Resources available for beginning family historians

Chris Baird

r Are you thinking of exploring your family history but don’t know where to start? No worries. There are many resources available to you.rThere are family history centers where you can go to use the computers and get personal help. Southern Utah County locations include Springville, Spanish Fork, Mapleton and Payson.

FamilySearch has multiple free webinars on getting started and also on specific research challenges and subjects. Visit https://familysearch.org/ask/gettingStarted to find great information and step-by-step instructions to help you begin your journey through time. In the top right corner of the page is a tab labeled “Get Help.” When you click on it, you will see these choices: Help Center, Getting Started, Contact Us, Learning Center, Research Wiki and What’s New. Clicking on Contact Us will show you the closest family history centers to you where you can get free help. On the same page, you can email family history questions to experts in Salt Lake, chat live with a person about your family or call and speak with someone who can help you.

There is also the Wiki on FamilySearch that is a guide to research in specific regions and is organized by country, state or province, county and municipality. If you want to know what records are available in a certain time and place, type the place in the search bar and explore what is there. This free information is available at https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/Main_Page.

The Utah Genealogical Society sponsors free monthly webinars on many family history subjects. The next one is “Discovering ‘The Family History Guide’” by James Tanner on Thursday, April 20, at 7 p.m. Go to ugavirtualchapter@gmail.com to register.

Brigham Young University has free classes on a variety of genealogical subjects on the second and fourth Sundays of the month starting at 3 p.m. in the Family History Center located on the second floor of the Harold B. Lee Library. There are also webinars and YouTube classes available at https://sites.lib.byu.edu/familyhistory/classes-and-webinars/.

Most stakes have annual Family Discovery Days that are free and open to the public. There are classes and sometimes personal consultations are offered.

Genealogical conferences are also a good place to learn. The South Davis Family History Fair on April 22 has a beginner’s track and more than 75 classes including some for more advanced researchers and region-specific classes for those with family in Germany, Scandinavia, England or Ireland. To register, go to fair.ugagenealogy.org.

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