UpFront with NGS: Baptist

19 May 2014

NGS 2014 Family History Conference -- Session W154 -- "She Bore Her Suffering with Christian Fortitude": Using Religious Newspapers and Periodicals

Another in the series on sessions I attended at the NGS 2014 Family History Conference.

W154 “She Bore Her Suffering with Christian Fortitude.” Using Religious Newspapers and Periodicals, Michael D Lacopo, D.V.M, Syllabus page 85

The presenter provided a very interesting overview on religion and newspapers. A key take away from this talk is that many religious publications published death notices and related decades before such information could be found with any regularity in secular newspapers.

A new-to-me website which I learned about is that for the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. It has a list of official denominational websites which is a great start place to learn what was being published by the various denominations.

He reminded us that Cyndi’s List contains a list of Religion & Churches >> Libraries, Archives & Museums another great place to look for what has been published.

There are many newspaper directories which can be consulted, several of which are available online including:

+ Rowell’s and Ayer’s American Newspaper Directory (1869-1920)

+ George Batten’s Directory of the Religious Press of the United States (New York: George Batten, Newspaper Advertising Agent, 1892)

Page from George Batten's Directory of the Religious Press of the United States

+ History and annotated bibliography of American religious periodicals and newspapers established from 1730 through 1830 (Worcester: Gaylord P Albaugh, American Antiquarian Society, 1994) [link is to WorldCat so that you can see if a nearby repository has this book]

Along these lines, I was already familiar with the NC Baptist Historical Collection which has digitized images of The Biblical Recorder, started in 1833 for which t here is an alphabetical list of obituary notices (1835-1877). Additionally, Baptists (as did other faiths) held periodic conventions where the minutes sometimes included obituaries.

The associated syllabus pages provide a great overview of the talk (which covers so much more than my brief summary) and also include a bibliography.

Editor’s Note: This session was NOT recorded. Hopefully a friend attended the conference and you can learn more!

Editor’s Note: This series is not presented in any particular order.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog. Any opinions expressed by guest authors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of NGS.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Republication of UpFront articles is permitted and encouraged for non-commercial purposes without express permission from NGS. Please drop us a note telling us where and when you are using the article. Express written permission is required if you wish to republish UpFront articles for commercial purposes. You may send a request for express written permission to UpFront@ngsgenealogy.org. All republished articles may not be edited or reworded and must contain the copyright statement found at the bottom of each UpFront article.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Unless indicated otherwise or clearly an NGS Public Relations piece, Upfront with NGS posts are written by Diane L Richard, editor, Upfront with NGS.

12 February 2014

Maps + Church Histories = Neat and Invaluable Perspective on Religion for your Genealogy Research

I have been doing “a lot” of research into NC Baptist Church records recently for several projects.

Though we often talk of how county boundaries have changed, have you considered that the “boundaries” of the people served by a church may have changed? Or that the churches included within an “association” (or similar regional grouping) may have changed? Or that churches are often “splintering” off of other churches?

It’s amazing how complex a church’s history might be! This might greatly affect “where” you will find records of your ancestors in terms of church and association records.

In North Carolina, to provide some assistance in ferreting out church histories online (a great great resource to discover the intricacies of church formation, splintering, and sometimes demise), a Google Map-based tool has been created, Religion in North Carolina Digital Collection.

I love this tool for a couple of reasons:

1. It provides links to published resources freely available via Internet Archive – most of which are church histories

2. It provides you a geographical context for “some” of the churches found in North Carolina

Especially in the early years, when “physical” churches were far apart – individuals either traveled far to attend a “meeting,” worked hard to find a spiritual leader, met casually in place of organized meetings, and much more. In NC, as people moved west, as new counties were created, as new congregations evolved, Baptists would request to be dismissed from one church and assigned to another, often near where they lived. If enough individuals now lived in another location, a new church would come into existence. Similarly, as populations moved on and the need for a church diminished to the point of it not being feasible to continue to exist, it would disband.

Never mind those who belonged to a particular church who eventually became disenfranchised with the tenets practiced by their preacher and then with other like-minded individuals established a new church.

And, in the early years, it was common for North Carolina churches to originally fall under a Virginia-based association. Have you thought to look outside your own state?

The aforementioned tool helps to get a handle on some of the geography involved and the linked to volumes are rich in history.

Additionally, at least as far as NC Baptist church and association records, there is no single repository for records! I have so far identified Baptist archives located in NC, GA and TN which have records for NC churches. I have found church records at the NC archives, UNC (Chapel Hill) and Duke University. What about the church clerk who kept a copy of records in his personal papers?

Never mind those churches which may still have possession of all their records. Unfortunately, as with all kinds of records, some records are just no longer extant.

Is there a similar resource for your state or locale?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to learn more about interacting with the blog, please read Hyperlinks, Subscribing and Comments -- How to Interact with Upfront with NGS Blog posts!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NGS does not imply endorsement of any outside advertiser or other vendors appearing in this blog.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Follow NGS via Facebook, YouTube, Google+, Twitter

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Think your friends, colleagues, or fellow genealogy researchers would find this blog post interesting? If so, please let them know that anyone can read past UpFront with NGS posts or subscribe!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Suggestions for topics for future UpFront with NGS posts are always welcome. Please send any suggested topics to UpfrontNGS@mosaicrpm.com