Early U.S. Church Records - SLIG Course Review

This is part of my ongoing series featuring guest authors writing reviews of the courses offered at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. I am excited to to have these friends share their perspective on the institute and the education they received. This one is written by Valerie Elkins.

SLIG Course: Early U.S. Church Records Review

By Valerie Elkins

Class Coordinator: Rev. David McDonald, _CG

Instructors: Michael Locopo, Lisa Arnold, Warren Bittner, _CG

This course was new to SLIG, and much anticipated. The Reverend Dr. McDonald covered the history of numerous religions found in early America, some basic beliefs of the faith and what records were available and where they could be located. Especially helpful was knowing the changes in the different faiths, migration and map locations through periods of time.

As Doctor of Divinity, David McDonald is an excellent and very qualified course coordinator. His presentations were through, thoughtful and well planned. His humor and wit are a plus.

Michael Locopo was very well versed in the Mennonite religion and also gave a class on the religious newspapers and periodicals available. Michael is not only a knowledgeable instructor, a seasoned presenter, but he was very generous in his offers to assist the students.

Lisa Arnold has a great love and understanding of the Quaker faith and that was respectfully communicated in her presentation. I enjoyed her and appreciated her presentation.

Warren Bittner offered a class on the many records available for those searching for records of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. All the instructors provided excellent handouts and syllabus material.

Church records are an invaluable resource and may provide the records and information that cannot be found elsewhere. I recommend this course who wants to be a better researcher in Early American records. Very well done and I personally gained some insight into my own family history.

I would have liked to have more information on where records were located and lesson information on the religion’s founding and history, while interesting, I really wanted to delve into l more location of records, especially more lesser known sources.

Religions Dr. McDonald covered were:

·      Catholicism

·      Episcopalian/Anglican

·      Presbyterians

·      Puritans/Pilgrims

·      Lutherans

·      Huguenots

·      Dutch Reformed

·      Jewish

·      Christian/Disciple of Christ

·      Methodist

·      Baptists

Michael Locopo covered Mennonite as well as Religious newspapers and periodicals.

Lisa Arnold taught about the Quakers, while Warren Bittner covered The Church of Jesus of Latter-day Saints.

The course did provide a great general understanding of Early US Churches, which is what I was hoping for. I would recommend this course for others, especially those with early US ancestors.

  Valerie Elkins is a professional researcher, specializing in Japanese ancestry, and is a frequent presenter and speaker at national and regional conferences. CEO and founder of Advantage Genealogy, she blogs about all things related to family history at FamilyCherished.com. Valerie serves on the Association of Professional Genealogists' Board of Directors and has worked at the Family History Library as an International Research Consultant.