The term "Anabaptist" covers several denominations, but some of the major ones are the Mennonite , the Amish , the River Brethren , and the Dunkards . Many other groups have incorporated some of the traditions and beliefs, even if the line of descent was not direct. Because of the persecution, which was severe in the early days in Switzerland and in Holland, and which continued in Switzerland for at least two hundred years, the Anabaptists had a disincentive for maintaining any written records. They were the happiest when the Church and State were separated. So it is not profitable to look for early records from within the Anabaptist churches. More success seems to have been achieved with census, tax, and property records. In America, these churches seem to have felt freer toward keeping records.
Though the Dutch authorities bore down hard on the Anabaptists early in the Reformation, they soon relented and the Anabaptists became honored members of the community. When Graffenried, with Michel, was attempting to bring a colony of Swiss, which included some Anabaptists, through Holland to send on to America, the Dutch demanded to interview all of the Swiss people to see if they did, in fact, want to go to America. These Anabaptists were political prisoners and the Dutch would have no part in allowing political prisoners to pass through their territory. Most of the Anabaptists were released, though a few did go on to North Carolina.
In England, early in the 1600's, some men wanted to reform the established (Anglican) Church. One man, John Smythe, decided the easiest thing to do was to break with the Church of England. The clearest way of doing this was to switch to adult baptism instead of infant baptism. Several other similar groups sprang up also. They generally shared a belief in the separation of Church and State, freedom of religion, and in a congregational form of government. Out of these movements, came the churches we know as the Baptists. They had no set policy on baptismal records, and were more inclined to keep membership rolls, where baptism may have been the route of entry into the congregation, but was not the only way.
All of the churches that practiced adult baptism generally did not practice confirmation. Confirmation had arisen as a counterfoil to infant baptism, to involve the young adult in the visible act of joining the church (and of being educated). In the Anabaptist churches, joining the church (baptism) was done as a youth or young adult. There was no need for a separate rite.
I dwell on the Anabaptists a little more than the general topic of baptismal records would seem to justify. I wanted to emphasize, because it is little known, how the Anabaptists did interact some with the Germanna colonists, who seem to be Lutheran and Reformed.
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.