The Christian Church formed through many mergers of different Christian congregations. Hence, it is often known by other names, such as the Disciples of Christ and the Church of Christ. After several naming changes in the twentieth century, today various congregations are known as Christian Churches Disciples of Christ, Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, and Independent Churches of Christ.
In the early 1800s, Barton W. Stone (formerly Presbyterian) and Rev. Thomas and his son Alexander Campbell (formerly Presbyterian and Baptist) founded the Christians. Rev. Campbell, who lived in western Pennsylvania and western Virginia, withdrew from the Presbyterians, forming the independent Brush Run Church, affiliated with the Baptists, who then expelled them. Meanwhile, Stone held several revivals in Cane Ridge, Kentucky, from 1801–1804. The two groups both wished to continue as Christians, although they used separate names for several decades. In 1832, in Lexington, Kentucky, the groups merged as the Christian Church or the Disciples of Christ. By 1849, they had national conventions, a Missionary Society, and religious journals.
These congregations may have marriage and death records available. But, on our website, especially for the earliest years, you may find only membership records since individuals are baptized at the time they join the church. However, in the late twentieth century some congregations began infant “dedications,” for which they may or may not have created records.
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