Free the Best Price Ever!



The Value of the local Family History Center

Do you have a local Family History Center by you?
There is a great valuable resource for family history enthusiasts, hidden in the local Family History Centers throughout the world.  According to FamilySearch.org, “As of April 2011, there were more than 4,600 FSCs in 134 countries.”(1)  The Centers are free and most are located in LDS Church houses, but you do not have to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to use the centers.    You may find a local center here:  https://familysearch.org/locations/

 “Family History Centers are locally operated and supervised. The facilities and resources of the centers differ by location, and range from small, ‘Computer-only’ facilities that do not circulate film and are open only a few hours a week, to large centers open typical business hours with dozens of volunteers, computers, digital film readers, scanners, and printers to support the patrons’ use of extensive collections of books, periodicals, maps, microfilm and microfiche.”(2)

Many of the Family History Centers have Wiki pages and they can be accessed here: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Category:Family_History_Centers
These Wiki pages will give you contact information for the Centers, hours of operation, schedules, and any other useful information pertaining to their local center.   The Center Wiki pages will also describe and have schedules for any classes, training, conferences, seminars and local family history fairs. 
Each center is staffed by volunteers and so the knowledge of the staff will vary extensively.

 “Family History Center staff can show you how to use the center’s resources. To make your visit most effective, collect and organize the information you already have. Bring as much information as you have about the ancestor you wish to research, including available birth, marriage and death information.”(3)
In addition to staff assistance, the centers offer the ability to order microfilm and microfiche.  The

Centers also offer free access to the following subscription websites :(4)
    19th Century British Newspapers
    Newspaper Archives
    Alexander Street Press (American Civil War Collections)
    Ancestry.com (Family History Library Edition)
    ArkivDigital Online
    FindMyPast
    Fold3.com
    The Genealogist
    Godfrey Memorial Library
    HeritageQuest Online
    Historic Map Works (Library Edition)
    Origins.net
    Paper Trail, A Guide to Overland Pioneer Names and Documents
    WorldVitalRecords.com
So rather than traveling to the Salt Lake Family History Library; try your local Family History Center to get started on your family history.

Sources:
(1)    Family Search.org., Wiki, “ Introduction to LDS Family History Centers”, accessed 8/7/2014 online at: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Introduction_to_LDS_Family_History_Centers
(2)    Family Search.org., Wiki, “ Visiting a FamilySearch Center”, accessed 8/7/2014 online at: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Introduction_to_LDS_Family_History_Centers
(3)    Family Search.org., Wiki, “ One-on-one assistance”, accessed 8/7/2014 online at: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Introduction_to_LDS_Family_History_Centers
(4)    Family Search.org., Wiki, “ Genealogical Records”, accessed 8/7/2014 online at: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Introduction_to_LDS_Family_History_Centers

Comments

  1. AdamApril 22, 2015 at 8:40 PM

    The Family History Center here in Northwest Arkansas just moved, and I made my first visit last week. It is now bigger and has more microfilm machines and a bigger staff. Everyone was very helpful, and I'm excited to make more trips!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walking Where They Walked: Park Hotel

Image
Park Hotel, Rock Springs, Wyoming, September 2013, RR&B 19 Elk Street, Rock Springs, Sweetwater, Wyoming The Park Hotel opened in 1914 and was the hub of Western Wyoming until the late 1950’s. It was the largest and most modern hotel in the city. Advertisements boasted of hot and cold water in each of its 38 rooms, twenty of which had private baths and toilets. The fourth floor was added in the 1920’s. The Park Hotel catered to commercial men and automobile tourists traveling the Lincoln Highway. The hotel had a boisterous barroom and a sedate restaurant with sparking white table cloths. Rock Springs Miner, 30 January 1914, page 1, Wyoming Newspaper Project online. One memory of the Park Hotel, is related by Thomas P. Cullen, “One summer afternoon while walking up Elk Street toward the C Street Crossing, my attention was drawn to the small crowd assembled near the north end of the Park Hotel. A slight man, of short stature, stood rolling up his pantlegs
Read more

What is a mortcloth?

A mortcloth, or pall, is a funeral cloth used to cover a coffin in the funeral ceremony or the deceased prior to burial.   The deceased’s family usually rented a mortcloth from the local church and after each use, the fabric was washed and readied for use again.   The word comes from the Latin word “pallium” meaning cloak. The Mortcloth case of 1792 begins:   “ For many centuries, and probably up to the 20th, the Church of Scotland was the sole supplier of mortcloths.   As the name would suggest, they were cloths used to cover the dead prior to burial, and after use, were washed ready for rehire. The Church hired these for a few pence, or in some cases loaned out these cloths, until the time of the funeral. The revenue raised by this service, typically around £40 pa, was distributed to the poor of the parish at frequent intervals.”   In the late 1780’s a local Society of Colliers decided to purchase and rent out their own mortcloths preventing the local church from making re
Read more

Bagillt, Flintshire, Wales

Image
Bagillt, Flintshire, Wales (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bagillt) The parish of Bagillt was gazetted on 23 May 1844, having been created from the townships of Bagillt Fawr, Bagillt Fechan, Coleshill Fawr and Coleshill Fechan, which were formerly in the parish of Holywell. It is located in the Northern part of Wales. (Genuki, http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/wal/FLN/Bagillt/index.html)   The 1841 British Census finds Margaret(2) Roberts, aged four years living with her parents and siblings in Bagillt, Flintshire, Wales. In 1831, J. Poole penned: "Bagillt is a bustling place, and will continue so, as long as her smelting and coal works go on in their present prosperous state. Well conducted boats go from this place to Chester every day; with a favorable wind, these little barks make the 17 or 18 miles in little more than two hours."   (J. Poole, Gleanings of the histories of Holywell, Flint, St. Asaph and Rhuddlan, 1831 as qtd.  in http://www.genuki.org.uk/
Read more