Tracing Your Ancestors in Church or Synagogue Records

The Mormons do genealogical work as part of their religious activities called Temple Work. The concept a non-Mormon would most readily recognize is "baptism for the dead" which is mentioned in  1 Corinthians 15:29. What "baptism for the dead" might actually mean is not an object of discussion in this particular post.

I am not a Mormon and it is not necessary for you to be a Mormon to be interested in your family history. Your ancestry is a large part of who you are. It is your link to history. You love your parents. Why not also learn of and love your great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents?

There are many techniques genealogists use to trace family relationships. One of them is studying church and synagogue records. These are as much primary source records as are public civil records.

Jewish genealogy seems to present particular problems since there is very little centralization of the records. The following repositories may be helpful: The Center for Jewish History, the American Jewish Archives at the Hebrew Union College Jewish Institute of Religion, the Douglas Goldman Jewish Genealogy Center, and the Jewish Genealogical Center. The New York Public Library has a Jewish Genealogy Collection. If your family has a long connection with a particular synagogue there may be records available of some family specific information.

Christian church records are also highly fragmented because of the existence of over 200 different religious denominations in the United States alone. 

Many of today's Christian religious denominations have gone through highly contentious times, with multiple mergers, splits, mutinies, power battles, excommunications, shunnings, relocations, etc. Many splinter groups declared themselves to be the original pre-split group. The groups often took with them as many historical documents as possible. Lawsuits over ownership of property and documents produced court records which are also primary historical source material.

Organizational records may include payroll information, property rental and purchase documents, tax records, employment records, records of disciplinary actions, chains of command and job descriptions, etc. The records may also contain personal records (births, marriages, deaths, burials, consecrations, and ordinations.

When individuals shifted their allegiance from one group to another their church-held vital genealogical records usually were not shifted with them and remained with the parent group. The records may now be stored in the archives of the original body (which may or may not be in their original geographic  location.)

If you know the dates when organizational shifts occurred or the approximate dates when your ancestors moved from one group to another, you may be abler to infer the likeliest place to begin searching for a particular record. Early public records are often spotty and incomplete or even totally lost due to floods,  ,fires, or wartime rapacity. The only extant record of the marriage of your great-great-great-grandparents, who lived in California, may be housed in church archives in Florida for a group which originated in Minnesota.

Many universities and colleges with denominational ties have extensive records. Samford University (Southern Baptist) and Birmingham Southern College (Methodist) are two examples. Contact the national headquarters of your particular religious denomination and they may be able to steer you to their own historical repositories.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Some of those listed may surprise you.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Leonard James Callaghan, Baron Callaghan of Cardiff: (b. 1912, England - d. 2005) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1976 - 1979. Baptist, converted to Atheist.

Margaret Hilda Roberts Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher: (b. 1925, England - d. 2013) 

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1979 - 1990. Methodist, converted to Anglican.

Sir John Major: (b 1943, England) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1990 - 1997, Anglican

Anthony Charles Lynton Blair: (b 1953, England) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1997 - 2007, Anglican, converted to Roman Catholic

James  Gordon Brown: (b. 1951, England) Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 2007 - 2010, Church of Scotland

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Some of those listed may surprise you.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Kim Il-sung: (b.1912, Japanese Korea –d. 1994; Eternal President of the Republic) Leader of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (1948-1994) Raised as a Presbyterian, became a Communist, then a Socialist.

Kim Hyong-jik: (b. 1884, Korea – d. 1926) Father of Kim Il-sung.  Presbyterian.

Kang Pan-sok: (b. 1892, Korea – d. 1932) Mother of Kim Il-sung.  Presbyterian, then Communist.

Kang Dong-wook (b. Korea; aka: Kang Ton Uk) Maternal grandfather of Kim Il-sung.  Protestant minister.

Kang Ryang-uk: (b. 1904, Korea - 1983; aka: Kang Yang Wook; Kang Lyanguk)  Former Methodist minister, school teacher, non-Communist.  Kim Il-sung made him his Vice President.  Kang was a cousin of Kang Dong-wook.

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Some of those listed may surprise you.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

Abraham Johannes Muste: (b. 1885, Netherlands – d. 1967; A.J. Muste) American Clergyman, civil rights activist, pacifist.  Muste was a proponent of the Social Gospel.  He was a Dutch Reformed Socialist who became a Quaker Christian pacifist.

Honorio Hermeto Carneiro Leao, Marquis of Parana: (b. 1801, Brazil –d. 1856) Judge, politician, diplomat, and monarchist.  Roman Catholic.

Howard Thurman: (b. 1899, Florida (USA) – d. 1981) Baptist minister, educator, author, philosopher, theologian, civil rights leader.  Thurman was a mentor to Martin Luther King, Jr.

James Leonard Farmer, Jr.: (b. 1920, Texas (USA) – d. 1999) Civil rights activist who organized the 1961 Freedom Ride and was a cofounder of the Congress of Racial Equality.  Son of James Leonard Farmer, Sr. Methodist.

James Leonard Farmer, Sr.: (b. 1886 – d. 1961) Author, theologian, educator, university professor.  Father of James Leonard Farmer, Jr.  Methodist.

God Expects Us to Work

“God gives every bird its food, but He does not throw it into the nest.” J. G. Holland

Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819-1881) was an American novelist, poet, magazine editor, physician, and Methodist hymn lyricist.

God expects us to work.

““Again, it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted his property to them.  To one he gave five talents of money, to another two talents, and to another one talent, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.  The man who had received the five talents went at once and put his money to work and gained five more.  So also, the one with the two talents gained two more.  But the man who had received the one talent went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money.

   “After a long time the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them.  The man who had received the five talents brought the other five. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with five talents. See, I have gained five more.’

  His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

 “The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’

       “His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’

  “Then the man who had received the one talent came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a hard man, harvesting where you have not sown and gathering where you have not scattered seed.   So I was afraid and went out and hid your talent in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you.’

“His master replied, ‘You wicked, lazy servant! So you knew that I harvest where I have not sown and gather where I have not scattered seed?  Well then, you should have put my money on deposit with the bankers, so that when I returned I would have received it back with interest.

    “‘Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents.  For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.  And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’” Matthew 25:14-30

” Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.”  1 Corinthians 4:2

Hotel in England Replaces Gideon Bibles With Fifty Shades of Gey

Jonathan Denby, the owner of the Damson Dene Hotel in Bowness-on –Windermere, England, has decided to replace the Gideon’s Bibles in his forty guest rooms with the soft porn novel, Fifty Shades of Grey.  Denby says the move is in response to guest requests and that few, if any, read the Bibles.  Fifty Shades of Grey has a sado-masochistic theme.

Denby says that “I’ll keep a couple behind the reception desk so that if any guest whose preferred bedtime reading happens to be the Bible finds that they have forgotten to pack their copy, they’ll be pleased to read in the guest handbook that they can borrow a copy from the receptionist.”  How nice.

The fact that the Gideons place their Bibles in hotels for free and that Denby has had to buy his copies of Fifty Shades of Grey shows that the replacement was an intentional choice.  Denby bought the hotel facilities from a Methodist group about ten years ago. 

http://www.damsondene.co.uk/

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186330-d504383-Reviews-Damson_Dene_Hotel-Windermere_Lake_District_Cumbria_England.html

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/fifty-shades-grey-replaces-bible-british-hotel/story?id=16853389

http://www.neatorama.com/2012/07/25/hotel-replaces-bible-with-fifty-shades-of-grey/

http://www.cnngo.com/explorations/life/fifty-shades-grey-replaces-bible-hotel-rooms-366510

http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2012/07/british-hotel-replaces-bibles-with-fifty-shades-of-grey/811553/1

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/fifty-shades-of-grey-replaces-bible_n_1699665.html

http://www.expedia.com/Cumbria-Hotels-Damson-Dene-Hotel.h1595721.Hotel-Information?icmdtl=Vm120731JtTWIhvABjQkzsSbo83-JwAAg.1595721.ENLOADw.T.BOT.504383.sa.0.186330.en_UK..&icmcid=TRIPA.Expedia_US-EH_B1.10568.T&eapid=21187-1&rm1=a2& 

Christians

At some time during their lives, the following people have publicly identified themselves as Christian.   Inclusion in this list does not indicate approval or disapproval of the person, of their orthodoxy or lack of it, or of their actions.  Readers are encouraged to suggest persons who should be included on this list.  This is a recurring segment in this blog.

James King Aursness/Aurness: (b. 1923, Minnesota, USA – d. 2011; aka: James Arness) Television and film actor.  Brother of actor Peter Graves. Methodist.

Peter Aursness/Aurness: (b. 1928, Minnesota, USA – d. 2010; aka: Peter Graves) Television and film actor.  Brother of actor James Arness.  Methodist.

 Mike Shula (b. 1965, Maryland, USA) College and professional football player and coach. Son of legendary national Football League coach Don Shula.  Roman Catholic.

Philip Carteret Hill Primrose: (b. 1864, Canada – d. 1937)  Police officer, Lieutenant Governor of Alberta.  Presbyterian.

Norma Larsen Zimmer: (b. 1923, Idaho, USA – d. 2011) Vocalist. She was Lawrence Welk’s “Champagne Lady” for 22 years.  Born as Norma Larsen, she married Randy Zimmer in 1944.

Another Light Bulb Joke

How many United Methodists does it take to change a light bulb?
We are open hearted; the light bulb is OK just as it is.

The Christian Origins of Several Science Fiction Writers

Science fiction is often considered to be an atheist endeavor and many science fiction writers would agree.  It is interesting though, how many of them had religious upbringings, many specifically Christian.

Robert A. Heinlein, Baptist; Gene Rodenberry, Baptist; Jules Verne, Roman Catholic; J.R.R. Tolkein, Roman Catholic; Stanislaw Lem, Roman Catholic;  Karel Capek,  Roman Catholic; Anthony Burgess,  Roman Catholic; Jerry Pournelle,  Roman Catholic; George Lucas, Methodist; Stephen King, Methodist; Beverly Cleary, Presbyterian; Piers Anthony, Quaker.