Springfield Township Church Records, York County, Pennsylvania, 1755-1801

Springfield Township lies in central York County, Pennsylvania. This database consists of the church records for two churches from Springfield:

Friedensaal (Schuster's White) Church, 1755-1801

St. Peter's (Yellow and formerly Salem) Reformed Church, 1789-1797

For researchers of this southern Pennsylvania area, this will be a helpful database.

Located in Springfield Township in York County, Pennsylvania, Friedensaal Church, is also called Schuster's White Church. The Lutheran congregation was organized there in the 1750's, followed by the Reformed church in the 1760s. Records in the database span from 1755-1801 and include the names of over 3,200 individuals.

Located in Springfield Township in York County, Pennsylvania, St. Peter's Reformed Church originally was called Salem Church and also known as Schuster's or the Yellow Church. Registers for the congregation date from 1789. The records in this database span the years 1789-97 and include the names of over 700 individuals.

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 their records a time-consuming ordeal for most genealogists. Church records 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 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 records in Pennsylvania rank among the very best.