St. Luke's Lutheran and Reformed Congregations, York County, Pennsylvania, U.S., 1773-1835

The Susquehanna River serves as the eastern border for York County, Pennsylvania, lying on the eastern boundary of Chanceford Township in York County. This database is a record of St. Luke's Lutheran and Reformed Congregations, which were formerly known as Stehley's Congregations. Researchers will find records of baptisms, marriages, and burials for individuals who lived in the area during the years 1773 through 1835. For those interested in this southern Pennsylvania area, this will be a useful database.

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.