Congregation Mikveh Israel (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Jews
Cemeteries
A draft of the measurements of Mikveh Israel's cemetery, situated on the North side of Spruce Street between 8th and 9th streets. According to the one page manuscript, the walled-in burying ground was found when the Poor House was built, and was resurveyed on October 8, 1765.
First Baptist Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Church finance
Poor
Poverty
Charity
Baptists
Church records and registers
Church fund raising
This book records the amounts donated by members to First Baptist Church to help the poor, and the amounts given to the poor from First Baptist Church, from 1767 to 1769. Each entry includes the date, donor or donee's name, and amount donated.
This book records the amounts donated by members to First Baptist Church to help the poor, and the amounts given to the poor from First Baptist Church, from 1774 to 1775. Each entry includes the date, donor or donee's name, and amount donated.
Gloria Dei Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Lutherans
Yellow fever
Lutheran Church
"Account of the Box-money, being collection for the Poor that belong to the Congregation, on Sundays, during Divine Service: from the beginning of the year 1800, til the beginning of May 1806." Entries are listed by month, with each Sunday's total pounds, shillings and dollars added into a monthly sum. Often an explanation is provided for low sums collected, usually bad weather and subsequent low attendance. Expenditures are listed by year and include cords of firewood for the sickly during winter, and cash gifts to individuals such as detained sailors, widows, and disabled parishioners.
Proposals for First Presbyterian Church, 1793
First Presbyterian Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Church buildings
Presbyterians
Presbyterian Church
Five letters related to the rebuilding of First Presbyterian church: William Ruddack's accounting of his fundraising for the rebuilding from 1793 to 1796; John Johnston's 1793 proposal for plastering work, 1794 letter following up and 1796 bill for services rendered; and a proposal from Lawrence Allman and Rich Guy to do brick and stone work, dated 1793.
United Churches of Christ-Church and St. Peter's (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Psalms (Music)
Church music
Anthems
Hymns
Psalmody
Episcopalians
Episcopal Church
Formally titled, "A Collection of Psalm Tunes, with a few Anthems and Hymns, Some of them Entirely New, for the Use Of the United Churches of Christ Church and St. Peter's Church in Philadelphia." The text includes "A Short Introduction To The Art of Psalmody," with explanations of note lengths, cliffs (clefs), musical time, pauses/rests, sharps, flats and natural notes, special character notations, bars, and intonation.
Christ Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Protestants
Anne, Queen of Great Britain, 1665-1714
Clergy
Church schools
Tobacco
Taxation
Treasury warrant from Queen Anne, continuing a previous warrant from King William, allowing Christ Church to pay annual salaries of 50 pounds to a Protestant minister and 30 pounds to a schoolmaster, to be paid with one penny per each pound of tobacco duties collected in Pennsylvania.
St. Paul's Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
Record of payments received and made by St. Paul's from 1794 to 1809. Entries are listed by date, and include the payee's name, amount paid, purpose of the payment, and signature of the church official who accepted or disbursed the payment. Some of the payments received by the church are charitable donations, and others are payments due, for example, for rents. Outgoing payments by the church include employee's salaries and repairs and additions to the buildings and grounds.
Churchwardens' accounts
Receipt book of Samuel Wheeler, church warden, recording disbursements from Gloria Dei from 1801 to 1811. Disbursements include salaries for church employees, supplies such as wood and hay, and upkeep of building and grounds.
Receipts and expenditures, circa 1790-1842
St. Thomas' Church (Philadelphia, Pa.)
African American churches
African Americans
This bound manuscript is an accounting of St. Thomas’ finances between 1790 and 1842. The prominent African American abolitionist and clergyman Absalom Jones is listed throughout text, as are prominent Philadelphia businessmen and donors such as William Gray, John Nicholson and Robert Ralston.
Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia for the Northern District
Genealogy
Society of Friends
Quakers
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Friends kept records of the births and deaths of members only. If a child was born to two Quakers in good standing at the time of the birth they were considered "birthright."
Record of Births and Interments Volume 1, 1772-1806
Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia for the Southern District
In the 17th and 18th centuries, Friends kept records of the births and deaths of members only. If a child was born to two Quakers in good standing at the time of the birth they were considered "birthright." On the other hand, Quaker burial grounds were not generally select. Non-members could be interred in Friends' grounds.
Record of Endorsements made by Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting on Certificates Given to Ministers
Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends. Philadelphia Quarterly Meeting
Lay ministry--Society of Friends
A Travelling Certificate was issued by a meeting to a member in good standing (normally a recorded minister), allowing him or her to travel to other meetings to visit or preach.
Record of prayers, circumcisions, marriages and deaths, kept by Reverend Jacob Raphael Cohen and continued by others after his death, 1776-1843
Registers of births, etc.
Circumcision
Marriage records
Burial records
Synagogue records and registers
Synagogues
Jacob Raphael Cohen was the second minister of Congregation Mikveh Israel, serving from 1784 until his death in 1811. Prior to coming to Philadelphia, he served as hazzan of Congregation Shearith Israel in Montreal and Congregation Shearith Israel in New York. Cohen began this record book in 1776, writing from the front as well as from the back, and his entries record events in Montreal and New York, as well as a few other locations, in addition to Philadelphia. He wrote in English and Hebrew. After Cohen's death, the record book was continued by several others, including Benjamin Nones, Dr. Alexander Wertheim, Lewis Allen, Zalegman Phillips, and Abraham Hart. Alan Corre, who served as rabbi for Congregation Mikveh Israel from 1955 to 1963 and who was an esteemed scholar of Hebrew Studies, and Malcom Stern, a rabbi and historian who has been described as the dean of American Jewish genealogy, published an article about this record book in The American Jewish Quarterly in 1969 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/23878015). In this article, Corre and Stern provided Hebrew translations for the prayers recorded by Cohen, and with the generous permission of the American Jewish Historical Society, those translations are now included in the transcription for this record. Corre and Stern also organized the data on circumcisions, marriages and deaths into tables, and provided detailed historical context for the records. A prayer for the Eve of Kippur from Cohen's time in Montreal is found on page 1, and repeated with additions on page 93. The misheberach (public blessing) prayer is found on page 4, and escabot/hascabot (memorial) prayers are found on pages 6 to 8, 10, 19a and 19b of the manuscript. A copy of the Order of Service for the Day of Dedication (for Mikveh Israel's new synagogue) is found on pages 20 to 22. Circumcision records are found on pages 14 to 17 and 23 to 25, and include date of birth, name of father, son's name, and date circumcised. Marriage records, called ketubot or ketubah, start on page 92 and run backwards to page 44. The ketubot are written almost entirely in an Aramaic-Hebrew idiom; however they are fairly standardized, and Cohen provides English translations of two Canadian marriage contracts on pages 88 and 92. Please see also https://www.sefaria.org/Ketubah_Text.4 for the traditional ketubah text, which may have been altered slightly in practice. A haliza document, releasing a widow from marriage to her husband's brother, is found on page 72. Records of deaths in Montreal are found on pages 2, 3 and 5; records of deaths and burials in Philadelphia at Mikveh Israel are found on pages 18 to 19 and 27 to 41. The latter records often include information on family relations and location of burial plots.
Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia
A certificate of removal was a document given to persons who were transferring their membership from one monthly meeting to another. Their removal testified that they were members in good standing with the meetings they were leaving.
St. Michael's Church (Trenton, N.J.)
Baptismal records
Confirmation records
Church membership
Records of St. Michael's baptisms, confirmations, communicants, marriages and burials, dating from 1855 to 1867. Most entries span verso and recto pages. Baptismal records run from page 3 to page 37, and include date, name, parents' names, date of birth, and remarks such as location of ceremony, officiant, and witnesses. Confirmation records run from page 73 to page 80, and include date, name, and remarks (usually name of officiant). Lists of communicants run from page 85 to page 116, and include date, name, mode (received/admitted), removed date and mode (moved/died/transferred), and miscellaneous remarks. Marriage records run from page 121 to page 141 and include date, names of bride and groom, their residences, and place of ceremony. Note: Images 50-51 show marriage records inserted into the confirmations section. Burials records run from page 145 to page 157, and include date, name, place of interment, age, and remarks (names of relatives, city of origin, person who performed burial). There are also several loose items, one note of birth and four letters of transfer.
Record of christenings, marriages, burials and confirmations performed by St. Michael's from 1771 to 1852. Records are listed in chronological groupings. Christening records include date, name, parents' name, and age at the time of christening. Marriage records include the date, names of brides and groom, notes on license, and city of residence or origin. Burial records include the date, name of decedent, whether the decedent was an adult or child, and parent's names in cases of the latter. Sacraments performed for black parishioners are often denoted with "(negro)."
A certificate of removal was a document given to persons who were transferring their membership from one monthly meeting to another. Their removal testified that they were members in good standing with the meetings they were leaving. Includes an index at the front of the volume.
A certificate of removal was a document given to persons who were transferring their membership from one monthly meeting to another. Their removal testified that they were members in good standing with the meetings they were leaving. Includes Orthodox removals.
Society of Friends--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
Quakers--Pennsylvania--Philadelphia
Philadelphia (Pa.)--Genealogy
A certificate of removal was a document given to persons who were transferring their membership from one monthly meeting to another. Their removal testified that they were members in good standing with the meetings they were leaving. Includes index of names at front of volume.
Monthly Meeting of Friends of Philadelphia for the Western District
A certificate of removal was a document given to persons who were transferring their membership from one monthly meeting to another. Their removal testified that they were members in good standing with the meetings they were leaving. Copy of the original made in 1881. Includes acknowledgments in the back, 1692-1698.
A certificate of removal was a document given to persons who were transferring their membership from one monthly meeting to another. Their removal testified that they were members in good standing with the meetings they were leaving. This volume also includes a few acknowledgements, 1692-1698, at the end of the volume as well as a separate index.
A certificate of removal was a document given to persons who were transferring their membership from one monthly meeting to another. Their removal testified that they were members in good standing with the meetings they were leaving. Includes index at front of volume.
Removals Received, Original Certificates Nos. 1-150, 1686-1713
A certificate of removal was a document given to persons who were transferring their membership from one monthly meeting to another. Their removal testified that they were members in good standing with the meetings they were leaving. These are the original certificates, mounted in a volume at a later date, as received by Philadelphia Monthly Meeting. Indexed.
Removals Received, Original Certificates Nos. 1051-1200, 1755-1759
Removals Received, Original Certificates Nos. 1201-1350, 1753-1760
Removals Received, Original Certificates Nos. 1351-1500, 1760-1762