FINDMYPAST TO PUBLISH CINCINNATI & CHICAGO CATHOLIC RECORDS

 I received the following announcement from Findmypast this past Wednesday:

                         Findmypast Announces Plans to Publish Cincinnati &
                            Chicago Sacramental Registers Online For the First 
                                                                Time

·                      Findmypast’s exclusive Catholic Heritage Archive continues to grow

·         New partnership with the Archdioceses of Cincinnati will over 3 million original 
       Sacramental Registers digitized, fully indexed and published online for the very first 
                                                                      time

·         A further 1.9 million records covering the Archdiocese of Chicago will also be 
                          released in partnership with FamilySearch international. 



Leading family history website, Findmypast, has today announced plans to publish over 4.9 Sacramental Registers in partnership with the Archdioceses of Cincinnati and FamilySearch International.

Digitization will soon be underway and over 800,000 fully indexed images of original Cincinnati Catholic baptism, marriage and burial registers containing over 3 million names and spanning the years 1800 to 1953 will be made available online for the first time, only at Findmypast, in 2018.

An additional 1.9 million Chicago Sacramental Registers will also be added to the site later in the year. Published in association with FamilySearch International, these records will cover 125 years of city’s history (1864 to 1989) and will add yet another important region to Findmypast’s growing collection of United States Catholic records.

Today’s announcement marks the latest in a series of updates to Findmypast’s exclusive Catholic Heritage Archive; a ground-breaking initiative that aims to digitize the historic records of the Catholic Church in the United States, Britain and Ireland for the very first time. The digitization of collections such as these is a monumental undertaking and, when complete, this exclusive collection will contain over 100 million records spanning 300 years of Catholic history

The Catholic Church holds some of the oldest and best preserved genealogical records in existence. However, as many of these documents memorialise important religious sacraments, their privacy has long been protected and access to original copies has, until recently, been hard to come by.

In collaboration with various Archdioceses, Findmypast is helping to digitize these important records and make them widely accessible for the first time in one unified online collection. Beautifully scanned color Images of original documents will be available to view and fully searchable transcripts will also be included, providing family historians with easy access to these once closely guarded records.

The Roman Catholic Church is the largest Christian denomination in the world and it has always been a significant component (up to 25%) of the American population. These records will allow researchers from around the globe to uncover the history of millions of Irish, Italian, German, Polish and many other nationalities as they made a new home in the USA.

Additional Cincinnati and Chicago records as well as additional updates from variety of British, Irish, US and Canadian Dioceses will be added to the Catholic Heritage Archive throughout 2018.