Presbyterian Records of New York City (Manhattan)

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The Evolution of the Presbyterian Movement in New York

The First Presbyterian Church of New York City was founded in December 1716. Prior attempts to form a congregation had been frustrated by the Anglican-dominated colonial regime, but this changed with the arrival of a Scottish-born Governor, Robert Hunter. The organization of Presbyterian churches in the colonies was directed by the Church of Scotland, and the movement to form a Presbyterian church in New York City was led by the small Scottish (and Scots-Irish) community.

A second ethnic group was also involved in the new church, a factor which sometimes caused disharmony. From an early date English dissenters (nonconformists) in New York City had relied on the Dutch Reformed Church for the rites of baptism and marriage. After 1697 they had also turned to newly-formed Trinity Church, and one Anglican observer feared that they actually formed a majority of the worshippers there (Col. Lewis Morris, quoted in Joyce D. Goodfriend, "A New Look at Presbyterian Origins in New York City," American Presbyterians / Journal of Presbyterian History, 67:199-208 [Fall 1989], at pp. 199-200).

In the Presbyterian church these English dissenters found a theology and form of worship to their liking, and they saw in the Church of Scotland a protector against Anglican interference in their religious activities. Their decision to turn to the Presbyterians paralleled that of their brethren in nearby New York and New Jersey towns, who early in the 18th century began to affiliate their congregations with the Presbyterians, rather than following the Independent or Congregational path of their counterparts in New England.

For brief accounts of the history of Presbyterianism in New York City see Theodore Fiske Savage, The Presbyterian Church in New York City, 1949, and the Historical Sketch at pp. 1-22 of Inventory of the Church Archives of New York City . . . Presbyterian Church in the United States of America, published by The Historical Records Survey of the Works Projects Administration or WPA, 1940.

This last publication (the WPA Inventory) contains individual sketches of the city's Presbyterian churches, describing the records of each and their location in 1940. For the records of the earliest churches, also consult Rosalie Fellows Bailey, Guide to Genealogical and Biographical Sources for New York City (Manhattan) 1783-1898, 1954, pp. 63-64. Check catalogs including that of The New York Public Library for books or pamphlets published by or about New York City Presbyterian churches which identify ministers and often contain lists of church members.

 

New York City Presbyterian Records

The NYG&B Collection at the New York Public Library includes baptismal, marriage, and other genealogically-useful records of New York City Presbyterian churches as follows (organized by church):

 

First Presbyterian Church

Founded 1716, on Wall Street east of Broadway, now at Fifth Avenue and West Twelfth Street. Up to 1809, records of this church also include those of the Brick (founded 1767) and Rutgers Street (founded 1798) churches. The original records have been filmed and are available through the Family History Library. The following are available in printed or manuscript transcripts:

Baptisms

  • c.1744-1783 [including some births back to 1722]:
    • Record volumes 4-11
  • 1783-1787
    • Record volumes 16-20; 1788-1809
    • First Presbyterian Church in New York City Records, NYPL Milstein Division call no. NYGB AZ+ Loc 09-527
  • ​1804-1809
    • Also in New-York Historical Society Quarterly volume 2 (1918)
  • 1810-1884
    • Record of the "Old First" Presbyterian Church, New York City, NYPL Milstein Division call no. NYGB AZ Loc 09-493.

Marriages

  • 1756-1807
    • Record volumes 11-14
  • 1760-1813 [additional marriages by other ministers]
    • Record volumes 14-16
  • 1826-1864
    • Record of the "Old First" Presbyterian Church, New York City, NYPL Milstein Division call no. NYGB AZ Loc 09-493. 

Deaths

  • 1786-1798
    • Published in Record volumes 132, 137-139
  • Records continued to 1804 in First Presbyterian Church in New York City Records, NYPL Milstein Division call no. NYGB AZ+ Loc 09-527.

Communicants

  • 1769 list
    • Record 131:287-89.

Blueprint of Graveyard adjacent to present church, NYG&B MS. File (not yet found in NYPL catalog).

 

Brick Presbyterian Church

Founded 1767 as the the New or Second Church, at Beekman and Nassau streets, now at Park Avenue and East 91st Street.

Baptisms, Marriages, Deaths, and Membership Records are consolidated in Shepherd Knapp, ed., Personal Records of the Brick Presbyterian Church in the City of New York 1809-1908. See also Shepherd Knapp, A History of the Brick Presbyterian Church . . . , 1909. Gravestone Inscriptions 1768-1865 in Record 60:8-14.

 

Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church

Founded 1808 as the Church in Cedar Street, now at Fifth Avenue and West 55th Street.

  • 1808-1859
    • Record volumes 105-109 (List of Members, alphabetical) contains annotations from the register of Baptisms 1808-1862 and various lists of members, session minutes, certificates and letters of transfer, but not marriages.

​​Marriages

  • 1808-1859
    • Record 105:129
  • 1868-1892
    • Record volumes 112-113.  See also table of FHL films below.

 

Canal Street Presbyterian Church

Founded 1808 as the Orange Street or Irish Presbyterian Church, renamed 1825, dissolved 1894.

  • Original register of marriages (1815-1853) and baptisms (1816-1831) is in NYPL Manuscripts Division, call no. MssCol NYGB 18211 (restricted use), but Milstein Division has photocopy of same, call no. NYGB AZ+ Loc 09-844.
  • A full indexed transcript of the registers, by Charles Farrell, is available in the NYG&B eLibrary (Religious Records no. 48).
  • Another transcript, “Register, Canal Street Presbyterian Church, Manhattan,” is NYPL Milstein Div. call no. NYGB AZ Loc 09-158.

 

Thirteenth Street Presbyterian Church

Organized 1846 from the Houston Street Presbyterian (formerly the Third Free Presbyterian, renamed 1839).

  • c. 1838-1860
    • NYG&B MS. File NYC-Churches-Presbyterian (not yet in NYPL catalog) has originals and transcripts of Membership Lists (for Houston and apparently also Thirteenth Street), including deaths, dismissals, suspensions.  These records for 1839-1844 were published in Record volume 103 as Thirteenth Street.

 

Union (later Reformed Presbyterian Church)

Record 8:142 lists a few identifiable bodies (died 1824-1841) which were removed from this church’s vault.

 

West Presbyterian Church

Carmine Street. Record of John Mace, Sexton of West Presbyterian Church, New York City, 1835-1838, is on NYG&B microfilm of “Miscellaneous 19th century New York City vital records and genealogical sources,” NYPL Milstein Div. call no. *R-USLHG *ZI-1319. Published as “Burials, Carmine Street or West Presbyterian Church, 1835-1838,” Record 139:139, 313.

 

Broadway Tabernacle Presbyterian Church

Box of 3x5 slips naming persons associated with the church 1834-41 (not yet found in NYPL catalog).

 

Scotch Presbyterian Church

During the 18th century, some groups of Scottish Presbyterians broke away from the Church of Scotland, and these schisms were brought to New York by new immigrants. Some of them in 1756 formed the Scots (or "Scotch") Presbyterian Church on Cedar Street. Later this church and its daughter churches were organized in a denomination called the Associate Reformed, which eventually merged back into the main Presbyterian body. There were other schismatic Presbyterian congregations but the NYG&B Collection does not have vital records for any of them (see the WPA Inventory and Bailey's Guide, above, and the list of FHL films below, for more on these records).

“Pew Rentals in the Scotch Presbyterian Church, New York City, 1785-1798,” Record 129:249-59, were transcribed by Charles Farrell from the original records at The New-York Historical Society.

Today's Second Presbyterian Church, successor to the Scots Church, has minutes beginning 1783 and vital records from 1844 forward (reported by Edward S. Jones).

 

Other Churches

Presbyterian churches that still exist in Manhattan generally hold their own records, though they may also be available in other forms as indicated here.

The Presbyterian Historical Society, 425 Lombard St., Philadelphia, PA 19147 has a large collection of New York City Presbyterian church records, mainly from churches which no longer exist. These records have been filmed by the Genealogical Society of Utah and may be viewed at the Family History Library and Family History Centers worldwide. Although these are not part of the NYG&B Collection, they are listed below because they probably represent the largest group of New York City church records currently available on film. Their number also illustrates the explosive growth of churches in the city during the 19th century, a factor which often makes finding relevant church records much more difficult than in the earlier period.

 

Manhattan Presbyterian Church Records

On film at the Family History Library; originals held by the Presbyterian Historical Society, Philadelphia

Adams Memorial 1886-1901

  

Fifth Avenue 1878-99 includes Romeyn Chapel and Sixty-Third Street Mission

North West 1856-62

Allen Street 1819-99

  

First German 1851-72

Rose Hill 1836-52 aka Tenth

Bowery 1828-40

  

Forty-Second Street 1845-75

Scotch 1816-22 (school records)

Brainerd 1834-51

  

Fourteenth Street 1851-1910

Seventh 1818-99

Broadway Tabernacle 1838-40

  

Fourth Free 1834-38

Shiloh 1848-75

Calvary 1880-99

  

Free 1830-38

Sixth Street 1833-50

Charles Street United 1836-1913

  

Laight Street 1811-43 aka Spring Street

Spring Street 1811-79

Chelsea 1843-70

  

Lexington Avenue 1843-70 aka Stanton Street

Thirteenth Street 1846-1917

Church of the Covenant 1846-70 aka Imanuel and Seventh

  

Madison Avenue 1844-67

Vandewater Street 1818-29

Church of the Puritans 1871-99

  

Madison Street German 1848-94

West End 1887-99

Church of the Sea and Land 1864-1907

  

Manhattanville 1851-63

West Fifty-First [Street] 1869-98 aka Jane Street United

Eighth 1819-42

  

Morningside 1893-99

West Forty-Fourth Street United 1862-91

Eighth Street 1811-47 aka Third Associate Reformed, Murray Street, and Astor Place; includes Eighth Avenue 1834-53

  

Murray Hill 1873-87

Westminster 1852-99

Fifth Associate Reformed 1854-77 aka Jane Street Associate Reformed

  

Ninth 1836-38

Westminster of West Twenty-Third Street 1834-1908, aka Eighth Avenue, West Twenty-Third Street

[aka = also known as]

Records of the following churches are also available from the Family History Library, the originals being held by the First Presbyterian Church:

  • First Church, 1717-1977
  • Bethlehem Chapel, 1890-1943
  • Bethlehem Memorial, 1931-1959
  • Charlton Street Memorial Undenominational, 1904-49
  • Madison Square, 1853-1961
  • Madison Square Church House, 1935-1961
  • Mercer Street, 1835-1918
  • University Place, 1843-1930.

 

by Harry Macy, Jr. FASG, FGBS

Originally published in The NYG&B Newsletter, Fall 1995

Updated May 2011

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