top of page

Religious Newspapers for Genealogy

Who uses religious newspapers for U.S. genealogy research? Typically, only thorough, advanced, and desperate researchers. These periodicals aren’t always easy to find and there’s no guarantee your relative will be mentioned in them.

​​

But if you are looking for them, you may appreciate this list of religious periodicals I've curated over the past couple of years as I have come across them. It's by no means complete, as I've not done a systematic search. I wish I had known about them all when I wrote How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records. This list is offered as a free supplement to that book.

General Resources for finding Religious Newspapers

Arndt, Karl J.R. and May E Olson. The German-Language Press of the Americas, 1732-1967. 2nd ed. vol 1. München, Germany: Verlag Dokumentation, 1973.

​​​

Ayer’s and Rowell’s annual directories of U.S. newspapers have sections on religious publications. Search digitized editions here.

​

Batten, George. George Batten’s Directory of the Religious Press of the United States. New York, New York: G. Batten, 1892. Digitized and downloadable at Internet Archive.

​

Jarboe, Betty M. Obituaries: A Guide to Sources. Boston, Massachusetts : G.K. Hall, 1982.

​​

Marks, Kenneth R. “Historical U.S. Free Online Protestant Newspapers, The Ancestor Hunt blog, posted 16 August 2023.

​

“Some Nineteenth Century Religious Newspapers Transcribed or Indexed.” (This article originally appeared in “Church Records” by Elizabeth Crabtree, MA, MLS in The Source: A Guidebook to American Genealogy, online at RootsWeb.)

​​

Periodicals and Newspapers on Microtext at the Allen County Public Library (Fort Wayne, Indiana), includes many religious newspapers.

​​

Select Denominational Resources

​

African Methodist Episcopal Church

​

Baptist

  • Baptist newspapers were often published on the state level. State Baptist archives usually have these. Look for online inventories and obituary indexes.

  • Baptist Heritage Digital Library

  • Documenting the American South includes African American Baptist history items

  • For the state of Georgia: Columbian Star (1821-1827); Christian Index since 1833

  • Holcomb, Brent H. Marriage and Death Notices from Baptist Newspapers of South Carolina. Spartanburg, South Carolina: Reprint Co. Publishers, 1981.

  • Kelsey, Michael, et al. Marriage and Death Notices from the South Western Baptist Newspaper. Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, Inc., 1995.

  • Lu, Helen M. Texas Baptist Newspaper Abstracts: 7 March, 1855 - 21 February, 1884. Dallas, Texas: Dallas Genealogical Society, 1992.

  • Tennessee Baptist/Baptist and Reflector (digitized newspaper collection)

​​

Catholic

​​

Christian Science

​

Church of the Brethren (German Baptist Brethren, Dunkards)

​​

Church of the Nazarene

​

Dutch Reform/Christian Reformed Church

 

Episcopal

​

German Reformed

 

Lutheran

  • Many synods published their own papers: Chronicling America has about 100 titles with Lutheran in the title. They did not routinely include obituaries of everyday members.

  • Published indexes are available for some papers, such as:

  • Harrell, Leta Watts and Katheryn Brooks Griffith. Genealogical Extracts from The Lutheran Newspaper [Eureka, Kansas]. Hamilton, Kansas: Relatively Searching, 1995.

  • Holcomb, Brent H. and Mrs. Fred H. Hodges. Marriage and death notices from the Lutheran Observer, 1831-1861 and the Southern Lutheran, 1861-1865. Publisher unknown, 1975.

  • United Lutheran Church in America. Obituaries from The Lutheran, ca.1923-1947. Microfilm collection of obituaries at the Lutheran Archives Center in Philadelphia (can be viewed at FamilySearch libraries using this link).

​

Mennonite and Amish

 

Methodist

  • “Christian Advocate” is in the title of a variety of regional newspapers, such as Western Christian Advocate, Pittsburgh Christian Advocate, Central Methodist Advocate. Titles and coverage areas may have changed over time. For example, Southern Christian Advocate (1837-) covered South Carolina and Georgia until about 1887, and southern North Carolina until about 1870. Then it became the South Carolina United Methodist Advocate.

  • “The Southwestern Advocate/Southwestern Christian Advocate…is published by black Methodists; its surviving copies begin in 1873. It is part of Nineteenth Century U.S. Newspapers, an online subscription database also prevalent at the university library level.” – Tim Pinnick, author of Finding and Using African American Newspapers (from above quote)

  • See Chronicling America for a list of newspapers with “Methodist” or “Christian Advocate” in the title

  • Newspapers.com (subscription website) lists 32 papers with “Methodist” in the title

  • The United Methodist Archives and History Center at Drew University claims the world’s leading collection of Methodist periodicals, and they take genealogy requests. You can also contact conference archives to ask what newspapers covered that conference during a specific time, and whether they have issues.

  • Southern Christian Advocate Obituary Index, 1837-1887 [covering South Carolina and Georgia] site includes an inexpensive obituary copy service

  • Holcomb, Brent H. Marriage and Death Notices from the Southern Christian Advocate. 3 vols. Easley, SC: Southern Historical Press, 2019.

  • Waters, Margaret R., Dorothy Riker and Doris Leistner. Abstracts of Obituaries in the Western Christian Advocate, 1834-1850. Indianapolis, IN: Indiana Historical Society, 1988. (Covers Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky and other Midwestern states.)

  • Woodruff, Audrey Lee Wagner. A 6,500 Name Comprehensive Index, State-wide Missouri Obituaries : From the St. Louis Christian Advocate (Methodist) 1851-1882. Independence, Missouri: Mrs. H.W. Woodruff, 1986.

  • Look for other published indexes from Christian Advocate newspapers—these aren’t all of them.

​

Presbyterian

  • Chronicling America lists several newspapers with “Presbyterian” in the title

  • Library of Virginia Presbyterian newspaper category: browse titles

  • Digitized issues of The Presbyterian Banner (Philadelphia) and The Africo American Presbyterian (Charlotte, NC) at Pearl Digital Collections of Presbyterian Historical Society

  • Holcomb, Brent H. Marriage and Death Notices from the Southern Presbyterian. 4 vols. Columbia, SC: South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, 2009-2011.

  • Holcomb, Brent H. and James D. McKain. Death and Marriage Notices from the Watchman and Observer, 1845-1855. Columbia, SC: South Carolina Magazine of Ancestral Research, 2004. This newspaper was published in Virginia and covered the South.

​

Quaker (Society of Friends)

​

Reformed Church

 

United Brethren

​

Learn more about using U.S. church records for genealogy research in my books, How to Find Your Family History in U.S. Church Records and Searching for Sisters: Guide to Researching Catholic Nuns in the United States.
​

© 2026 by Sunny Jane Morton

bottom of page