Texas Church Records
This entry was originally written by Wendy Bebout Elliott, Ph.D. FUGA for Red Book: American State, County, and Town Sources.
During Texas' colonization period, Roman Catholics were the most numerous, but early citizens included those representing other religious faiths such as Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Christian or Disciples of Christ.
Many Roman Catholic records are in the Catholic Diocese Archives of Texas, N. Congress and W. 16th, Capitol Station P.O. Box 13327, Austin, TX 78711 www.onr.com/user/cat. Others are deposited in the various archdiocese archives. The San Antonio archdiocese records begin in 1703.
Two sources for Baptist records in the state are: Baylor University's Texas Collection, Baylor University Library, Box 6396, Waco, TX 76706; and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, A. Webb Roberts Library, Box 22, Fort Worth, TX 76122. A collection of Baptist records maintained outside the state is at Samford University Library, 800 Lakeshore Dr., Birmingham, AL 35229. The collection includes books, church and association minutes, church and association histories, and nineteenth-century Southern Baptist newspapers, many of which are indexed.
Bridwell Theology Library, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275-0476 houses records for Methodists. Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary Archives, 100 E. 27th St., Austin, TX 78705 www.austinseminary.edu/library/archive.html has some history and information.
