The faith of our fathers

Search Screen - Trinity Lutheran Church, Sangamon County, Illinois

Father's Day may find you humming "Faith of our fathers, holy faith, We will be true to thee till death!"  Knowing the faith of your fathers can be very helpful in understanding their stories, as well as finding their records.  Church records can be a rich source of family information: births, baptisms, confirmations, marriages, transfers to other parishes/locations, deaths and burials.

Journal of the ... Session, Northwest Indiana
Annual Conference, the ...

 By Methodist Church (U.S.). Northwest Indiana Conference, 1909

Some denominations centralize their records, while others may be kept by individual congregations. Older records might be housed in a local public library or private archive. Church records that have been published into books (annual church directories, quarterly conference reports) may be available digitally on Google Books.

Some churches have websites that provide easy access to their records (particularly burial indexes). To find out if there are church records that might be useful to you, read the FamilySearch wiki article for the county where your ancestor lived, search the Family History Library Catalog, call the local public library reference desk, and/or try a Google search for the church (location + denomination +  church records). 

Finding Your mid-1800's Ancestors in a Published Local History

If your ancestors lived in a small community in the US in the late 1800's, it is possible they may have been mentioned in a local history book.  County histories tell the story of the formation of the county, list local churches and civic organizations, and include biographies and photos of prominent citizens.  Learning more about the county where your ancestors lived can help you better understand how they lived, and can give you clues about what records might exist.

 Even better than having an index in the back of a hard-bound book, many county histories are now available online, which means they are fully text-searchable. Some of the largest collections of digital family history books are at FamilySearch Family History Books, Internet Archive, and Google Books. 

Public libraries, university libraries or historical societies may have digital content unique to their area. Look for a "Local History" link, or search their catalog for your ancestor's surname, plus the county (or community) and state, e.g., Wunderlich Cole County Missouri or the surname and "local history".

If you do find your ancestor mentioned in a digitized local history that is no longer under copyright, you may be able to download the page, or the entire book.

So-called "mug books" may contain inaccuracies.  Use a published biography to point you to official records.

Yearbooks and Alumni Publications

Image from DeadFred.com
1915  Lansing High School Yearbook
Lansing, Michigan

Yearbooks and alumni publications can be a great resource for learning more about a family member. Many free websites include yearbook photos and/or biographical information, including Deadfred.com, Google Books, and Internet Archive. 

Yearbooks for the College of William and Mary are available for the years 1899 to 1995 on WorldVitalRecords, a premium content website that is available for free in Family History Centers. 

Try searching first for the name of the school plus the word "yearbook."