Germans, Scandinavians, and others of the Lutheran faith were among the earliest European settlers of Manhattan Island. At that time, Lutherans enjoyed freedom of worship in the Netherlands, but in New Netherland the West India Company allowed only the Dutch Reformed and other Calvinists to hold public church services. The colony’s Lutherans had to worship in the privacy of their homes, without benefit of clergy, and all their attempts to create a congregation or hire a pastor were rejected. With the English conquest of 1664 these restrictions ended, and soon afterwards the first Lutheran church, known as Trinity, was erected on Broadway (just south of the future site of the Anglican church of the same name).
The members of this first Lutheran congregation, being of many nationalities, used Dutch as a common language. In the next century this posed a problem for the many new German immigrants in the city, who wanted to worship in their own tongue. Thus in 1750 a German-language Lutheran congregation was founded, known as Christ Church, sometimes called the "Swamp Church" from its location in a marshy area at Frankfort and William Streets.
During the Revolution both churches suffered serious losses, especially Trinity whose building was burned in 1776. At the war's end, the remnants of the two congregations merged as the United German Lutheran Churches in the City Of New York. They worshipped in the former Christ Church, and for most purposes used the German language.
In 1797, English-speaking members split off to form the English Lutheran Church, but in 1810 this new congregation left the Lutheran fold and became Zion Episcopal Church. Its building still stands on Mott Street in Chinatown (now the Roman Catholic Church of the Transfiguration), and its original record book is at The New-York Historical Society. Marriages performed in the English Lutheran Church 1797-1810 (plus some 1794-1796 marriages performed before the church’s founding by the first pastor, who was originally a Methodist) were published in Record 140:37, 143; confirmations and communicants 1797–1798 are in Record 141:39.
As more of the United Church's membership was becoming English-speaking, there was another linguistic split in 1822 with English-speakers founding St. Matthew's Lutheran Church at Walker Street and Cortlandt Alley. In 1831 the old Christ Church sanctuary was closed, and St. Matthew's added German-speaking services. Today St. Matthew's, located uptown at 200 Sherman Avenue, is the city's oldest Lutheran church and holds the original records of its predecessors, Trinity, Christ Church and the United Church.
In the second quarter of the 19th century there began the greatest wave of German immigration into New York, as well as smaller migrations from other countries with Lutheran populations. After 1840, St. Matthew's became an exclusively German-speaking congregation; several new English-speaking Lutheran churches were split off from it; and still more churches were created to serve a growing and increasingly diverse Lutheran population.
For brief histories of all the Lutheran churches in the city, and a description of their record holdings as of 1940, see Inventory of the Church Archives in New York City: Lutherans (New York: Work Projects Administration, 1940). Entry 128 in this work (St. Matthew's) outlines the history of the earliest Lutheran churches in New York. More detail will be found in two books by Harry J. Kreider: Lutheranism in Colonial New York (New York, 1942), and The Beginnings of Lutheranism In New York (New York, 1949).
The Records
Unfortunately, the surviving Lutheran registers of baptisms, marriages, burials, and communicants do not begin until 1704. From that date on, however, these records are extensive and essentially complete, and form a goldmine for the genealogist (even more so because especially in the early years many non-Lutherans appear in these records). The surviving original registers (and other records) for Trinity, Christ, the United Church, and St. Matthew's are available in the NYG&B Collection on six reels of microfilm. Most of the earlier portions have been transcribed and/or published, which is important because the originals can be difficult to read due to bleeding, language and handwriting. A description of the contents of the microfilm and the several transcriptions and publications is given below.
For the period prior to 1704 it is possible to identify members of the Lutheran congregation through documents published in Ecclesiastical Records, State of New York, 7 vols. (Albany, 1901-16), and in The Lutheran Church in New York 1649-1772: Records in the Lutheran Church Archives at Amsterdam, Holland, transl. Arnold J. H. van Laer (New York, 1946). Supplementing the church registers are two works translated by Simon Hart and Harry J. Kreider: Protocol of The Lutheran Church in New York City 1702-1750 (New York, 1958), and Lutheran Church in New York and New Jersey 1722-1760: Lutheran Records in the Ministerial Archives of the Staatsarchiv, Hamburg, Germany (New York, 1962).
For the later 19th and early 20th centuries, the NYG&B Collection includes St. Matthew's records (in microfilm described below), and Parish Registers of Christ Evangelical Lutheran Church (a predominantly German congregation on 19th Street), covering baptisms 1868-1918, marriages 1868-1887, burials 1868-1946 (3-volume typed transcript, ed. Frederick S. Weiser, 1972), NYPL Milstein Division call no. *R-USLHG APRN 73-2290 v. 1-3 [the NYG&B copy is a duplicate, kept offsite]. Also on Family History Library (FHL) microfilm 1414858 item 9 and 1414859 items 1-3.
NYG&B also has the records of St. Luke's Lutheran Church, founded in 1850 at Ninth Avenue and West 35th Street and now located at 308 West 46th Street. View a finding aid to these records. The records are kept at NYG&B headquarters and may be viewed by appointment.
Other Lutheran records are available at churches still active in the city, or at church archives or other repositories. See Richard Haberstroh, C.G., The German Churches of Metropolitan New York, A Research Guide (NYG&B Society, 2000). Also check the FHL catalog under New York, New York (City) – Church Records.
Contents of Microfilm (1704-1919)
Lutheran Church Records of New York City, NYPL Milstein Division call no. *R-USLHG *ZI-1324 [from NYG&B Collection]; FHL has a different filming of these records. The records before 1784 are for Trinity or Christ Church, as indicated; records 1784-1838 are for the United Church[es] and those 1838+ are for St. Matthew's.
- Reel 1: Protocol (minutes, accounts) 1774-1867 (some earlier entries; pre-1784 for Christ Church); Kirchen-Ordnung, United Churches of NYC 1836 (book, 22p.); deed to Sunday School Society for burial rights in Lutheran Cemetery 1856.
- Reel 2: Protocol 1868-1899; list of names 1810; list of members 1835-40, with seat no., name, address, where born, date enrolled; protocol of women's circle 1876-99; register (Kirchenbuch) of Christ Church, including baptisms 1752-74, confirmations 1763-66, marriages 1752-74, burials 1752-74; next register (Christ Church to 1784), including baptisms 1774-1807, confirmations 1774-82, marriages 1773-1801, burials 1774-1808, communicants 1774-1807; family record of Conrad Andes and Margaret Myers, married 1775; register of members 1785-91, including communicants 1807-08, marriages 1802-07; protocol of women's circle 1876-78.>
- Reel 3: Christ Church subscription list 1766, and register 1767-73 including baptisms, burials, marriages (with banns and licenses), accounts; register 1808-35, including communicants, funerals, marriages, baptisms; same 1835-38, including baptisms, marriages, funerals; confirmations and communicants 1838-83; interments Lutheran Cemetery, Middle Village 1851-66; members 1870 (with addresses); marriages 1838-45; register 1838-45, including marriages (with index), baptisms, deaths; marriages 1846-54 (with index); marriages 1855-79.
- Reel 4: Marriages 1880-1918 (with index); baptisms 1845-57, 1857-74, 1875-92 (with index), 1893-1920 (with index).
- Reel 5: Confirmations, communicants 1883-1919; burials 1857-87, 1888-1919; accounts 1767-1804 (pre-1784 Christ Church); index to baptisms 1838-74; marriages 1855-79; 1821 proceedings of committee to form an English-language church; small notebook including baptisms 1847-50; Trinity accounts 1751-66; accounts/cash book 1784-1808; book, Kirchen Agende der Evangelische Lutherischen Vereinigen Gemeinen, 1786; book, Worshipper's Manual at the Consecration of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of St. Matthew's, 1822; manuscript, Kirchen Ordnung of the United Churches, n.d. (19th century); another copy of 1786 book, above.
- Reel 6: Kirchen Ordnung of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in New York, manuscript, 1784, with long list of signatures; first record book (kercken-boek) of [Trinity] Lutheran Church, 1703, containing: inventory of books belonging to the church, baptisms 1704-43, communicants 1704-69, marriages 1704-72, baptisms 1743-50, burials 1704-71, baptisms 1751-83, communicants 1774-83, burials 1771-75, communicants 1754-69, 1771-74, members 1757 (includes wives and children), elders and deacons 1704-50; deeds to church property and other corporate documents.
Notes
1. NYG&B Collection
Former volumes NY-1, 2, 3 now catalogued as follows in NYPL Milstein Division:
Vol. 1: Lutheran church records, 1703-1802 New York, Albany, and other places, call no. NYGB AZ+ Loc 09-807 (also on FHL microfilm 17136 item 17).
Vol. 2: German Lutheran Church of New York, now Saint Matthew's, call no. NYGB AZ+ Loc 09-809 (also on FHL microfilm 17778 item 8).
Vol. 3: Lutheran Marriage Records, call no. NYGB AZ+ Loc 09-808 (also on FHL microfilm 17778 item 7).
2. HSNY Church Records
The Holland Society of New York, Church Records Collection, at the Holland Society Library in New York City (NYC Lutheran records also on FHL microfilm 1019520 items 2-3, 1019521).
3. Publications. HSYB is Year Book of The Holland Society of New York. The Record is The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record.
4. "Communicants" includes lists of those taking communion, lists of persons confirmed, and general membership lists.
by Harry Macy Jr., FASG, FGBS
Originally published in The NYG&B Newsletter
Updated May 2011
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