Virginia Church Records: Difference between revisions

*'''''A Guide to Church Records in the Library of Virginia''.''' Clark, Jewell T., and Elizabeth T. Long.  Richmond, Va.: 2002. {{FHL|1040765|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 K23g}}. Includes the history, location, and record inventory of 11 denominations and congregations. In 2002, an updated edition entitled was published. [https://www.worldcat.org/title/guide-to-church-records-in-the-library-of-virginia/oclc/866012025 '''WorldCat''']

Baptists faced a great deal of persecution from the established church in Virginia in the 1700s. These grievances have created documents that can help identify ancestors that belonged to the faith. The 10,000 name petition (dated 16 October 1776) has been digitized at the [http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/ampage?collId=relpet&fileName=000/013/013page.db&recNum=0 Library of Congress website]. It was signed by people from all over Virginia who wanted an end to persecution of Baptists by the Established Church. Baptists and Baptist sympathizers alike signed the petition. To find your ancestor in this record, first check Hall's transcription in the ''Magazine of Virginia Genealogy'' (Vols. 36-38, with annotations in Vol. 39), which is available online at [http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=6131 Ancestry] ($). It is also available in book form at the Family History Library: {{FHL|478773|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 B2vs v. 36-39}}. <br>

*Simpson, William S. ''Virginia Baptist Ministers, 1760-1790, A Biographical Survey.'' 7 vols. Richmond, Va., 1990-2009. Digital versions of Vols. 6 and 7 are available at Family History Archives, see: {{FHL|58605|item|disp=FS Library Books 975.5 D3si v. 1-7}}.<br>  

*An 1899 directory of Baptist ministers lists biographical details about many ministers born or serving in the state:<ref>Davis points out that not all ministers participated, see: Robert S. Davis, "Some Baptist Ministers of South Carolina at the Turn of the Century," ''The South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research,'' Vol. 32, No. 1 (Winter 2004):13-22. {{FHL|43856|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.7 B2sc v. 32}}</ref>

:*''Index to Marriage Notices in The Religious Herald, 1828-1938.'' Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield Company, 1996. {{FHL|760275|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 V22in}}.  

:*''Index to Obituary Notices in The Religious herald, 1828-1938.'' Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield Company, 1996. {{FHL|758579|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 V42h}}.

[[Image:Virginia churches.png|thumb|right|500px]] Before the American Revolution, the state church of Virginia was the Church of England (also called Anglican, and later Protestant Episcopal (P.E.)). Besides keeping parish registers, the church kept many records of a civil nature in their vestry books. In many instances, parish registers containing baptism, marriage, and death records have not survived when vestry books have. Colonial vestries largely ceased functioning in 1786, when local overseers of the poor took charge of some of the vestries' main responsibilities.<ref>John Frederick Dorman, "Review of ''Albemarle Parish Vestry Book,"'' in ''The Virginia Genealogist,'' Vol. 49, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 2005):320. Digital version at [http://www.americanancestors.org/ American Ancestors] ($); {{FHL|33159|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 B2vg v. 49 (2005)}}.</ref><br>

*''Parish Lines, Diocese of Southern Virginia''. Richmond, Va.: Virginia State Library, 1996. {{FHL|1149675|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 K2co 1996}}.  

*''Parish Lines, Diocese of Southwestern Virginia''. Richmond, Va.: Virginia State Library, 1960. {{FHL|72445|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 K2c}}.  

*''Parish Lines, Diocese of Virginia''. Richmond, Va.: Virginia State Library, 1967. 1978 reprint: {{FHL|1010149|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 K2cf 1978}}<br>

*''Index to Marriage Notices in The Southern Churchman, 1835-1941.'' Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield Company, 1996. {{FHL|113539|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 V22i}}.<br>

*Axelson, Edith F. ''A Guide to Episcopal Church Records in Virginia''. Athens, Georgia: Iberian Publishing, 1988. {{FHL|384322|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 K27a}}. Includes parish register and vestry book inventories.  

*Bryden, George MacLaren. ''Virginia's Mother Church and the Political Conditions Under Which It Grew''. 2 vols. Richmond, Va.: Virginia Historical Society Press, 1947-1952. {{FHL|72441|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 K2bg v. 1-v. 2}}  

*Goodwin, Edward L. ''The Colonial Church in Virginia: With Biographical Sketches of the First Six Bishops of the Diocese of Virginia, and Other Historical Papers, Together with Brief Biographical Sketches of the Colonial Clergy of Virginia''. Milwaukee, Wisc.: Morehouse Pub., 1927. {{FHL|72470|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 K2g}}.  

*Meade, William. ''Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia''. 2 vols. 1857. Reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1966. Digital versions of volume 1 at [https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/509913-old-churches-ministers-and-families-of-virginia-vol-01?offset=1 FamilySearch Digital Library], [http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=48592 Ancestry] ($), [http://www.archive.org/details/oldchurchesminis01meaduoft Internet Archive]. Digital version of volume 2 at [http://www.archive.org/details/oldchurchesminis003253mbp Internet Archive], [https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/461500-old-churches-ministers-and-families-of-virginia-vol-02?offset=2 FamilySearch Digital Library]-Vol. 2. {{FHL|218395|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 K2m 1966}}. Mostly histories of early parishes but includes 6,900 names of individuals.  

*''Colonial Churches: A Series of Sketches of Churches in the Original Colony of Virginia: With Pictures of Each Church.'' Richmond, Va.: Southern Churchman Co., 1907. Digital versions at [http://search.ancestry.com/iexec/Default.aspx?htx=BookList&dbid=28949 Ancestry] ($); [http://books.google.com/books?id=TSISAAAAYAAJ Google Books]; [http://www.archive.org/details/colonialchurches00rich Internet Archive]; 2nd ed. (1908): [http://books.google.com/books?id=MjFLAAAAMAAJ Google Books]; 1990 reprint: {{FHL|521948|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 K2cc}}.  

*Fothergill, Gerald. ''A List of Emigrant Ministers to America, 1690-1811''. London: E. Stock, 1904. Digital versions at [http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=4760 Ancestry] ($); [http://books.google.com/books?id=lVgEAAAAIAAJ Google Books]; [http://www.archive.org/details/listofemigrantmi00fothuoft Internet Archive], 1965 reprint: {{FHL|283621|item|disp=FS Library Book 973 W2f 1965}}. Addendum published in ''Caribbeana'', Vol. 3 (1914):312-313. Digital version at [http://dloc.com/UF00075409/00003/336j?search=caribbeana dLOC] - free.<br>  

*Weis, Frederick Lewis. ''The Colonial Clergy of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina''. Boston, Mass.: Society of the Descendants of Colonial Clergy, 1955. {{FHL|291278|item|disp=FS Library Book 975 D3wc}}; digital version at [https://www.myheritage.com/research/collection-55744/the-colonial-clergy-of-virginia-north-carolina-south-carolina MyHeritage] ($).

*Very few of Virginia's colonial glebe houses (residences of Church of England ministers owned by the parish) survive today.<ref>John Frederick Dorman, "Review of ''The Glebe Houses of Colonial Virginia,"'' in ''The Virginia Genealogist,'' Vol. 47, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 2003):313. Digital version at [http://www.americanancestors.org/ American Ancestors] ($); {{FHL|33159|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 B2vg v. 47 (2003)}}.</ref><br>

Before the American Revolution, the state church of Virginia was the Church of England (also called Anglican, and later Protestant Episcopal). Besides keeping parish registers, '''the church kept many records of a civil nature in their vestry books. In many instances, parish registers containing baptism, marriage, and death records have not survived when vestry books have.''' Colonial vestries largely ceased functioning in 1786, when local overseers of the poor took charge of some of the vestries' main responsibilities.<ref>John Frederick Dorman, "Review of ''Albemarle Parish Vestry Book,"'' in ''The Virginia Genealogist,'' Vol. 49, No. 4 (Oct.-Dec. 2005):320. Digital version at [https://www.americanancestors.org/search/databasesearch/285/virginia-genealogist-the American Ancestors] by NEHGS ($); {{FHL|33159|item|disp=FS Library Book 975.5 B2vg v. 49 (2005)}}.</ref><br>