Anyone know what's generally available at the LDS centers? (American, find, search)
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I've been once -- and frankly, it wasn't a great experience. There was a lady who looked like she wanted to rap everyone with a ruler.... she was pretty unpleasant.
But that was before I was really into genealogy -- and now I'm curious as to what they have. For me, the website is of little use. Anyone been there?
We were there last year, spent 3 days researching and touring. They were very helpful, but most everything they have is on Ancestry. When you're looking up information, their web site directs you to Ancestry. I'd locve to see their mountain vault where they have everything stored underground. It's suppose to contain even more information, but it's off limits to visitors.
Enjoyed our stay and visiting around the area. Saw the Tabernacle Choir rehearse across the street from the library. People were very friendly and most helpful. We were impressed. No complaints.
I've been once -- and frankly, it wasn't a great experience. There was a lady who looked like she wanted to rap everyone with a ruler.... she was pretty unpleasant.
But that was before I was really into genealogy -- and now I'm curious as to what they have. For me, the website is of little use. Anyone been there?
Ive never been to the LSD..but I do know..they record every birth in the world..Dont know how they do it..but they have genealogy for free.
I heard they were the best to go thru..
Im not a mormon..but they are amazing
I use their family records search site for free access to census images. They also have information from old marriage and birth records, it's all referenced so I feel pretty good about it. I'd be careful about the family trees though. I've got a couple of extended family members who are mormon and gifted me with a large collection that I've found a number of errors with. Seems that when you're researching your family tree for religious purposes there is a temptation to, ah, edit a bit. An example: one of my great-grandfathers was an unclaimed bastard with his mother's last name. I have solid documentation of it. But in the LDS records he has imaginary ancestors, it doesn't even look like someone made an honest error - more like they found what I found and couldn't stand the idea of their church friends knowing and just made a bunch of stuff up.
I used to use the LDS center at Kensington, Maryland quite often and found it to be an extremely valuable genealogical resource. Back then (some fifteen years ago), supposedly you had access to almost everything that could be found at Salt Lake City accept you may have to wait to get it via interlibrary loan. The LDS has an incredible collection of American and family history and I say this having also spent many hours at the Library of Congress, another extraordinary genealogical resource.
An example: one of my great-grandfathers was an unclaimed bastard with his mother's last name. I have solid documentation of it. But in the LDS records he has imaginary ancestors, it doesn't even look like someone made an honest error - more like they found what I found and couldn't stand the idea of their church friends knowing and just made a bunch of stuff up.
The LDS Church makes every effort to keep accurate records and to make them available free of charge to any interested party. Your comment was unfair in my opinion.
I think I should phrase it more like this -- since my family comes from an area of PA where it was simply easier to hop over the mountain to Cumberland MD to get married where there was no waiting period, would the LDS center have access to marriage records from the Maryland Archives or will it just be records that others donate or the stuff I can get off Ancestry?
Since I have no dates I will have to use the needle in haystack method of finding stuff....
What you will find at a Family History Center at a LDS church will vary. As will the people there to help you. They're all volunteers, so you get what you get. What you'll find there, usually, are general book resources, probably more of the local area than of elsewhere. Their major collection will be their microfilm records. These are films that patrons have, in the past, paid the fee, and had brought in to the local center. If space there is not an issue, the patron may have paid -- or even the center may have paid -- extra to have the film left there permanently. Where I live, there are numerous FHCs. Each one kind of specializes in different areas, rather than each one trying to have some of everything.
They'll have computers there that will connect you to their many databases. Most of that is all available online, now. There website is VERY helpful, but you must be aware of what you're using. Their compiled lineages (the Ancestral File) is not a very good source. Contrary to what was stated above, the church makes NO attempt to make sure the information is correct. Once someone submits information to the database, they will not take it out or correct it. They will only take what you believe to be the correct information, and add it to the database. BUT, there are many, many databases of abstracted information. And a growing effort has been made to provide digitized images of those records. They're a great source for death certificates from many states.
Their library database will tell you what records exist for the locality in which you're searching. It will tell you if there have been genealogies published for the family you're searching. Via a link to the BYU library, you can access a hundreds (thousands?) of digitized genealogies online, through the FamilySearch website. If you find microfilm in the library catalog that you want to look at, but it's not held in the local FHC, you can pay a fee to have it brought in there, for you to read through.
It's a labor intensive thing to do, but it's the way we did genealogy for decades, before the internet, and still need to do. Not everything is on the internet.
^
True, they don't verify. But they have some good information that is helpful.
And yes, there is still a lot in books that has not been digitized. I found confirmation of a maiden name in a library book in Tennessee about a year ago for an ancestor from New Hampshire. The information was nowhere online, and still isn't.
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