Ancestry.com has again that their database of microfilmed materials from the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) has been updated. The title of the database is now “U.S., Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Records, 1826-1945.” I’m not exactly certain how the database has changed (their blog is silent on the issue), but I suspect that there are more recent records included in the index than before as when I searched there were results for more recent family members than I originally remember getting.
If there are any other aspects of this that were updated I am uncertain. Users are reminded that names of sponsors at baptisms are typically not indexed in this database. There may be digital images of communion and membership lists for churches that are not indexed at all by Ancestry.com in this database(but the images are there if they were microfilmed0. Users are encouraged to browse the images in the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) database of records to determine exactly what is available online for the congregation of interest. It may be more than just records of baptisms, confirmations, marriages, and funerals. Those records are indexed.
It’s frustrating when any database on Ancestry.com is “updated” with nary a clue as to what the update entails. Because if the nature of the update is unknown users do not know if they need to search it again or not. This one is personally more frustrating than most as I have numerous families who attended churches whose records are in the database.
One response
when I searched this a while ago it started at 1875 (as I remember it).
I was looking for records from Chicago starting about 1854.
Most Chicago records were lost in the great fire, Oct 8, 9 and 10 of 1871.