go to the "Christianity in COUNTRY" page if one exists.

Wikipedia will give information on the history of the religion in the country. Add this information underneath the === Historical Background === heading. Cite the information.

Tip: Sometimes it is easier to use Google to find the right Wikipedia article.
Tip: For African countries, also try to find Wikipedia articles about the religion in AFRICA (and not just the country). Sometimes more historical background can be found in these articles.

Information Recorded in the Records

The final step in research is figuring out the information recorded in the records.

Under this heading:

• Add each record type kept by the church (usually baptism, marriage, burial, and sometimes membership records)
• Bold the record type
• List in bullet points the information found in each record type

The location of this information depends on where the collection is found:

FamilySearch Historical Records

1. Click on the collection and then click on the "Learn more" button near the top of the page.
   


2. Scroll down to the section that lists what can be found in the records.
   


3. Add this information underneath the === Information Recorded in the Records === heading.

FamilySearch Catalog

1. Click on the collection and look underneath the "Notes" section. This section usually describes the information found in the records.
   

Ancestry

1. Scroll down to the "About" section.
   


2. If there is information about what is found in the records, add it underneath the === Information Recorded in the Records === heading.

If Only Historical Background Is Found

If the only information found about a denomination is historical background, this denomination will be added under the == Other Denominations == heading.

1. Delete the other church heading and its subheadings.

== CHURCH/DENOMINATION Records ==

=== How to Find the Records ===

==== Online Resources and Websites ====

=== Historical Background ===

=== Information Recorded in the Records ===




2. Add the historical background (especially when the church began in the country) underneath the === DENOMINATION Records === heading .


3. Go to Wikipedia and search the country. Then scroll down to Religion and click on the "Religion in COUNTRY" article. Sometimes there are even articles for that specific denomination or church in the country. Whichever article exists, save the URL.


4. Go back to the code and add this sentence after the historical background:

For more information, see [URL Wiki article title].

This website requires a paid subscription for full access. Some subscription websites are available for free at your local FamilySearch Center or Affiliate Library.