According to The Church that Kept on Being Born Again, by Ernest Edwin Logan, Presbyterians began conducting services in Fort Pitt (later known as Pittsburgh) as early as 1762. Presbyterian missionaries from New England under the backing of the Synod of New York and Philadelphia arrived in Pittsburgh around 1772 and began holding regular services. The First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was officially formed by the Presbytery of Donegal in April, 1773. When the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. split into Old School and New School factions, the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh became an Old School congregation. In 1897, it received by merger Central Presbyterian Church (Central Chapel).
Records on deposit from the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, Pa., which are relevant to genealogists, include:
- Session Minutes, 1818-1834. Typed. bd. Includes: v.1, 1818-1834. v.2 1834-1866. (Call number: F MI46 P68s)
- Roll of Membership of the First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, January, 1891 (Call number: Pam BX 9211 .P45222 F504 1890)
The society holds the following additional records:
- Trustee minutes
Most of the church records are available on microfilm:
- First Presbyterian Church, Pittsburgh, PA. Records, 1797-1984 microform. Includes: Session minutes, 1818-1866, 1884-1980; Roll books, 1797-1965; Trustee minutes, 1801-1825, 1887-1934, 1937-1984. (Call number: MFPOS. 269 r. 1-5)
If you are interested in borrowing the microfilm, please have the interlibrary loan (ILL) librarian at your local public or academic library contact us directly to submit the request on your behalf. We accept ILL requests by letter, email and fax. We loan a maximum of three reels per request for a four-week loan period. We charge a fee of $20.00 per reel, plus $5.00 for shipping. This material will be held on reserve for you and may only be used within the borrowing library. Please provide your ILL librarian with the catalog information provided above when making your request. Please tell the ILL librarian that requests cannot come from OCLC (Online Computer Library Center, Inc.) because we are not listed as a borrowing institution.
The Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU) has microfilmed some of the records of the First Presbyterian Church, and they are available through the Family History Centers of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To use the microfilm, you may visit their website, www.familysearch.org, and search for a center near you.
The society also holds the following records from the Central Presbyterian Chapel Mission.
- Pastor’s records, 1948-1965, Includes; Baptisms, 1949-1964, Membership Records, 1948-1965. (Call number: F MI46 P687cpr)
The First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh is an active congregation. For further information, please contact:
The First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh
320 Sixth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222
412-471-3436
www.fpcp.org
email: info@fpcp.org
Sources:
Logan, Ernest Edwin. The Church That Kept on Being Born Again. A History of First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, 1773-1997. Pittsburgh, PA: First Presbyterian Church of Pittsburgh, 1998.