Cook Islands Church Records

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Cook Islands

Church Records

For information about records for non-Christian religions in the Cook Islands, go to the Religious Records page.

History

Religions: Cook Islands Christian Church 49.1%; Seventh-day Adventist 7.9%; Assemblies of God 3.7%; Apostolic Church 2.1%); Roman Catholic 17%; Mormon 4.4%; Other 8%. This "Other" group includes smaller Christian denominations, and mostly non-indigenous adherents of Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, as well as the irreligious.

"The dominant religion of Polynesia and the Cook Islands is Christianity. The missionaries arrived in 1821 and quickly uprooted the old animistic worship of tribal gods and idols. The London Missionary Society focussed its early efforts on the Society Islands. Ex-ironmonger John Williams hit on the idea of using converted Polynesians to spread the gospel to the islands to the west. He sent two Raiateans to Aitutaki in 1821 and others followed shortly after to Mitiaro, Mangaia, Mauke and Atiu. Finally, Rarotonga fell to the new beliefs...Missionaries had a huge impact on the land, structure of society and the people. Most of them came from the lower middle classes of 19th century England, what has been termed the "mechanic" class. They brought their wives with them. Many of these women were the daughters of missionaries in New South Wales, Australia, and were well aware of the hardships of missionary life. The islanders were employed by these families around the mission houses to cook, clean, wait at table and work in the garden....

Before contact with missionaries, the Rarotongans lived inland deep in the valleys and thus protected from neighboring tribes. However, the location of these settlements did not suit the missionaries' attempts at conversion since access was difficult and restrictive. The missionaries set up their stations on the coast and persuaded the chiefs to build villages around them.

Information Recorded in the Records

Different denominations, different time periods, and practices of different record keepers will effect how much information can be found in the records. This outline will show the types of details which might be found (best case scenario);

Baptisms

In Catholic and Anglican records, children were usually baptized a few days after birth, and therefore, the baptism record proves date of birth. Other religions, such as Baptists, baptized at other points in the member's life. Baptism registers might give:

• baptism date
• the infant's name,
• parents' names,
• father's occupation,
• status of legitimacy,
• occasionally, names of grandparents,
• names of witnesses or godparents, who may be relatives,
• birth date and place,
• the family's place of residence,
• death information, as an added note or signified by a cross.

Marriages

Marriage registers can give:

• the marriage date and
• the names of the bride and groom,
• indicate whether they were single or widowed and
• their ages,
• their birth dates and places
• residences,
• occupations,
• birthplaces, and
• parents' names (after 1800)
• the names of previous spouses and their death dates,
• names of witnesses, who might be relatives.

Burials

Burial registers may give:

• the name of the deceased and
• the date and place of death or burial.
• the deceased's age,
• place of residence, and
• cause of death
• the names of survivors, especially a widow or widower,
• deceased's birth date and place and
• parents' names