Dear Joan, Since I was getting confused about the term Evangelical, I contacted the Concordia Historical Institute and received the following reply: Evangelical is often a rather ambiguous term. What it means can depend on the area you're looking in, time period, and so on. While the term evangelical was often used by Lutheran churches, this was not exclusively so. Many Lutheran churches in Germany would have just used the term evangelical in the 1700s-1800s; some might have used the term Lutheran. There were also reformed and other bodies which used the term Evangelical (Evangelish). When these immigrants came to the U.S. they brought their terminology along with them. Many German Lutherans simply called their churches evangelical, but most seemed to tack on Lutheran or call their churches Lutheran (without the use of Evangelical). Those members of reformed churches who came often simply called their churches Evangelical. Of course, with the unionistic movements within the states of Germany that happened from the early 1800s on, the lines became further blurred. Churches in Germany and the United States were often called Evangelical Lutheran to signify the union of the two church bodies. Thus even with the inclusion of the word Lutheran in titles, one cannot be certain that the church was actually Lutheran. It might be a product of immigrants who were part of a united church in Germany. As to St. Mark's Evangelical in St. Louis c. 1892. I did not see a St. Mark's in my listing of LCMS parishes in St. Louis from this period. It could have been a parish that is now part of the ELCA, but you would have to contact them for that information. I will say that it seems that most Lutheran churches in the U.S. used the term Lutheran or Lutherische to mark their congregation as Lutheran and not a union church. You also had a question in your email regarding why the geneology mailing you received would say Evangelical churches are part of the UCC. The UCC is the conjoining of a number of different smaller reformed, Evangelical, united church bodies in the U.S. While this body itself is a more recent creation, the bodies that make up the UCC have much deeper historical roots. Thus churches from the 1800s may indeed now be part of the United Church of Christ. If you have a question about a church that is called Evangelical that we have no information about, you may wish to contact the UCC archives at http://www.ucc.org/aboutus/archives/ I hope this information helps as you work on your family history. Peace, Daniel Borkenhagen Reference and Research Assistant Concordia Historical Institute Website for Concordia: http://chi.lcms.org/ Joan T Kaemmer wrote: > I recently found a relative who married at St Mark's Evangelical church > in 1892. According to the license the church was located at 309 Soulard. > L G Nolan was the pastor. > > Does anyone know if this is the same as the St Mark's Evangelical > Lutheran church located on Clayton Road today? I would like to see if I > can find baptismal records. > > Thanks, Joan > > ==== MO-STLOUIS-METRO Mailing List ==== > To unsubscribe from this list, email MO-STLOUIS-METRO-L-request@rootsweb.com; in the subject line, put only the word UNSUBSCRIBE with nothing in the message body. You can contact Michelle or Laura at MO-STLOUIS-METRO-admin@rootsweb.com.