New! Early St. Louis Catholic Baptism and Marriage Records Added to the StLGS Website!

If your ancestors were in St. Louis during its earliest years, there is a good chance they were Catholic, French, Native American, and/or Black, and, if so, they were baptized or married in one of the three oldest of St. Louis’s Catholic churches: the Basilica of St. Louis IX, King of France (otherwise known as the Old Cathedral), Saints Mary and Joseph Church in what is now the Carondelet neighborhood in South St. Louis City, or St. Ferdinand de Florissant in today's North St. Louis County. If you think you had ancestors who might have been here during the mid-eighteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries, we have another treat for you on our website! You will find revised pages for the Old Cathedral and Sts. Mary and Joseph and a brand-new page for St. Ferdinand on which you can find a multitude of additional baptisms and marriages. Read on for details!

During the late 1990s, St. Louis Genealogical Society received access to the earliest records of those three churches, and volunteers compiled everything they could find. The result was two published books: Catholic Baptisms, St. Louis, Missouri, 1765–1840, and St. Louis Catholic Marriages, 1774–1840. Both were revised over the years, and eventually the revisions were posted on our website. Although an index to both books was created, it was difficult to do correctly due to the erratic nature of French translations and the way the original books were designed. For the last decade, a new set of volunteers has worked tirelessly to re-index both books, and now that work has been completed. 

Completely New Set of Searchable Record Indexes

What we have placed online for members of St. Louis Genealogical Society is a completely revised set of indexes to both the baptism and marriage books. Each entry in each index is linked to the specific page in the original books on which the entry is found. Each index also is completely searchable from the home page of our website. We also have a new page that explains the history of the baptism and marriage books; that page, also for members only, links directly to PDF files of each of the books.

Each page has new information and lots of explanatory text about these records. Since the actual indexes and images are only available to StLGS members, remember to log in first, and, if you are not yet a member, you can join easily on the website to access these and many other member benefits.

We invite you now to explore the following pages on our website. Happy hunting!

(Photo of Old St. Ferdinand Catholic Church, now the St. Ferdinand Shrine, by Karl Bloomberg; part of the St. Louis Genealogical Society photo archive)

St. Louis IX, King of France (Old Cathedral): 

https://stlgs.org/research-2/congregations/catholic/catholic-churches/basilica-st-louis-ix

Sts. Mary and Joseph in Carondelet: 

https://stlgs.org/research-2/congregations/catholic/closed-catholic-churches/saints-mary-and-joseph

St. Ferdinand de Florissant:  

https://stlgs.org/research-2/congregations/catholic/catholic-churches/st-ferdinand-de-florissant-church

Early Catholic Baptisms and Marriages: 

https://stlgs.org/research-2/congregations/catholic/early-catholic-baptisms-and-marriages