Because church records rank among the very best, yet most under-used, genealogical records available, this web site is designed to help sort out some of the vexing problems in understanding them, particularly as pertains to religious practice over the past 200 years in Centre County, Pa.
One of the reasons church records are under-used is the proliferation of denominations, and then transformation of some denominations into identification with older smaller sects, or with newer "modern" churches which have attempted to put under one umbrella an identication with a certain set of beliefs.
Another reason has to do with the very real difficulty of locating a specific church's records, and then, obtaining access to them.
This site will be under construction for some time, and volunteers are most welcome to contribute data.
Phase One of this project has been to understand just what religious practice has been in Centre County. These four web sites represent the strands of religious practice in Centre County as it has been known throughout the years:
Phase Two will be to identify every church that has ever existed in Centre County, and attempt to establish when the congregation was formed (and if it's no longer in existence when it ended), when any still-standing churches were erected, and where a specific church's records can be accessed, whether it be at a church, in a library or historical repository of some kind, or even online. The goal is to bring this historical and "where to access" material online as soon as we can get the volunteers to help pull it together so as to provide an opportunity to streamline the search for data on a given person's ancestors. The interest is to locate the wherabouts of all church records and allow others to contemplate how to go about getting the actual records themselves at some point in the future. If, however, we determine that records are available online, we will provide the links to them.
Phase Three will be to establish time lines showing the historical underpinnings of the different faiths currently practiced in Centre County, by pulling together what available materials can be found. The 1877 material does this to some degree, but it is incomplete and certainly needs updating.
An interesting event of some religious consequence to Centre County occurred in 1949 when folks from Penns Valley took it upon themselves to celebrate the simple acts of Aaronsburg's town founder Aaron Levy, a Jew, giving the town's German Protestant settlers a pewter Communion set, and land for a church and, therby, establishing an ideal of religious tolerance and understanding that was celebrated in the Aaronsburg Story. Surprising to most contemporaries was that 30,000 people showed up, the largest crowd ever assembled in Centre County, long before Penn State football began to do so many years later. A 50th anniversary commemoration of that event took place in October 1999.
Again volunteers would be most welcome in helping out with this project, and you may contact the site coordinator to express your comments.