Online U.S. Catholic Parish Registers 2017 List

In 2015 I started a yearly list of what Roman Catholic parish registers I found online in various formats. There has been two major announcements in relation to the availability of such records since the last list in August 2016. The New England Historic Genealogical Society has partnered with the Archdiocese of Boston to eventually digitize records from all of their parishes up to the turn of the 20th century. Findmypast recently placed the registers of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia online and plan to add registers from other dioceses in the future. I've also added entries for parishes from other states such as Kentucky and upstate New York. New additions are in bold in the table.

Access and Format Key

S - Scanned

I - Indexed

NI - Not Indexed

T - Transcriptions

State	Diocese	Region/Parishes Covered	Years	Access & Format
Alabama	Archdiocese of Mobile	Mobile	1704-1764	Ancestry (Drouin Collection)
Arkansas	Archdiocese of Mobile	Fort St. Philippe	1744, 1761-1765	Ancestry (Drouin Collection)
California	Sacremento	St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery, Woodland, Yolo County	1883-1939	Familysearch Books (S) *
Colorado	Archdiocese of Denver	St Mary's Catholic Parish, Littleton	1915-1985	Familysearch Books (S) **
Delaware	Wilmington	Delaware and Eastern Shore Maryland on Delmarva Peninsula	1795-1925	Lalley.com (S/NI)
Kentucky		Sacred Heart Parish, St. Vincent	c.1833 - c.1914	Familysearch Books (T)
Illinois	Archdiocese of Chicago	City of Chicago and surrounding area	1833-1925	Familysearch (S/I)
Illinois	Belleville	South East Ohio / County map of parishes	1729-1956	Familysearch (S/NI)
Illinois		Kaskaskia (Caskakias), Prairie du Rocher, Fort de Chartres	1695-1813, 1761-1799, 1721-1765	Ancestry (Drouin Collection)
Indiana		Vincennes	1741-1786	Ancestry (Drouin Collection)
Indiana	Rockford	St. Michael's Parish, Daviess County	1887-1916	Archive.org (S)
Indiana	Rockford	St. Michael's Parish, Daviess County	1887-1916	Familysearch Books (S)**
Indiana		St. Peter's Parish, Montgomery County	1853-1881	Archive.org (S)
Louisiana	Archdiocese of New Orleans	Various Parishes	1772-1818	Archdiocese of New Orleans Archives (S)+
Louisiana	Archdiocese of New Orleans	Various Parishes	1751-1799	Archdiocese of New Orleans Archives (T)+
Louisiana		St. Gabriel	1753-1759	Ancestry (Drouin Collection)
Massachusetts	Archdiocese of Boston	Various Parishes	1789-1900	American Ancestors (S)
Maine		Frenchville Van Buren	1843-1943 1838-1900	Ancestry (Drouin Collection)
Maine		Ste. Luce, Frenchville, Aroostook County	1843-1860	Upper Saint John River Valley
Maryland	Wilmington	Delaware and Eastern Shore Maryland on Delmarva Peninsula	1795-1925	Lalley.com (S/NI)
Michigan		St. Anne, Detroit Various others, Detroit St. Anne, Mackinac (Makinac) County Fort Français, Berrien County	1704-1943 1754-1784 1695-1828 1720-1733	Ancestry (Drouin Collection)
Missouri		St. Ferdinand, Florissant Old Cathedral, St. Louis	1790-1954 1766-1954	Ancestry (Drouin Collection)
Missouri		St. Peter's Parish, Kirkwood	1838-1851	St Louis Genealogical Society (T/I)
New Jersey	Archdiocese of Newark	St. Peter's Parish, Belville Immaculate Conception Parish, Montclair	1839-1899	NYC Nuts (T/I)
New Jersey	Archdiocese of Newark	Various Parishes	19th Century	Familysearch (T/I)***
New Jersey	Archdiocese of Newark	St Mary Star of the Sea Parish, Beyonne	1884-1984	Hudson County Gen Soc (T)
New Jersey	Archdiocese of Newark	St. John the Baptist Parish, Jersey City	1884-1928	Familysearch (S)
New York	Brooklyn	Our Lady of Sorrow Parish, Bushwick St. Leonards of Port Maurice, Bushwick Most Holy Trinity, Williamsburg	1842-1978	German Genealogy Group (T/I)
New York	Brooklyn	St Paul's Parish	1837-1900	Ancestry: here & here (T/I)
New York	Buffalo	Various Parishes++	19th & 20th Centuries	Familysearch Catalog (S/I/T) Familysearch  (T)
New York		Brasher Falls St. Joseph, Cooperville Chazy Fort Covington Fort Frederick, Albany Hogansburg Malone Massena	1843-1946 1843-1948 1902-1907 1843-1946 1732-1760 1843-1946 1843-1946 1843-1946	Ancestry (Drouin Collection)
Ohio	Toledo	North west Ohio	1796-2004	Familysearch (S/NI) Ancestry (S/NI)
Pennsylvania	Archdiocese of Philadelphia	Philadelphia and south east Pennsylvania	18th & 19th Century	Hathi Trust (S/T)
Pennsylvania	Archdiocese of Philadelphia	All Parishes	18th-20th centuries	Findmypast (S/I) Baptisms / Marriages / Registers Browse
Pennsylvania		Fort Duquesne, Pittsburgh	1754-1756	Archive.org
Texas	Diocese of Austin	St. Mary's of the Immaculate Conception, Austin	1853-1875	Austin Genealogical Society (T)
Wisconsin		St. Francis Xavier, Green Bay Prairie-du-Chien	1823-1826 1829	Ancestry (Drouin Collection)

* Search for: "Burial register, St. Joseph's Catholic Cemetery, Woodland, Yolo Co., California"

** Search for: " St. Mary's Catholic Church, 1915-1985, of Littleton Colorado"

*** Records are contained within the database New Jersey, Births and Christenings, 1660-1980

**** Search for: "Register of St. Michael Catholic Church, Daviess County, Indiana"

+ Thanks to Nicole W. Miller (@nicolewmiller) for bringing these to my attention

++ Microfilms from parishes in the Diocese of Buffalo are available at the Family History Library. So far, some of these microfilms have been scanned and others have been indexed. You can access the scans and indexes via the Familysearch Catalog. Records that have been indexed are also available via the database New York Births and Christenings, 1640-1962, which is available on Familysearch.

Toronto Catholic Parish Registers

The first three Catholic parishes founded in Toronto were St. Paul in 1822, St. Michael in 1845, and St Mary, seven years later in 1852. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was granted access to the Archdiocese of Toronto archives some years ago and microfilmed the registers of various parishes, including the first three, up to 1910.[1] This microfilming program has been converted into the browse only database Ontario, Roman Catholic Church Records, 1760-1923 on Familysearch. After selecting the database, navigate to → York→ Toronto. This will bring you a list of digitized parish registers.

It is worth the effort to consult these registers as Irish parish and county of origin information it often provided for marriages beginning about 1850. Failing that, many marriage register entries provide the parents' names for marrying parties.

Parish	Baptisms scanned starting	Marriages scanned starting
St. Paul	1833	1833
St. Michael	1903 (1850 available on microfilm)	1858 (1850 available on microfilm)
St. Mary	1858	Not scanned

In 1850, Neil Mallen from Dickmancreven [sic - probably Tickmacrevan] Parish, County Antrim married Margaret Brian from the parish of Hackettstown [sic], County Wicklow in St. Paul's parish. Both of their parents are named in the register entry.[2] An example from St Mary's parish shows John Cleary from County Clare married Catherine Cawley from County Tipperary in 1862. Again, both sets of parents are named.[3] Similar information is found in the entry directly after John and Catherine's.

1850 marriage of Neil Mallen and Margaret Brian - click to enlarge

1862 marriage of John Cleary and Catherine Cawley - click to enlarge

Toronto is a central location for those who may have intended to travel into the rural areas of Ontario, New York State, or the American mid-west. Equally, those Irish immigrants may have stated in the city. If you have been unable to find marriage or baptismal records for your ancestors who ended up in those regions then don't discount the Toronto Roman Catholic registers.

Access these three parish registers and those from many other parishes in Ontario here.

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[1] Wicks, Linda and Marc Lerman. The Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto. Archivaria. Volume 30, Summer 1990, pp.180-184. Available online at
https://www.archtoronto.org/archives/Resource%20Library/archivaria_ARCAT1990.pdf: accessed 28 May 2016.

[2] St. Paul's Roman Catholic Parish, (Toronto, Canada); Baptisms, marriages, burials 1834-1850; p. 459, no. 42; Neil Mallen married Margaret Brian 29 June 1850; digital image, "Ontario, Roman Catholic Church Records, 1760-1923," Familysearch  (http://www.familysearch.org): accessed 20 August 2016.

[3] St. Mary's Roman Catholic Parish, (Toronto, Canada); Marriage Register 1858 to 1896; John Cleary married Catherine Cawley 7 January 1862; digital image, "Ontario, Roman Catholic Church Records, 1760-1923," Familysearch  (http://www.familysearch.org): accessed 20 August 2016.