Episcopal Records of New York City (Manhattan) | New York Genealogical & Biographical Society

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Over the past 300 years the Episcopal Church has been the spiritual home of numerous New York City families. Its registers form a major resource for genealogists, even more so because many non-Episcopalians also appear in them. The NYG&B Collection includes copies of some of these records.

Before the conquest of 1664, there was no English church on Manhattan Island, and the names of the few English inhabitants appear in the Dutch Reformed records. Most of the early English settlers were dissenters from the Church of England in its traditional (Anglican) form, and after the Restoration of Charles II (1660) they were to be excluded from the established church as Nonconformists.

After the English took over the colony in 1664, a few Anglicans came to the city as members of the English Governor's entourage and the English military garrison. Until 1697 this small group had the occasional services of a chaplain, who held services at the Fort. As late as 1695, the chaplain reported that there were only 100 Anglican families in the entire Province. No church records exist for this period.

In 1697 Trinity Church received its charter, as "our first and only parish and churchyard in the city of New York." From this time forward the Church of England was in effect the established church in the city (and New York County), its ministry being supported by a tax levied on all inhabitants. This was a controversial arrangement, but that did not prevent the Church's growth. It began to draw families away from the city's other denominations, a phenomenon which would continue for nearly three centuries.

At the end of the American Revolution the establishment and ministerial tax were terminated, Trinity was in ruins from a 1776 fire, and many Loyalist parishioners had fled the city. From this calamitous state, however, an even stronger church was to arise. The Anglican churches in the former colonies now created the Protestant Episcopal Church (the "Protestant" was dropped in 1967). Trinity Church was rebuilt, and over the following years one new parish after another was created as the city's Episcopalian community grew in size and influence.

After Trinity and its chapels (St. George's 1750, St. Paul's 1764, St. John's 1803), the next church to be created was Christ's 1793, followed by St. Mark's 1795, St. Esprit 1804, St. Stephen's 1805, St. Michael's 1807, Grace 1808, St. James 1810, Zion 1810, and St. George's (the former Trinity chapel) 1811. The Map Division of the New York Public Library has a circa 1850 "Map of the local boundaries of the Protestant Episcopal Churches of the City of New York," which may also be viewed online in the NYPL Digital Gallery. If the circa 1850 address of an Episcopal family is known, this map should help identify their parish.

For more detail see the "Historical Sketch" in Inventory of the Church Archives of New York City: Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, Diocese of New York (New York: Work Projects Administration, 1940), pp. 1-26. This work also contains a brief historical sketch of each individual church. Consult NYPL and other online library catalogs for publications about individual parishes, which may contain lists of churchwardens and vestrymen (sometimes with portraits), and also often include descriptions of memorial windows or tablets, lists of original members or contributors to a building fund, and other references to individual parishioners. With minor exceptions they do not include vital records.

In the past there have been mergers among the city's Episcopal churches, so that some modern parishes represent two or more predecessors. The WPA Inventory describes the mergers that occurred up to 1940, and indicates which records each church held as of that year, including those records inherited from predecessors. Most of the 1940 churches still exist, and still hold their own records. Since the majority of these records have not been published, filmed or posted online, the genealogist will usually find it is necessary to write to the particular church and ask the staff to search the registers.

Church Archives
The Diocese of New York, which covers Staten Island, The Bronx and several Hudson Valley counties in addition to Manhattan, maintains an archives at the Diocesan House on the grounds of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Many records are housed there, particularly for parishes which have ceased to exist. The NYG&B Collection includes an "Inventory of parish registers held by the archives of The Episcopal Diocese of New York," compiled by Archivist Wayne Horton Kempton, 1995, NYPL Milstein Division call no.NYGB AZ Loc 09-80. The archives are open by appointment.

The archives of Trinity Parish are also open by appointment, or research can be conducted for an hourly fee. For details see the parish website where they have also posted searchable databases of the parish registers of Trinity and its chapels, giving full details for baptisms 1769-1850, marriages 1746-1850, and burials 1777-1850 (with some gaps in dates, see description of NYG&B transcripts below for more detailed breakdowns). These databases are to be expanded to include later dates. Also at the site are maps of the burial grounds surrounding Trinity Church and St. Paul's Chapel, indicating locations of individual graves.

Other parishes may also have organized their archives. See, for example, Church Records Held at the Archives of Christ & St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, New York City, an inventory compiled by Aaron Goodwin.

Transcribed and Published Records of Trinity Church and Parish
The NYG&B Collection includes a nine-volume typed transcript, " Records of Trinity Church and Parish, New York City," prepared for the Society in 1933-35 by Mrs. Hope Cox Lefferts under the supervision of her father, John Cox, Jr. (later FASG), the noted Quaker historian, archivist and genealogist. The typescript is heavily edited and marked for the printer, as the Society intended to publish it, but only limited portions were printed in the Record. These volumes are currently housed at the Society's 44th Street headquarters and may be viewed by appointment. Their contents are as follows:

Volume 1: Baptisms (Christenings) and Births

pp. 1-3b: Introduction, gives historical background and describes the records. As noted above, in addition to Trinity Church, Trinity Parish included several chapels, the earliest being St. George's, St. Paul's, and St. John's. Each chapel had its own record book, but chapel records were also supposed to be copied into the general parish register. In the NYG&B transcripts, chapel records are included when no copy was found in the parish register, and differences between the chapel and parish versions of a record are also noted. Fires in 1750 and 1776 destroyed the baptismal, marriage and burial registers of the parish, but private records of several ministers were used to re-create some of the pre-1776 baptisms and marriages. Registers after 1776 have survived, with a few gaps (see also Record 67:201-03).

Baptism/birth records (Note that all of the baptisms in Volume 1 are now accessible through the Trinity website):

pp. 4-41	1749-1764	Records of the Rev. John Ogilvie; many of these baptisms took place outside the city; published in Record vol. 67.
42-55a	1759	From pages bound in with marriage register vol. 1 ; Record 68.
55b-286	1778-1812	From baptismal register vol. 1; Record 68-69, 90-93, covering to p. 275 (1809).
286-93	1805-1813	By the Rev. John H. Hobart.
293-295	1808-1810	By the Rev. Thomas Y. How.
295-301	1805-1817	By the Rev. Edmund D. Barry.
301	1812-1813	Trinity Church.
301-303	1809-1813	St. John's Chapel.
303-304	1813	St. Paul's Chapel.
305	1813-1819	3 delayed baptisms, recorded 1820.
305-306	1807-1809	From diary of the Rev. J.V. Bartow.
306	1788-1789	From a loose sheet (no surnames).
306-310	1782-1784	St. George's Chapel.
310a-310l	1787-1800	Ditto.
310l-340	1787-1800	By the Rev. Benjamin Moore.
346-429	1800-1811	Trinity Church by Mr. Moore.
430-433	1807-1809	By an unidentified clergyman.
433-438	1809-1812	St. Paul's Chapel.
438-439a	1815-1833	Scattered entries from St. Paul's.

Note that pages 4-275 have been published in the Record, but pages 275-439a have not been published. AtRecord 93:221 is this note, after the baptisms for 1809: "As the Baptismal records of Trinity Church are very incomplete after June 1803, and as the names of the sponsors are no longer given, the Record Committee thought it advisable to discontinue their publication with this installment. — Ed." This is a very misleading statement. As shown above, many more pre-1809 baptismal records exist, and some of them fill in the alleged post-1803 gaps; also, sponsors (godparents) are usually included in later records. Any researcher who is relying on the Trinity baptismal records in the Record, and who is concerned with the period 1782-1809, should be aware that the Record version is incomplete, and should consult the Trinity website or NYG&B Trinity Volume 1, pages 286-433, for possible additional data from that period.

Volumes 2-3-4: Baptisms

v.2	1814-1863	From baptismal register volume 2.
v.3	1863-1876	From baptismal register volume 3.
v.4	1876-1885	Completes baptismal register volume 3.

None of these records has been published, but baptisms to 1850 are accessible through the Trinity website.

Volume 5: Marriages

2p.	Introduction	Explains loss of early records and method of transcription.
pp. 1-46	1746-1764	Small book of the Rev. Dr. Henry Barclay, bound in marriage register vol. 1.
46-78	1758-1775	Record of the Rev. Dr. Samuel Auchmuty, copy in marriage register vol. 1.
78-689	1766-1886	Marriage register volumes 1 (to 1813) and 2 (1813-1886). At pp. 144-227 are inserted (out of order) marriages 1784-1800 by the Rev. Drs. Benjamin Moore and Abraham Beach.

All the marriages 1746-1861, including those of Moore and Beach, were published in the Record, volumes 68, 70-72, 74-79, and 81-89. Therefore volume 5 is mainly useful for the period 1862-1886. Marriages through 1850 are accessible through the Trinity website.

Volume 6: Tombstones and Vaults

The pagination of this volume is irregular. As noted above, locations of graves in Trinity and St. Paul's may be determined using maps at the Trinity website.

1-88	Tombstones in Trinity Churchyard 1897 (alphabetical). This cemetery (still in existence) dates from the construction of the first church in 1697 if not earlier.
89-115	Vaults in Trinity Churchyard, 1881, updated to 1930s.
Next Section	118 unnumbered pages listing burials in Trinity Cemetery 1843-1871, in order by date; includes removals from other cemeteries. This is not Trinity Churchyard, but Trinity Cemetery established in 1842 uptown at 153rd to 155th Streets between Amsterdam Avenue and Riverside Drive, and still in use. Gravestone inscriptions were transcribed in 1931 by Ray C. Sawyer (copy at NYPL).
Next Section	An exact copy of pages 1-115, above.
1-78	Tombstones in St. Paul's Churchyard 1897 (alphabetical). The churchyard surrounds the 1766 chapel, New York City's oldest surviving house of worship.
79-85	Vaults in St. Paul's Churchyard 1897, with updates.
1-85	Tombstones in St. John's Burying Ground at Clarkson, Leroy, and Hudson Streets, 1897 (alphabetical). Used from 1802 to the 1850s; the property was conveyed to the City in 1896 and made into a playground. Some remains and stones were taken to Trinity and other cemeteries. The other stones were buried below the surface of the playground. A list of names on the stones was published in The World, New York, 4 December 1892.

Volumes 7-8-9: Burials (Funerals)

Five unnumbered pages intended as the introduction to these three burial volumes will be found at 8:750-51, and include background on all the cemeteries associated with Trinity Parish. Details of burials to 1850 are available at the Trinity website.

7:3-160	1777-1783	First surviving register of burials. Many of the deceased are unnamed, and children are entered as "child of Mr. Jones" or even just "Soldier's Child."
7:160-328	1800-1812	(The register for 1784-1800 is missing).
8:329-800	1814-1849	These entries should also be in the City Register of Deaths, but both sources should be checked as data may differ.
9:801-1181	1849-1899	After about 1850 shows which church or chapel reported the death or funeral; places of burial now include locations outside of N.Y.C.

The Parish archives also contain the vestry minutes since 1697, excerpts from which are found in I. N. Phelps Stokes, The Iconography of Manhattan Island. For accounts of the churchwardens concerning the poor 1693-1747 [technically civil records] see Record volumes 99-102. Researchers may also want to consult A History of the Parish of Trinity Church, by Morgan Dix et al., 6 vols., 1898-1962, and Historical Sketch of Trinity Church, New-York, by William Berrian (1847) which contains some early name lists. Finally, some additional marriages, deaths and other items will be found in a series of 18th century newspaper abstracts titled "Old New York and Trinity Church," in Collections of The New-York Historical Society 1870, pp. 147-408.

Records of Other Episcopal Churches in the NYG&B Collection

"Records of Christ Protestant Episcopal Church in New York City," typescript, copied for NYG&B by Royden W. Vosburgh, 1919, 2 volumes. NYG&B eLibrary (Religious Records nos. 1-2) and NYPL Milstein Division call no. NYGB AZ+ Loc 09-686 v. 1 and v. 2. Also on FHL film 0532976, items 2-3. Portions published in Record volume 42.
- Volume 1: Baptisms 1793-1811, 1805-1846, 1822-1848 (overlapping registers); Communicants 1833-1836; Burials 1833-1835.
- Volume 2: Marriages 1794-1804, 1805-1848.
"Records of St. Mark's Church in the Bowery, New York City," typescript, copied by Gertrude A. Barber, 1939: baptisms 1799-1842, marriages 1813-1842, interments 1836-1841. NYG&B eLibrary and NYPL Milstein Division call no. NYGB AZ Loc 09-198. Also on FHL film 0017778, item 1. Baptisms published Record volumes 71-72, 74-75.
Saint Thomas Church in the City and County of New York 1823-1954, by George E. DeMille (1958): baptisms 1823-27, marriages 1824-27, burials 1824-27.
"Parish Register of All Saints Church [New York City]," typescript, copied for NYG&B, 1928: baptisms 1824-1862, marriages 1824-1862, burials 1837-1861, communicants 1837-1854, confirmations 1838-1860, list of families. NYPL Milstein Division call no. NYGB AZ+ Loc 09-503. Also on FHL film 0532976, item 1. Index by Frederick W. Bradley, 1997, NYPL Milstein Division call no. NYGB AZ Loc 09-81.
"Church of the Holy Apostles [New York City]," DAR transcript: list of families 1845-1862, marriages 1847-1862, baptisms 1845-1855, burials 1847-1849. NYPL Milstein Division call no. NYGB AZ Loc 09-205. Also on FHL film 0529186, item 1.
"Removal of Vaults from St. George's Church, Beekman and Cliff Streets, New York City [1865-67]," original manuscript of John Davenport, from the Estate of George Ingraham Willis, 1989. Most of the removals were to Trinity Cemetery. George Ingraham Willis Genealogical Research Papers, NYPL Manuscripts Div. call no. MssCol NYGB 18102 [advance notice required].
"Marriages Recorded at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, New York City, 1814-1850," by Aaron Goodwin, Record 140:215, 309. "Coloured Communicants at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, New York City, ca.1809-1815," by Aaron Goodwin, Record 141:39.
"Requests for Aid, Church of the Transfiguration, Mission Chapel, New York City," ca. 1876, by Aaron Goodwin, Record 141:118.

Note on some other N.Y.C. Episcopal Church records: The register of Zion Episcopal Church, successor to the English Lutheran Church, is at The New-York Historical Society. For records of the Episcopal Church of St. Esprit, successor to the French [Reformed] Church, see Records of Other Protestant Denominations of New York City (Manhattan).

by Harry Macy Jr., FASG, FGBS

Originally published in The NYG&B Newsletter, Spring 1995

Updated May 2011