Obtaining Church Records in U.S.

Hi,

Does anyone know how I would go about obtaining church records (baptismal, marriage, death, burial, etc.) in the U.S.? I tried contacting certain churches via email but had no luck. Is there a certain time frame before records can be shown to the public? Would I have more luck if I wrote to the churches? Also, are records limited to ancestors, or can I get info on collateral relatives (aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, cousins, siblings, etc.)? What is the normal fee for an individual records? Ty for your time.

yes, in every church /parish, someone is designated for the records dept. so
I would write, it might take them a week or two depending on whats going on
and what you want, but yes, writing is much better.

Where are you looking What state?

I would like to start with the Catholic and Orthodox churches in Joliet, IL. The problem is, I don't know which they attended. My great-grandfather Wasyl Kocielko attended the Orthodox church, while his wife Helen Pilip went to the Catholic church. Wasyl is buried at Mt. Calvary Cemetery (Orthodox) in Joliet, and Helen is buried at Elmhurst. My grandfather Dominic is buried next to his mother, and, I believe, his brothers are in the cemetery, too. I have no burial information for his sister Anna Lewicki, who lived in Hamtramck, MI. Wasyl and Helen's children were brought up as Catholics, but they could have been baptized and had other doings in the Orthodox church. The only Orthodox church I found in Joliet was St. Nicholas. Helen's sister was married at Holy Cross Church in Joliet, so my great-grandparents may have been married there as well. If I wrote to the churches and asked for all records for the Kocielko and Pilip families, would they send them? Do I need to specify a person/people? Wasyl's sister Tekla attended the Orthodox on Rice St. in Chicago. The only related church I found was St. Nicholas Ukrainian Church. The problem is, I don't know the first and last name of her husband. I only know the first name of their son Nestor/Nester. Could I ask simply for Kocielko records? Sorry for all these questions, and thanks for your help.

ok one record at a time.


Well usually the groom Marries in the brides church. least in some cases.
in poland. you might have to write to both. let me see what I can come up
with on the ancestry tomorrow, I will see how close they are to either church
and maybe I can find some type of record online. if not its going to be all mail
but maybe we can narrow some research down a little :)

One thing I can tell you, I have called the cemetary, not always do you get a
good response, but I have called and told my purposes and they gave me the
info or called me back with the funeral home, the church (if they had a obit)
and family members involved. so that is another option.


I will look her up too :) and what I find I will email to ya :)

do you have ancestry.com already?

Hi,

No, I don't have ancestry.com. Thanks for your help.

oops, lol forgot to say, no problem :) I am going to look :)

:)

Koach, ok heres what I found and found right away :)

1930 cencus says Basil kocielko - Wife helen
children joseph, dominic, paul, anna, chester, john all in that order.

Wasyl was spelled wrong on cencus, of course. in 1930 he worked for the railroad
and was a car repair man.

both him and helen are aliens (not naturalized) so you can obtain records from
the immigration offices with freedom of information act form.

Wasyl and Helen married when he was 32 and she was 17 <~young chickadee :)
and he immigrated 1906 and she immigrated in 1909 so as soon as she came
off the boat, he must have asked her to marry, because the marriage date I come
up with is 1909 :)

the street they live on is Luther avenue in Joliet illinoise.
and the house number is 124, which there are others living there, so that leads
me to believe they live in apt building of some type in their own unit.

I am going to check out the drafts now, see if he signed up, he more then likely
did, so I am saving these for you.

Luther ave - now just have to do a map quest, see how far that is from the cemetarys
and churches. they didnt have cars right away so , more then likely they would
have lived close to church. so do a map quest, and you now have a estimated date
of marriage, it shouldnt be to hard to find their marriage and baptismals now since
you can have them look for the marriage, and if they find it out of the two parishes
then you can the rest of the birth dates etc :)

:) :)

Koach, email me via here, and then I will email you the cencus and drafts etc
because you are blocked, so I can send you the records :)

I didn't realize I blocked emails from here. I fixed it. The story I heard about Wasyl and Helen was that they met in Chicago. Both of them were born in Lubno, Dynow, Poland, so it's possible they knew each other in Europe. Their residence at 1316 Luther Ave was a house, not an apartment. Maybe they lived in an apartment prior to the house. My father said it was like a haunted house. It was torn down and made into a park. Thanks once again. :)

St. Cyril and Methodius church is the closest to Luther Ave. Holy Cross church, where Helen's sister married, is pretty close, too. I didn't realize that so many Catholic churches exist in Joliet. It's going to be harder than I thought, lol.

Koach,
The Archdiocese of Joliet has many Catholic Parishes.

Holy Cross Catholic Church address is:
Rev. Christopher Groh, Pastor
Holy Cross Church
901 Elizabeth Street
Joliet, IL 60435-4684 USA

Sts.Cyril and Methodius Church address is:
Rev. James Pajkos, OFM, Pastor
Saints Cyril and Methodius Church
704 Landau Avenue
Joliet, IL 60432-1938 USA

St. Nicholas Church was a Russian Orthodox church but is now:
Annunciation of Mother of God Byzantine Catholic Parish
14610 Will Cook Road
Homer Glen, IL 60491 USA

They are also connected to the original Mt. Calvary Cemetary, so you might ask them if they could advise you on how to obtain burial records.

Most churches and cemetaries in the US are very busy and are understaffed, especially when it comes to searching for records. Genealogy is very popular in the US now and everyone is searching for records.

You might want to send a letter of inquiry as to how to obtain their records, if they still have them and if there is a service charge. I would include your E-mail address so that they might want to answer you this way.

I wish you success!
GrandeSande
PS. Do you have a FHC in Poland ?

Thanks, GrandeSande. What's an FHC? Is that a Family History Center?

koach, yes that is what that stands for.

I got your email, so I will get these to you.

I was looking at some of the records. found them in 1920 and there is decrepancies
of dates. do you have a actual date of marriage? besides what I had come up
with?

ok, going to try to send the cencus. still looking up the draft. for some reason
the name must be way off on spelling because it isnt coming up .

might take a few.

:)

Hi,

No, I don't have an actual date of marriage. That's why I wanted to obtain a record from one of the churches. Their oldest son Joseph was born on Feb 7, 1914, so it could've been later than 1909.

There is a death record listed for a Wasyl Kocielko of Joliet, Illinois, dated 8-31-1940.

The death cert should show which cemetery and which funeral home was used.

go to the illinois dept of vital stats to apply for it at cyberdriveillinois dot com slash departments slash archives slash idphdeathindex dot html

look for the death records after 1915

Get in touch with Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church,(the old St Marys Assumption). It is located in Homer Glen Illinois. They have all the old records there. They also have a web-site,(as does St Nicholas). I am an old member of St Marys Assumption. Ken Dutka

Thanks for your tip. I'll give them a try. I got the marriage certificate of Wasyl and Helen from the County Clerk, but I'm still looking for my grandfather's baptismal certificate.

i get them from NY for free. i called them, they sent them :)

Hi,

Are they limited to baptismal certificates from NY, or do they have some for the rest of the country?

Basicly I knew the church where things took place or i found out where they were living at the time and called the churches near by.. Also called the Polish american hall to find out Polish churches in the area and I was told about St. Hedwigs church in floral park so I gave them a call and gave them the dates I had and withen 2 weeks I got the certificate in the mail.

Oh, I see. Thanks for responding.

But if you know the info.. church records should be free. Good luck!