| LDS Family History Centers |
One of the first places to begin genealogy research is the Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as Mormans). They have the largest single collection of genealogical data in the world. Family History Centers (FHCs) are branches of the Salt Lake City Family History Library. They can be found all over the world and are located near or inside buildings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). FHCs are open free to the public and run on a nonprofit basis by volunteers.
To find one near you, look in your local phonebook for a church and call. Or check out the web site address listed below. Size and hours of each FHC vary. As they are branches of Salt Lake's Family History (Genealogy) Library, they have the index to all genealogical items there. That index is called the FHLC or Family History Library Catalog. It contains two main sections.
The first section consists of authors, surnames, and subjects of genealogy books. You could look up an ancestor's last name and see if a book had been written about his family and donated to the library. You could also look up a subject such as "Mayflower Descendants" and find what books were written about it.
The second section of the FHLC is the Locality Catalog. All kinds of records with genealogical value have been microfilmed. For instance, in any FHC you could look up "Virginia" in the Locality Catalog and see what kinds of records have been microfilmed from there. Records such as birth, marriage, church, probate, land, military, Bible, and more would be listed. Then you can order those records from Salt Lake City's Family History Library on a temporary, rental basis to use in your FHC for a small shipping and handling fee of about $3. They will be kept at your local FHC for about three weeks (longer times are available) for you to come view on microfilm or microfiche.
Countries that have let the LDS Church come in and microfilm records are accessible just as easily at your local FHC. You can look up German, English, Canadian, Hungarian, and many other records. The FHLC is on microfiche and also CD-ROM for FHCs equipped with computers.
The Library has compiled and catalogued data on well over 10 million families and over 60 million names can be found in the International Genealogical Index or "IGI".
The International Genealogical Index (IGI) consists solely of names with birth or marriage information (and children or parent names, in some cases). You can look up an ancestor's name and see if it has been previously researched and submitted. If you find the name listed, you can save hours of research. Along with the name will be birth or marriage information and a place that event took place. This file is available on microfiche or CD-ROM.
You can conduct a CD-ROM search from the Military Death Index. This government-created file lists people who died either in the Korean or Vietnam Wars. If you find a name here, you can get some more information about them. This index was released into the public domain by the U.S. Government.
Other indexes are available as you look for your ancestors. The Family Registry can be very helpful. This fiche file consists of names people are working on and a registry of family organizations or of people wanting to start one. For example, if you wish to have contact with all the people named "Smith," you could look for a listing for a family organization here. If you are looking for a specific person such as John Smith, born in Australia in 1875, you could also search for him. Contributions to this file were free, but the file is not going to be released anymore as names are going to be listed in the Ancestral File in the future. (The last edition just reached family history centers.)
Another microfiche file found in many FHCs is the Accelerated Indexing Systems (AIS). This is a census index for the United States. If you have an ancestor who lived in the U.S., but you have no idea in which state, looking on this microfiche file could help. If you find his name, you will get a census place, year, and even page number. The census film could then be ordered from the FHC, if desired. The AIS is particularly useful for finding people who lived in the mid-1800s, but census years from 1906 (and some mortality schedules) and earlier are listed.
Another large database is the Ancestral File. It can be obtained on CD-ROM. This is a good place to start on your first visit to an FHC. It consists of pedigree charts and group sheets on millions of names. If your ancestor is here, you can get descendants' addresses and their pedigree charts. Keep in mind that this is only an "opinion" file. These charts were donated by others -- they are only as accurate as the submitters who wrote them. A new feature has been added where you can submit corrections to this index which then appear on a future update.
!!GOOD NEWS!! The LDS now has a WEB SITE with searchable on-line databases, which include the "IGI", Ancestral Files and links to many other searchable databases at:
Main Library:
The Family History Library of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
35 N. West Temple Street
Salt Lake City, Utah 84150
USA
http://lds.miningco.com/msub15.htm.
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