Georgia Church Records Research Guide

Georgia Church records tend to be a exceptional resource for the genealogical and historical researcher. In many parts of Georgia, church records predate civil records. They for this reason record vital occasions, supplying birth, marriage, and death information that might in any other case be lost. Furthermore providing names and dates, church records may show you relationships between people and portray a family’s position in the community. In addition, records of a personal nature are not unheard of, and these may provide you with a peek into an ancestor’s persona or habits.Before Georgia County and city governments collected vital records, many people noted significant times, events, and names in their family Bible. Family Bibles are beneficial research resources. Although the dates may not be guaranteed, Family Bibles are a tangible link with past generations.

Unfortunately, most of the major religious groups in Georgia didn’t keep records that contained much information that would be useful to genealogists. However, those records can provide insights into earlier times and religious practices. They may also prove that a certain ancestor was living in a given area at a certain time.

Georgia Church Records
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The following are the major religious groups that had a strong presence in Georgia and resources to find information about them: Baptists (Georgia Baptist Historical Collection, Jack Tarver Library, Mercer University, Macon, GA 31207), Methodists (United Methodist Museum, P.O. Box 408, St. Simons Island, GA 31522), Roman Catholics (Savannah and Diocesan Archives, 302 E. Liberty St., P.O. Box 8789, Savannah, GA 31402)

Some other denominations were also present in Georgia, but had much smaller followings. Those groups included: Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, Congregationalists

There are historical records available in each of their repositories, but the Georgia Archives also has a large microfilmed collection of church records available. The Friends Historical Collection holds records from 1767 to 1805 for the Wrightsborough Quaker community, which was based in what is now McDuffie County. That collection can be found in Guilford, North Carolina at Guilford College Library. The FHL and other southern collections should be consulted for more religious records from Georgia.

Georgia Church and Bible Links