RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN OHIO

Amish:
1. Names include Yoder, Troyer, Miller, Gingerich, Byler, Beechy, Mast, Hershberger, Weaver, Keim, Coblentz, Raber, Shrock, Hostetler, Schlabach, etc
2. Sects in north central Ohio include the Andy Weavers, Old Order, Swarzentrubers
3. The Budget newspaper, published at Sugarcreek, Ohio has columns on Ashland, Fredericksburg, etc. - marriages, deaths, illnesses, gossip
4. Characterized by church in homes biweekly, no electricity, gasoline engines for power, no automobiles, distinct fashion for each order
5. The Amish-Mennonite Heritage Center in Berlin & library are excellent resources for the Holmes, Wayne, Richland, and Ashland County, Ohio settlements
6. Use of ausbund (hymnal), Mirror of the Martyrs
Baptist:
1. Baptism by immersion, can re-baptize adults, churches have articles of faith
2. Names include Anabaptists, Old School Baptists, Hardshells, Predestinarians, Regular Baptists, Primitive Baptists, Freewill Baptists, General Baptists, Six-Principle Baptists [laying on of hands], Two-Seed-in-the-Spirit Baptists [you were born of God, or born of Satan - no heaven or hell, but those born of Satan are punished by the wickedness within them], and Missionary Baptists
3. Individual churches would band themselves together into associations
4. Offices include clerk, minister, deacons
5. Records generally include minutes of the business meetings, rarely a death, but never a birth or marriage; generally lists when someone enters the church or when the hand of fellowship is withdrawn
6. Some obituaries in newspaper called The Baptist Register, 1820's onward; another is the Journal and Messenger, published in Cincinnati; is an entire catalogue alone of Southern Baptist newspapers
7. American Baptist Historical Society in Rochester NY and the Historical Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville TN
8. Ohio Baptist Convention formed 1826, but ministers not listed in yearbooks until 1857
9. Encyclopedia of Southern Baptists, Ministerial Directory of the Baptist Churches
Brethren:
1. The Brethren date from about 1708 in Germany and Switzerland.
2. Names include Dunkers, German Baptists, Taufers, 7th Day Baptists, Old Orders, Progressives, Conservatives, Grace Brethren, Dunkard Brethren
3. Church of the Brethren Historical Library, Elgin, IL - newsletter called "Fellowship of Brethren Genealogists" is very informative; Library of Ashland College and Theological Seminary; Manchester College Library in IN
4. Believe in trine immersion (3 times), love feast, foot washing, salutation (holy kiss), laying on of hands (for baptism, ordination, and healing), nonresistance, nonswearing, nonlitigation
5. Newspapers include Gospel Visitor, Christian Family Companion, Primitive Christian, The Pilgrim, Gospel Messenger; obituaries are indexed
6. Have a great interest in genealogy and history - many books and articles on Ohio families
7. Brethren Encyclopedia is a standard reference
Catholic:
1. Records under Archdiocese of Cincinnati, and Diocese of Cleveland, Columbus, Toledo, Youngstown, and Steubenville
2. Excellent sacramental records, including baptisms, first communions, confirmations, marriages and burials, maintained by each parish. Each diocese has started to microfilm parochial records with the second copy preserved in the Chancellors office of the diocese.
3. Many Catholic cemeteries with excellent records
4. Catholic Records Society Bulletin for Ohio genealogists
5. Thesis by Lawrence Mossing on the Church of the Precious Blood and Father Frances deSales Brunner at St Alphonsus; good on other northwest Ohio parishes.
Christian Church:
1. Often called Disciples
2. Disciples of Christ Historical Society in Nashville TN - only have records of about 50 churches, but they have filmed Ashland
3. Magazines - Christian Evangelist, from 1866; Christian Magazine, from 1848 - obituaries are indexed
Church of Christ:
1. Originally called the Winebrennarians, now U.C.C.
Episcopal:
1. The Anglican Church of England; name changed in US in 1783
2. Has bishops, priests and deacons, organized by diocese governed by bishop; parish headed by the rector; administration by the vestry and wardens
3. Records maintained by the 220 parishes in Ohio and by two archives set up in Cleveland and Cincinnati
4. Keep registers of baptisms, confirmations, marriage, burial, communicant lists, minutes of the vestry, financial records, general correspondence
5. Episcopal Church Annual, done since 1830, has some records of genealogical note
Evangelical Association
1. Called Albright's Church after Jacob Albright, the founder
2. Ray Leedy in 1959 wrote a magnificent work called The Evangelical Church in Ohio which gives the history of congregations in this area
3. North Central College Library in Naperville IL is a research source
4. Later merged with United Brethren and now Methodists
Evangelical and Reformed Church:
1. Archives at Philip Schaff Library in Lancaster PA and Eden Theological Seminar in Webster Grove MO; archives of German Reformed at Library of Franklin Marshall College in Lancaster
2. The Evangelical and Reformed Churches in US merged in 1834 to become Evangelican and Reformed Church
3. Baptisms recorded by traveling ministers and were often recorded in the next church where he stopped; not necessarily the area where the event took place
4. Used to have readers who led services and officiated funerals, etc.; many eventually became preachers
Jewish:
1. Several families in Plymouth early
2. Birth records, circumcision records, marriages and deaths
3. Records in individual synagogues
4. Good how-to books, Tracing your Jewish Roots, by Dr. Malcolm H. Stern, and Finding our Fathers, by Dan Rottenberg
5. Leo Baeck Institute in New York City good for Jews out of Germany
6. Toledot - published in NYC, magazine for Jewish genealogy
7. Memorial books lists all know persons who died in the Holocaust, and National Tracking Bureau established in US to help refugees locate missing relatives
8. Genealogy is big, and there are efforts to identify everyone who was Jewish pre-1900 in US
9. Rabbi's lines often traced way back
Lutheran:
1. Ohio Synod of Lutheran Church in America has repository at Wittenberg Univ, Springfield
2. Lay persons can become ministers without education
3. Congregations maintain own records if they still exist; some disbanded ones have turned them over to the archives
4. A collection of early preachers records in Ohio are with the Archives of the American Lutheran Church in Dubuque IA
5. Willard Allbeck, A Century of Lutherans in Ohio, is a good history, 1966
6. Archives in Chicago IL also quite large with many Ohio church records
Mennonite:
1. Named after Menno Simons, a native of Holland, born 1492
2. Opposed to infant baptism, hold to principle of nonresistance
3. Settled at Germantown PA by 1683
4. Frakturs common among Mennonite families
5. Mennonite Historical Library, Bluffton College, place to research
6. Do not take oaths, do not serve in military, choose ministers by lot, singing is acappella, adult baptism by pouring, practice footwashing, use cars and electricity, anyone can join, very strong in missionary work
7. Early newspaper called Herald of Truth
Methodist:
1. East Ohio Conference, Bill Drown, Methodist Theological School, Delaware
2. Ohio West Conference, Susan Coen, Methodist Archives, Beeghly Library, OWU
3. Early circuit histories in Ohio prepared by Raymond Martin Bell
4. Circuit records arranged by circuit, rarely baptisms or other vital records
5. Minutes of quarterly meetings
6. Stewards records
7. Ministers file at OWU - location rotates
8. Lay minister, local preacher, exhorter, circuit preacher
9. Newspaper - Western Christian Advocate
10. Class leader - in charge of a small group for instruction, all expected to belong to class
11. Exhorter - layman who was authorized to conduct religious meetings
12. Traveling preacher - minister appoint to two year terms on a charge or assignment on a circuit, or group of congregations
13. Local preacher - layman who took care of a local church - remained
14. Steward - responsible for financial affairs of church or circuit
15. Some churches have Register Books for marriages and baptisms
Millerite:
1. Founded by Wiliam Miller, of Low Hampton NY
2. Believed in Christs Second Coming on Oct 22, 1844
3. After the Great Disappointment, church quickly died out
4. Ohio was most popular state for the movement
5. Seventh-day Adventists outgrowth of Millerites, created formally in 1863 at Battle Creek MI
Moravian:
1. Called Unity of the Brethren - church is the unity, the members the brethren
2. Currently 8 Moravian parishes in Tuscarawas Co OH
3. From 1770's onward, was a major religion in Ohio
4. Moravian College Library, Bethlehem PA; also archives in Winston-Salem NC
5. Transactions of the Moravian Historical Society
6. Schoenbrun, Gnaddenhutten, Salem, Pilgeruh, 1st Experience, etc. - Cleveland, Milan, etc
Mormon:
1. Latter Day Saints, Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
2. Founder, Joseph Smith
3. George Washington King 1852 Gold Rush Diary - Rowsburg, Ashland Co - In the Great Salt Lake, he could "walk on water too, just like Joe Smith"
4. Kirtland, Nauvoo IL, Missouri Massacre, Salt Lake City
5. Largest genealogical collection in world
6. Book of Mormon, written on set of god plates, per vision of the angel Moroni
7. Camp meetings, baptised in groups, sealing of ancestors, polygamy
8. Early history is guarded and often rewritten because of the LDS/RLDS split
9. Mormon activity was very strong in Richland and Huron County
Presbyterian:
1. Seceders split
2. Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadephia
3. Records of the session, reviewed periodically by the presbytery, lists baptisms, deaths, transfer of members, calls of ministers
4. Union Catalog of Presbyterian Manuscripts
5. Presbyterian Biographical Index
6. Many records have been filmed by LDS
7. Very organized in dealing with historical records; easiest to get
Quakers:
1. Also called Friends, Hicksites
2. Swarthmore College in PA; Wilmington College in Ohio
3. William Wade Hinshaw set - 6 volumes, plus others for PA, IA, KS
4. Directory of American Monthly meetings
5. Willard Heiss volumes for IN
6. Alum Creek in Morrow Co and Greenwich MM in Huron Co (on film in Canton)
7. Records fantastic - birthdates, when entered, when left particular mm, relationship given
8. Not in military, plain stones in graveyards, different calendar for dating
9. Monthly meeting - business meeting once per month composed of one or more preparative meetings. Monthly meeting has a clerk, recorder, treasurer, committee of overseers, committee of ministry, and counsel

BACK TO THE HELP SECTION

SEND YOUR COMMENTS TO: thomasneel1@twc.com

RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN OHIO

Amish:

Baptist:

Brethren:

Catholic:

Christian Church:

Church of Christ:

Episcopal:

Evangelical Association

Evangelical and Reformed Church:

Jewish:

Lutheran:

Mennonite:

Methodist:

Millerite:

Moravian:

Mormon:

Presbyterian:

Quakers: