today on the ancestral findings podcast if you are looking for information that is missing from
your family tree thanks to the missing 1890 u.s federal census consider looking at church records
they can be a treasure trove of 1890s information on your family this is what church records are
how to use them and what information you may find about your family in them [Music]
the 1890 u.s federal census is gone it was destroyed in a fire in the 1930s
the absence of this important bit of genealogical information is quite frustrating
to every american genealogist but probably most particularly to a new or beginning genealogist
this is because the census is such a basic tool of genealogy most genealogists begin with using it
its absence leaves a gap in the records from 1880 to 1900 the good news is that there are a lot of
alternate sources you can use to get past this gap church records are one of them so what are church
records and how can they help you get past the gap in information left by the absence of the 1890
census well first of all most churches keep records of the things that happen there
those records can range from mundane housekeeping things like accounting and building maintenance
records but they can also mention who is an official member of the church family relations
to other members of the church and christenings funerals and marriages that happen there this
can be a great treasure trove of information for people looking for their 1890s ancestors
it is helpful if you know what church your ancestors attended if so you can go right
to the church or call them or check online to see if they have published their records
if you do not know the exact church but do know their denomination you can check churches of
that denomination in the cities towns villages and counties where your ancestors lived or where you
believe they lived in the 1890s if you do not know the denomination a little bit more research may be
warranted to find out such as with old newspaper records or personal family records you could also
just check every church in the place where your ancestor lived once you find the records you may
be pleasantly surprised at their ability to fill in important genealogical gaps for you from the
period if the records are not in the church or online you may want to check with the family
history library in salt lake city utah to find out if they sent their records there for digitization
at some point you can also check local archives and genealogy libraries for the records of defunct
churches many churches or towns sent their records there before the church disbanded
if you are lucky enough to still belong to the same church as your 1890s ancestors
it will be much easier for you to find and utilize their records either way there are plenty of ways
to track down church records and it is well worth doing because of the importance of the information
they can provide to you while not every church will have records and those that do won't always
be useful if you get good records you will truly be quite happy as a genealogist [Music]
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happy searching