Bucks County, Pennsylvania, 1710-1800: Southampton Dutch Reformed Church

Southampton Township lies on the western border of Bucks County. This database is a record of more than 4,700 baptisms and marriages from the Dutch Reformed Church in Southampton for the years 1710 to 1800. A history of major events in the church is also included. For researchers of this eastern part of Pennsylvania, this will be a useful database.

Church records rank among the very best genealogical records available worldwide, but they are one of the most under-used sources in American genealogy. Until the advent of vital statistics in the United States—a very late development in most states—church records were the primary source of birth, marriage, and death information. The sheer number of denominations and affiliate churches has made identifying and locating each one's records a time-consuming ordeal for most genealogists. Church records also vary a great deal in content and emphasis according to the basic theology of the religious group that created them.

Early immigrants from England, Scotland, and other European countries brought their religious beliefs, institutions, and customs with them, including the keeping of church books in which to record births, baptisms, confirmations, marriages, communion lists, deaths, and burials. Lutheran and Reformed Church records in Pennsylvania rank among the very best church records available.