Virginia Church Records

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Church Records

For greater success, use all the Wiki Articles in this series: What Can I Find in U.S. Church Records? Determining the Church Your Ancestor Attended How to Find Church Records in the United States Searching for Church Records by Denomination Searching for Church Records by U.S. State

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Historical Background

The Church of England (now Protestant Episcopal) was the established church in Virginia from 1624 to 1786. Between the time of the American Revolution and the year 1900, the largest religious groups in Virginia were the Baptist, Methodist Episcopal, and Presbyterian churches.

Information Found in the Records

To effectively use church records, become familiar with their content. Click on these links to learn about a specific record type:

Baptisms or Christenings Marriages

Funerals or Burials Membership Lists

Minutes or Historical Narrative

Finding the Records

Look for online records.

Online databases are incomplete. This can lead to two common errors: Near matches: Researchers might mistakenly accept an entry very similar to their ancestor, thinking it is the only one available. Only use information that matches your ancestor in date, place, relationships, and other details. Stopping research: Researchers might assume the database proves church records do not exist. Actually the record is still out there, just not in this incomplete collection of records. Keep searching!

Indexes

• Virginia, Historical Society Papers, 1607-2007, index/images - How to Use this Collection
• Virginia Vital Records, 1660-1923 ($) index and images
• Virginia, Marriages, 1785-1940 Index only. Incomplete. Coverage Table - How to Use this Collection Also at Ancestry.com ($), Also at MyHeritage, ($), index
• Virginia, Births and Christenings, 1853-1917 Index only Incomplete. Coverage Table - How to Use this Collection
• Virginia, Deaths and Burials, 1853-1912 Index only Incomplete. - How to Use this Collection
• Virginia, Deaths and Burials Index, 1853-1917 ($)
• Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia With Index and Genealogical Guide, Vol. Ii, index ($)

Baptists

• Materials towards a history of the Baptists in the provinces of Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia (1772) Morgan Edwards. Include several lists of founding members of Baptist churches in Virginia and biographies of ministers.
• Early Virginia Religious Petitions, digitized by the Library of Congress, include many petitions from Virginia congregations that identify inhabitants who belonged to their faiths.

Protestant Episcopal (Anglican Church or Church of England)

• Index to Marriage Notices in The Southern Churchman (Newspaper), 1835-1941. Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield Company, 1996. The "Southern Churchman was a newspaper published by the Episcopal faith.

Lutheran

• 1781-1969 - U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church in America Church Records, 1781-1969, index and images, incomplete.($)

Quaker (Society of Friends)

• U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935, index & images ($).
• Encyclopedia of American Quaker Genealogy. Vol. VI: (Virginia), index and transcripts.($)

Look for digital copies of church records in the FamilySearch Catalog.

FamilySearch Library
Salt Lake City, Utah

• The FamilySearch Library (FS Library) has a substantial collection of original church records and transcripts on microfilm for churches in the United States.
• Online church records can be listed in the FamilySearch Catalog under the state, county, or town.
• If you find a record that has not yet been digitized, see How do I request that a microfilm be digitized?
• Some records might have viewing restrictions, and can only be viewed at a FamilySearch Center near you, and/or by members of supporting organizations.
• To find records:

a. Click on the records of United States, Virginia.

b. Click on Places within United States, Virginia and a list of counties will appear.

c. Click on your county if it appears.

d. Click on the "Church records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.

e. Click on Places within United States, Virginia [COUNTY] and a list of towns will appear.

f. Click on your town if it appears, or the location which you believe was the parish which served your town or village.

g. Click on the "Church records" topic. Click on the blue links to specific record titles.

h. Some combination of these icons will appear at the far right of the listing for the record. . The magnifying glass indicates that the record is indexed. Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to the index. Clicking on the camera will take you to an online digital copy of the records.

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Consult available finding aids.

These aids generally provide lists of records that are known to exist and information on their location.

• A Guide to Church Records in the Library of Virginia. Clark, Jewell T., and Elizabeth T. Long. Richmond, Va.: 2002. 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. WorldCat
• "Genealogical Research in Virginia Church Records," Long, Elizabeth Terry. Virginia Genealogical Society Quarterly, Vol. 18, No. 2 (1980):pages 60-69.($). Discusses records associated with the Church of England, Presbyterians, Quakers, Lutherans, Reformed, and Baptist churches.

Baptist

• A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia. 1810; Semple, Robert Baylor and George William Beale. reprint, Richmond, Va.: Pitt and Dickinson, 1894.
• The Early Baptists of Virginia: An Address, Delivered in New York, Before the American Baptist Historical Society, May 10th, 1856. Howell, Robert Boyte Crawford and American Baptist Historical Society. Press of the Society, 1867.
  

History
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 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 Ancestry ($). It is also available in book form at the FamilySearch Library: FS Library Book 975.5 B2vs v. 36-39.
Digital versions of many Virginia Baptists histories, such as The History of Virginia Baptists (1848), Correspondence between Early Virginia Baptists and President George Washington in 1789 (1894), Persecution of Baptists in Early Virginia History (1808) are available for free online at the Baptist History Homepage. An excellent early history of Virginia Baptists, which identifies the various churches established and their ministers is:

• Semple, Robert Baylor and George William Beale. A History of the Rise and Progress of the Baptists in Virginia. 1810; reprint, Richmond, Va.: Pitt and Dickinson, 1894. Digital version at Google Books - free.
• Howell, Robert Boyte Crawford and American Baptist Historical Society. The Early Baptists of Virginia: An Address, Delivered in New York, Before the American Baptist Historical Society, May 10th, 1856. Press of the Society, 1867. Digital version at FamilySearch Digital Library, Google Books.
  

Associations
Baptist churches in Virginia were divided into regional associations. In 1810, they existed as follows:

• Accomac Association: Accomack and Northampton counties
• Albemarle Association: Albemarle, Amherst, and Fluvanna counties
• Appomattox Association: Amelia, Buckingham, Campbell, Charlotte, and Prince Edward counties
• Culpeper Association: Culpeper, Fauquier, Hardy, Madison, Orange, Rockingham, and Shenandoah counties
• Dover Association: Caroline, Charles City, Elizabeth City, Essex, Gloucester, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, James City, King and Queen, King George, King William, Lancaster, Mathews, Middlesex, New Kent, Northumberland, Richmond, Warwick, Westmoreland, and York counties
• Goshen Association: Caroline, Goochland, Louisa, Orange, and Spotsylvania counties
• Greenbrier Association: Giles, Greenbrier, Kanawha, and Monroe counties
• Holston and Mountain Associations: Grayson, Lee, Russell, and Washington counties
• Ketocton Association: Berkeley, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Frederick, Hampshire, Jefferson, Loudoun, Prince William, Shenandoah, and Stafford counties
• Meherrin Association: (previously Concord Association): Brunswick, Charlotte, Dinwiddie, Greensville, Lunenburg, and Mecklenburg counties
• Middle District Association: Chesterfield, Nottoway, and Powhatan counties
• New River Association: Giles, Montgomery, and Roanoke counties
• Portsmouth Association: Dinwiddie, Isle of Wight, Nansemond, Norfolk, Prince George, Princess Anne, Southampton, Surry, and Sussex counties
• Red Stone Association: Brooke, Monongalia, and Ohio counties
• Roanoke Association: Campbell, Charlotte, Halifax, Mecklenburg, and Pittsylvania counties
• Strawberry Association: Bedford, Botetourt, Campbell, Henry, Franklin, Patrick, and Rockbridge counties
• Union Association: Harrison, Monongalia, and Randolph counties
  

Ministers

• 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: FS Library Books 975.5 D3si v. 1-7.
  
• Taylor, James Barnett. Lives of Virginia Baptist Ministers. 2nd ed. Richmond: Yale & Wyatt, 1838. Digital versions at FamilySearch Digital Library, Google Books.
• Taylor, George Braxton. Virginia Baptist Ministers: 3d Series. J.P. Bell Company, Inc., 1912. Digital versions at FamilySearch Digital Library, Google Books.
• Taylor, George Braxton. Virginia Baptist Ministers: 4th Series. J.P. Bell, 1913. Digital book at Google Books.
• Taylor, George Braxton. Virginia Baptist Ministers: 5th Series, 1902-1914, with Supplement. J.P. Bell, 1915. Digital book at Google Books.
• An 1899 directory of Baptist ministers lists biographical details about many ministers born or serving in the state:
• The Ministerial Directory of the Baptist Churches in the United States of America. Oxford, Ohio: Ministerial Directory Co., 1899. Digital version at Google Books.

Newspapers

• The Religious Herald was a newspaper published by the Baptist faith. Abstracts of marriages and obituaries were prepared by The Historical Records Survey of Virginia:

• Index to Marriage Notices in The Religious Herald, 1828-1938. Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield Company, 1996. FS Library Book 975.5 V22in.
• Index to Obituary Notices in The Religious herald, 1828-1938. Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield Company, 1996. FS Library Book 975.5 V42h.

Protestant Episcopal (Anglican Church or Church of England)

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.

Colonial Parishes

Study parish boundaries to determine which parish an ancestor attended. There are three excellent sources, which include maps, written by Charles Francis Cocke:

• Parish Lines, Diocese of Southern Virginia. Richmond, Va.: Virginia State Library, 1996. FS Library Book 975.5 K2co 1996.
• Parish Lines, Diocese of Southwestern Virginia. Richmond, Va.: Virginia State Library, 1960. FS Library Book 975.5 K2c.
• Parish Lines, Diocese of Virginia. Richmond, Va.: Virginia State Library, 1967. 1978 reprint: FS Library Book 975.5 K2cf 1978
  

Freddie Spradlin has analyzed references to the formations and boundary changes of Church of England parishes found in Hening's Statutes at Large. His notes are available online at Parishes of Virginia (part of VAGenWeb Project).

Information is included on Virginia Parish Wiki pages
Newspapers
The Southern Churchman was a newspaper published by the Episcopal faith. Abstracts of marriages were prepared by The Historical Records Survey of Virginia:

• Index to Marriage Notices in The Southern Churchman, 1835-1941. Baltimore, Md.: Clearfield Company, 1996. FS Library Book 975.5 V22i.
  

Histories and Guides
During the last half of the eighteenth century, the Church of England in Virginia lost much of its membership to dissenting religions. Many of the grand church buildings fell into disrepair. In the nineteenth century, "Many Virginians had a deep sense of living among the ruins of a more glorious past."

• Anderson, J.S. The History of the Church of England in the Colonies and Foreign Dependencies of the British Empire. 3 vols. London: Rivington, 1856. Digital versions at Internet Archive: Vol. 1, Vol. 2, Vol. 3. [All three volumes include material on the history of the Church of England in Virginia.
• Axelson, Edith F. A Guide to Episcopal Church Records in Virginia. Athens, Georgia: Iberian Publishing, 1988. 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. 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. FS Library Book 975.5 K2g.
• Goodwin, Wm. A.R. History of The Theological Seminary in Virginia and Its Historical Background. 1923. Digital versions at FamilySearch Digital Library-Vol. 1, FamilySearch Digital Library-Vol. 2.
• Hawks, Francis Lister. A Narrative of Events Connected with the Rise and Progress of the Protestant Episcopal Church in Virginia: To Which is Added an Appendix, Containing the Journals of the Conventions in Virginia from the Commencement to the Present Time. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1836. Digital version at Google Books.
• Meade, William. Old Churches, Ministers and Families of Virginia. 2 vols. 1857. Reprint, Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing, 1966. Digital versions of volume 1 at FamilySearch Digital Library, Ancestry ($), Internet Archive. Digital version of volume 2 at Internet Archive, FamilySearch Digital Library-Vol. 2. FS Library Book 975.5 K2m 1966. Mostly histories of early parishes but includes 6,900 names of individuals.
• Upton, Dell. Holy Things and Profane: Anglican Parish Churches in Virginia. Yale University Press, 1997.
  

For images and brief histories of colonial churches where your ancestors worshipped, see:

• 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 Ancestry ($); Google Books; Internet Archive; 2nd ed. (1908): Google Books; 1990 reprint: FS Library Book 975.5 K2cc.
• Wigmore, Francis Marion. Old Parish Churches of Virginia: A Pictorial-Historic Exhibition of Photographs in Colors Lent to the Library of Congress. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1929. Digital version at Internet Archive - free.
  

Clergy
To learn more about the origins of Church of England ministers sent to Virginia from England during the colonial period, start with these books:

• Fothergill, Gerald. A List of Emigrant Ministers to America, 1690-1811. London: E. Stock, 1904. Digital versions at Ancestry ($); Google Books; Internet Archive, 1965 reprint: FS Library Book 973 W2f 1965. Addendum published in Caribbeana, Vol. 3 (1914):312-313. Digital version at dLOC - free.
  
• Weis, Frederick Lewis. The Colonial Clergy of Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina. Boston, Mass.: Society of the Descendants of Colonial Clergy, 1955. FS Library Book 975 D3wc; digital version at MyHeritage ($).

• The Society of the Descendants of the Colonial Clergy points researchers to many valuable resources.
  
• The Clergy of the Church of England website (work in progress) also contains details of many of their ministerial careers before departing for America.
  
• Very few of Virginia's colonial glebe houses (residences of Church of England ministers owned by the parish) survive today.
  

Correspond with or visit the actual churches.

Some records are still held in the local churches. Contact the current minister to find out what records are still available.

• Make an appointment to look at the records. Or ask the minister of the church to make a copy of the record for you.
• To find church staff available, you might have to visit on Sunday.
• Ask for small searches at a time, such as one birth record or a specific marriage. Never ask for "everything on a family or surname".
• A donation ($25-$40) for their time and effort to help you would be appropriate.
• If the church has a website, you may be able to e-mail a message.
• See the Letter Writing Guide for Genealogy for help with composing letters.
• Each denomination page offers an online address directory of local churches for that denomination.

Check the church records collections in archives and libraries.

Some church records have been deposited for preservation in government archives or in libraries. Watch for links to digitized, online records offered by the archives. Some archives provide research services for a fee. For others, if you cannot visit in person, you might hire a researcher.

Here you will find archive information unique to the state. Many more archives are kept by denomination. For denominational archives, go to Searching for Church Records by Denomination.

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Virginia Genealogical Society
P. O. Box 626
Orange, VA 22960-0365
Email: admin@vgs.org
Search Engine

• Virginia Genealogical Society Quarterly has published many church records.

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Library of Virginia
800 East Broad Street
Richmond, Virginia 23219-800
By appointment only: call 804-692-3800 to make an appointment.

• Catalog
• Genealogical Records at the Library of Virginia

"A Guide to Church Records in the Library of Virginia (2002)" lists these records in the Archives collection, some of which date from the colonial period and most of which are administrative. They contain very few references to births, deaths, or marriages. Represented denominations include Baptist, Christian (Disciples of Christ), Episcopal, Jewish, Lutheran and German Reformed, Methodist, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Society of Friends (Quakers), and Unitarians. There is no master index to information recorded in the materials in this collection, and individual volumes usually are not indexed. Records of a small number of churches have been transcribed and published.
"As administrative units of the established church in Virginia until 1786, the Anglican parishes were charged by law with keeping records of births or baptisms, marriages, and deaths or burials. Few of these registers are extant, and all that survive have been published. Each parish also was required to keep minutes of the meetings of the vestry as a record of the administrative affairs of the church. Such vestry books generally do not contain vital statistics. The "Hornbook of Virginia History"' contains convenient cross-referenced lists of parishes of the established church of Virginia between 1607 and 1785.
"Other denominations were not required by law to record births, deaths, and marriages; therefore, the types of records and the information recorded therein vary. Although some churches did record vital statistics, most kept only records of business meetings and financial affairs. Published church records can be located by searching the Library’s online catalog."

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Baptist

• 1750-1899 U.S., Southern Baptist Church Records, 1750-1899 at Ancestry - index & images ($)

Virginia Baptist Historical Society
Boatwright Memorial Library
28 Westhampton Way
University of Richmond, VA 23173
Telephone: (804)289-8669

Church of England (Anglican, Protestant Episcopal)

Vestry Books

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.

Lutheran

James R. Crumley Jr. Archives
4201 Main St.
Columbia, SC 29203

Phone: 803-461-3234
E-mail: crumleyarchivist@gmail.com

• Archives hold records for closed churches. For open churches write directly to the local church.

Presbyterian

Presbyterian Church Archives
Union Theological Seminary in Virginia
3401 Brook Road
Richmond, VA 23227
Telephone: (800)229-2990 or (804)355-0671
Fax:(804)355-3919

Roman Catholic

Diocese of Arlington
200 North Glebe Road
Arlington, Virginia 22203
Phone:(703) 841-2500
E-mail: communications@arlingtondiocese.org

• Contact the local parish with requests for records and information. Use the "Find Parish" button on the main page for a drop-down menu.
  

Diocese of Arlington covers the counties of (Arlington, Clarke, Culpeper, Fairfax, Fauquier, Frederick, King George, Lancaster, Loudoun, Madison, Northumberland, Page, Prince William, Rappahannock, Richmond, Shenandoah, Stafford, Warren, Westmoreland counties).

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Diocese of Richmond Archives
7800 Carousel Lane
Richmond, VA 23294-4201
(804) 359-5661

• Contact the local parish with requests for records and information: Parish Finder

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Correspond with genealogical or historical societies.

Some church records have been given to historical societies. Also, historical societies may be able to tell you where the records are being held. To find a society near you, consult these lists:

Next, go to the Wiki article for your ancestors' denomination.

There are frequently additional, nationwide or regional archives and online collections for each denomination. Find the article for your ancestors' denomination and follow the instructions there to access these sources.

Major U.S. Religious Denominations
Adventist Amish Anabaptist Anglican Apostolic Christian Armenian Catholic Armenian Evangelical Armenian Orthodox Assemblies of God Baháʼí Baptist Buddhist Catholic Apostolic Church of the Brethren Community of Christ Confucianism Congregational	Coptic Orthodox Disciples of Christ Dutch Reformed Episcopal German Reformed Greek Orthodox Hinduism Huguenot Hutterites Jehovah's Witnesses Jewish The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) Lutheran Maronite Catholic Church Melkite Greek Catholic Methodist	Mennonite Moravian Muslim Orthodox Church in America (OCA) Pentecostal Presbyterian Roman Catholic Russian Orthodox Schwenkfelders Serbian Orthodox Sihkism Society of Friends (Quakers) Syriac Orthodox Church Ukrainian Orthodox United Church of Christ United Brethren in Christ Unitarian/Universalist

Carefully compare any record you find to known facts about the ancestor

You will possibly find many different people with the same name as your ancestor, especially when a family stayed in a locality for several generations, and several children were named after the grandparents or aunts and uncles. Be prepared to find the correct church records by organizing in advance as many of these exact details about the ancestor as possible:

• name, including middle name and maiden name
• names of all spouses, including middle and maiden name
• exact or closely estimated dates of birth, marriage, and death
• names and approximate birthdates of children
• all known places of residence
• occupations
• military service details

Carefully evaluate the church records you find to make sure you have really found records for your ancestor and not just a "near match". If one or more of the details do not line up, be careful about accepting the entry as your ancestor. There are guiding principles for deciding how to resolve discrepancies between records that are seemingly close. For more instruction in evaluating evidence, read the Wiki article, Evaluate the Evidence.

References

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