During Texas's colonization period Roman Catholics were the most numerous, but early citizens included those representing other religious faiths such as Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, and Christian or Disciples of Christ.
Many Roman Catholic records are in the Catholic Archives of Texas, North Congress and West 16th, Capitol Station P.O. Box 13327, Austin, TX 78711. Others are deposited in the various archdiocese archives. The San Antonio archdiocese records begin in 1703.
Two sources for Baptist records in the state are:
- Baylor University's Texas Collection, Baylor University Library, Box 6396, Waco, Texas 76706; and
- Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, A Webb Roberts Library, Box 22, 000-2#, Fort Worth, Texas 76122.
A collection of Baptist records maintained outside the state is at Samford University Library, Birmingham, Alabama 35229. The collection includes books, church and association minutes, church and association histories, and nineteenth-century Southern Baptist newspapers, many of which are indexed.
Bridwell Theology Library, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas 75275-0476 houses records for Methodists.
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Many cemetery records have been collected and transcribed, including the largest of which is multi-volumes compilation by the DAR and two volumes for Peters Colonists and descendants. The DAR collection, also microfilmed, is available at the Texas State Library and through the FHL.
Some Texas county historical and genealogical societies have published local cemetery and/funeral home records. These are normally available for purchase through the respective society. Two references can help determine which cemeteries have been recorded: Kim Parsons', A Reference to Texas Cemetery Records (Humble, Tex.: by author, 1988), arranged by county; and Sharry Crofford-Gould's, Texas Cemetery Inscriptions: A Source Index (San Antonio, Tex.: Limited Editions, 1977).
Cemetery records and gravestone inscriptions are a rich source of information for family historians. Cemetery and other sources of information associated with death include:
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- Biographical works
- Burial permits
- Church burial registers
- Cemetery records (often several different kinds are kept)
- Cemetery indexes (often compiled by genealogical societies)
- Cemetery sextons’ records
- Cemetery deed and plot registers
- Death certificates
- Death indexes
- Family bibles
- Family burial plots
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- Funeral director’s records
- Grave opening orders
- Gravestone (monument) inscriptions
- Military records
- Monuments and memorials
- Necrologies
- Newspaper death notices
- Obituaries
- Probate records
- Published death records
- Religious records
- Transcriptions of cemetery inscriptions
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