Church Records?

Question

how can somebody find free church records of a church called Capernaum Baptist Church in hopkins,SC and Old McGraw Baptist Church in eastover,SC.Do most churches keep records.?

Answer 1

Churches do keep their records and if the church is still open you just have to call the church secretary to look something up for you. If the churches have closed, call the churches in the area and the local library to see who would have them. Church records are very rarely destroyed...they just get passed along.

The shortcomings that you'll have with Baptist churches is that there are so many branches of the church and they don't all share the same bases. So if that church is closed, you have to find the group that inherited their records. I tracked down records from an "Independent Missionary Baptist" church from Appalachia to a library in Illinois on the Mississippi river. The local historical society in Kentucky was able to tell me that they were there, but it was funky to think how far they traveled to find a home.

The key is to find the name of the pastor of the church back in that era and figure out where he went. If he stayed put and died there, the records are probably still there. If he moved to Indiana to open a prairie church, he may have taken the records from SC with him. There's a little dance you have to do with missionary churches that makes them a little more challenging. But in the end, you'll usually find the records.

Answer 2

almost all churches keep records.  baptisms, confirmations, weddings, and sometimes burial.  try a google search of the church, a lot of times if someone has done genealogy work they will post the information.  if not write to the church and more than likely they will send what you need, just be specific and patient, unless it is a large church with an administator you will be dealing with someone only messing with it on  a sunday afternoon.  another source is a church centennial or other type of memorial book or annual, alot of times these records are included in these books.