Georgia Church Records
This entry was originally written by the Johni Cerny and Robert S. Davis for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
Few of Georgia's major religious groups maintained records rich in genealogical information. However, their historical records can provide a deeper understanding of religious life in earlier times and when listed on church membership rolls will document someone's residence.
Georgia's major religious denominations include the following: Baptists (Georgia Baptist Historical Collection, Jack Tarver Library, Mercer University, Macon, GA 31207); Methodists (United Methodist Museum, P.O. Box 408, St. Simons Island, GA 31522); and Roman Catholics (Savannah and Diocesan Archives, 302 E. Liberty St., P.O. Box 8789, Savannah, GA 31402). Other early denominations present in Georgia in fewer numbers include Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, and Congregationalists. While their respective repositories house historical records, the Georgia Archives has a good collection of church records on microfilm. Surviving records of Georgia's Wrightsborough Quaker community (located in present-day McDuffie County) for 1767 to 1805 are in the Friends Historical Collection, Guilford College Library, Guilford, North Carolina, and have been published verbatim in Robert S. Davis Jr., Quaker Records in Georgia (Augusta, Ga.: Augusta Genealogical Society, 1986). Consult the holdings of other major genealogical libraries with southern collections for additional church sources, including the FHL.
