Church Record Sunday: 5 Websites for Methodist Genealogy

I thought we would do something a little different this month for Church Record Sunday. Instead of featuring one single resource I will be spotlighting five each Sunday in December.

Today we have five websites for your Methodist family history research.

1. United Methodist Archives and History Center of the United Methodist Church.

2. Genealogy and Family Research. General Commission on Archives and History. The United Methodist Church.

3. Cyndi's List. Methodism: Libraries, Archives & Museums.

4. Methodist Collections. The University of Manchester Library.

5. Duke University Libraries. Guide to the United Methodist Church Records, 1784-1984...

Church Record Sunday: The American Methodism Project

There is so much on the Internet that can benefit our research. Much of it isn't always easy to find. One of my favorite websites is the Texts collection on Internet Archive. There is so much there that a whole presentation could center on just that one website. For Church Record Sunday, you may want to check out The American Methodism Project.

From the home page, it states:

The American Methodism Project is a digitized collection of interdisciplinary and historical materials related to American Methodism. The primary goal of this project is to provide both the digital tools and the digitized texts of American Methodism to better understand both Methodism and the United States. Contemporary questions of church and state boundaries, the role of government, moral development, education, leadership, labor, immigration, family, etc. are topics which can benefit from debates and reflections contained within this corpus of materials.

There's some interesting works here including memoirs and histories.One series of books, Martyrdom in Missouri discusses persecution during the Civil War. Make sure to browse the "M" titles for a list of memoirs that includes women's letters and diaries. There are also minutes from various conferences posted here. The great thing about Internet Archive is because all of the work is in the public domain you can download the entire book for free.

The American Methodist Project is a partnership between the United Methodist-related seminary libraries, the Internet Archive, the United Methodist Commission on Archives and History, and the Methodist Librarians Fellowship. Additional materials will be selected from the partner libraries, other related institutions, historical societies, scholarly societies, publishers, other libraries and archives, annual conferences, United Methodist agencies, local churches, and other Methodist-related denominations.

Church Record Sunday: Methodists in Texas

History of Methodism in Texas by Homer S. Thrall is a free ebook available on the  Google Books website. The intro to this books begins:

This book published in 1872 includes not only a history of the Methodist church in Texas but also a necrology for the years 1866-1871. Once you access the book, make sure to conduct a search within it for the names of your ancestors.

Church Record Sunday: United Methodist Church

Have Methodist ancestors in the United States? You may be interested in this source.

Researching Your United Methodist Ancestors: A Brief Guide is found on the website for the United Methodist Church General Commission on Archives and History. They also have a genealogy page found here. One of the databases on this website is the Annual Conference Journal Memoirs Index which includes obituaries for those who were ordained ministers.

Thanks to my friend Teresa who passed along this information.

Church Record Sunday: An Irish Guide to Church Records

Got Irish ancestors? Then you might want to check out this wonderful guide to Irish church records. An Irish Genealogical Source. A Guide to Church Records is a PDF document published  by the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland with 337 pages of information about church records. This Guide provides a reference to church records located throughout Ireland. The Guide states it has tried to include "churches within each civil parish" (page 32).

The Guide provides a history of church records in Ireland and a history of various denominations including Methodist, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, Protestant and Church of Ireland. From there it provides information on various parishes and where records are located.

This is a must-have reference if you have Irish ancestors.