They're Not All Online

Recently my wife and I visited her family in Orchard Park, New York about 15 miles south of Buffalo. We have made this trip many times over the past 37 years, and for the last 20 years I have always used a day or two to do research on Linda's Family History. It's interesting trying to explain to the family, who aren't into genealogy, why I need to leave the family and drive to cemeteries, libraries and old churches while I'm there. I usually say I'll be gone for about 4 hours and then return in about 8! Even Linda get's tired of that. But on to the story.

About two years ago on our trip I was talking to my Mother-in-Law about her family and where they had attended church growing up. She told me about St. Peter's Church and how the family had attended there for years. So, I decided to contact St. Peter's and see if they had the original records, or where the records might be. They told me they did have them and I was welcome to come and look at them and make copies. Now, if you're thinking while you read this "well, any genealogy researcher should think to check with the family and find out the church they attended and find the records..." you're right. But often we form habits in our research. We look for the same type of records we've used in the past and had success with and overlook those we haven't found, or had success with. Because my research had been heavily in Virginia for many years, and as far as I've been able to tell the churches my family attended kept poor records or no records, I didn't research church records much. I didn't think I would find much. What a mistake, as you'll see.

I drove over to St. Peter's church and met some nice people who showed me a church record book that began in 1900. I was disappointed. The records I needed were 1850-1895 roughly. So, I asked the kind woman if they had any earlier records. She said that she thought they did, but wasn't sure where they were, but she had an idea. We walked down the hall to a large closet. Peering inside we saw old paintings, old frames, and stacks of old books. She was a little embarrassed, but also a little overwhelmed by the sight. As we looked at the stacks of books I looked for the oldest looking book I could see. I spotted it about ten books down in a stack, all of them covered with dust. We extracted the book and opened it to find that it was the first record book of the church that covered the years 1830-1900. The records were in German. We went back to the office and I spent the next 5 hours or so putting sticky notes on pages and then copying them. I found records of christenings and births with full dates, parents, places. These records pre-date any governments records and are more complete and accurate because the information was given at the time of the event by the participants. I was in Heaven.

Fast-forward two years to our trip of just a few weeks ago. Again, I spent a day doing research. I hadn't been able to find the Schneider family in St. Peter's Church records before even though my Mother-in-Law insisted they had attended that church. I did some online research and found that there was another church within a few miles of St. Peter's that was also a German Evangelical (Lutheran) church. The church is now called the United Church of Christ at Ebenezer. I called them and they also had the records and were happy to have me come and view them and make copies. And, yes, I did find the Scneider family in the records. One particular record made me feel the importance of this find. Anna Elisabetha Schneider was born in November of 1870 and died in August of 1871. The church christening and death record are the only records of her life.

Burial Record for Anna Elisabetha Schneider, daughter of Wilhelm Schneider. Burial 9 August 1871 Died 7 August 1871, Age 8 Months 25 Days. Ebenezer United Church of Christ, Ebenezer, Erie, New York.

While I was talking with the Pastor and secretary at the Ebenezer Church I mentioned that they really should get their records microfilmed. The Pastor said "yes, we really need to do that, I think I'll stop by the LDS church in Orchard Park and ask them about getting them filmed. You know they do that." I then explained that I was LDS and that I knew that the church would film them for free and provide a copy of the film to the church as well as free online access to the records. Hopefully he has contacted someone by now and the records will be filmed and put online.
I have learned from this lesson to not always look for the same type of records, and that church records can be incredible. But, they're not all online.