Pennsylvania Marriages, 1868-1904, from The Evangelical Messenger
Preface
Recommended Reading
Acknowledgments
Dedication
Abbreviations
Obituaries
Search or browse Pennsylvania Marriages from the Evangelical Messenger
Preface
The Evangelical Association was founded in 1800 by Jacob Albright (1759-1808). There was a split in this denomination from 1891-1922, when the dissenting group formed The United Evangelical Church. When the two bodies reunited, the name became The Evangelical Church. Those not wishing to reunite formed the Evangelical Congregational Church.
The Evangelical Church merged with the Church of the United Brethren in Christ in 1946 and became the Evangelical United Brethren (EUB) denomination. In 1968 the Evangelical United Brethren denomination merged the Methodist Church and became the United Methodist denomination.
The English-language weekly denominational publication was The Evangelical Messenger, which was published from 1848-1946. Der Christliche Botschafter was the German-language denominational periodical of the Evangelical Association, and was published from 1836-1947.
Marriage announcements began to be published in The Evangelical Messenger in 1868. They were first placed immediately following the obituaries, later moved to the classified advertisement pages. These announcements were submitted to the paper by the officiating ministers. The 1905 and 1906 issues contained no marriages performed in Pennsylvania. As planned, this project stopped at the end of 1906; however, marriages did continue to be published after that date.
Recommended Reading
[NOTE: All titles, except for the last two, can be found at the Allen County Public Library.]
Behney, J. Bruce, and Eller, Paul H. The History of the Evangelical United Brethren Church. Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon Press, 1979. Kenneth W. Krueger, editor.
Leedy, Roy B. The Evangelical Church in Ohio: Being a History of the Ohio Conference and Merged Conferences of the Evangelical Church in Ohio, now the Evangelical United Brethren Church 1816-1951. Cleveland?: The Ohio Conference of The Evangelical United Brethren Church, 1959. (The Leedy archival material is housed at Seybert United Methodist Church, 442 West Main Street, Bellevue, OH 44811. The curator is William Drown, bdrown@who.rr.com.)
Luebking, Sandra H. "The Religious Press." FGS FORUM 21, no. 1 (Spring 2009): 9-11.
Orwig, W. W. (Rev.). History of the Evangelical Association. Volume I. Cleveland: Charles Hammer, for the Evangelical Association, 1858. [Translated from the German. Volume II was never published.]
Stapleton, A. (Rev.). Annals of the Evangelical Association of North America and History of the United Evangelical Church. Harrisburg, Penna.: Publishing House for the United Evangelical Church, 1896. [Title page is dated 1900.]
Yeakel, R. History of the Evangelical Association. Volume I: 1750 — 1850. Cleveland: Mattell & Lamb, 1902. [copyright Thomas & Mattell, 1894.] Volume II: 1850 — 1875. Cleveland: J. H. Lamb, Agent, 1909.
Acknowledgments
Deep appreciation is extended to Curt B. Witcher, Genealogy Center Manager / Senior Manager of Special Collections, Allen County Public Library, 900 Library Plaza, Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Sally Zody Spreng, Perrysville, Ohio, for their expertise and encouragement.
Dedication
This work is dedicated to the late Sandra Hargreaves Luebking, Western Springs, Illinois. In her passion for excellence, she raised the study of genealogy from a casual hobby to a legitimate, scholarly pursuit through her teaching, lecturing, writing, and editing.
Abbreviations
- -- = data not provided
- Ch =church
- Conf = conference
- Co = county
- Dau = daughter
- Md = married
- Memb = member
- Mt = Mount
- Pars = parents
- Res = resided/residence
- Rev = Reverend
- St = street
- Tp = township
- State abbreviations: standard postal codes
- Country abbreviations: the first several letters of the country name
Obituaries
The obituaries from The Evangelical Messenger are being abstracted, the years 1848 through 1924 being complete as of December 31, 2011. New additions are added as each year's abstracts are completed. They are available online at www.GenealogyCenter.info/search_evanmessenger.php.
It is imperative that the entire obituary be viewed to learn the personal characteristics of the deceased, number of grandchildren and great-grandchildren [which is not included in the abstract], and other details. The entire run of The Evangelical Messenger is on microfilm at The Genealogy Center of the Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Photocopies of obituaries may be ordered via email to genealogy@acpl.info. Requests should include the patron's name and mailing address, decedent's name and the date the obituary appears. Patrons will be billed $2.50 for each obituary and should allow up to six weeks for processing.