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Date disciplined
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Person being disciplined
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| 3. |
Reasons for discipline
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Throughout time, churches have disciplined their members for infractions of religious law and kept a record of those proceedings. |
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A disciplinary action can be a formal, public reprimand or condemnation, shunning, dismissal or excommunication, or imprisonment. |
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In the example above, it appears that Quakers were disciplined by being dismissed for marrying "out of unity" which means they married a person of a different religion. |
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Disciplinary records can be found in church registers, minute books, membership records, and assorted other ecclesiastical records. |
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The current minister of a church your ancestor attended may have the old records you need. If not, check with the denomination's archives. |
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Libraries with genealogy sections also have old church records
in their collections. The LDS Family History library has the
largest collection of church records in the United States.
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