Adams County, Pennsylvania, 1785-1874: Lutheran and Reformed Congregations

Adams County lies in southern Pennsylvania, with the Mason-Dixon line serving as one of its borders. This database is a collection of more than 6,300 church records from the township of Arendtsville, which lies in central Adams County. Researchers may find records of baptisms for individuals who lived in the area between 1785 and 1874. The Lutheran and Reformed congregations of this area shared a church building until 1881, when the Lutherans built their own church.

Church records rank among the very best genealogical records available worldwide, but they are one of the most under-used sources in American genealogy. Until the advent of vital statistics in the United States—a very late development in most states—church records were the primary source of birth, marriage, and death information. The sheer number of denominations and affiliate churches has made identifying and locating each one's records a time-consuming ordeal for most genealogists. Church records also vary a great deal in content and emphasis according to the basic theology of the religious group that created them.

Early immigrants from England, Scotland, and other European countries brought their religious beliefs, institutions, and customs with them, including the keeping of church books in which to record births, baptisms, confirmations, marriages, communion lists, deaths, and burials. Lutheran and Reformed Church records in Pennsylvania rank among the very best church records available.