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20 April 2006 -
Thursday
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Our plan for today was
to visit the Mecca for all family historians - the world renowned Family
History Library. Not knowing what
we would encounter by going into the
downtown of a large city like Salt lake we were relieved to find that driving
was not difficult and there is ample
parking near the facility.
Tom & Fred at the Family History Library Upon our arrival we
took the opportunity to view an orientation film. Most of its content dealt with the basics of starting your own
family genealogy and as such was not quite what we were looking for in the
way of orientation to the collection itself. The library has copies of
records from many governments, churches, and other organizations. Most documents date from 1550 to
1930. There are more than 2.4 million
rolls of microfilmed records and more that 700,000 microfiche. Books and periodicals at the Family
History Library include biographies, family and local histories, indexes, and
other research aids. With the
exception of a lunch break we spent almost seven hours becoming acclimated
with the awesome collection of genealogical resources. So many questions to be answered and so
little time! We had hoped to add some
more information to our quest to answer the aforementioned Scruggs DNA
mystery. As such we spent several
hours looking |
at books and microfilm pertaining to land records in
Virginia. We were pleasantly
surprised how smoothly our research was proceeding. This was primarily due to the many volunteers available to
provide assistance as well as the fact that there were more than enough
computers and microfilm machines for everyone. In addition, the library catalogue was easy to use and the
numbering system simple to comprehend.
Fred spent over two hours of research on his paternal family by
reviewing microfilm of tax assessments in Windsor Twp., York Co.,
Pennsylvania. Tom also spent time
looking into immigration records for his Paternal ancestors. Sometime after 4:00
pm we departed the library and returned to Pat & Sue’s home a driving
time of less than 30 minutes. We are
indeed lucky to have relatives living so close to this outstanding
resource. Before dinner we spread
our genealogy materials on the kitchen table in preparation of an evening of
more swapping of information. After
dinner Tom downloaded all of the information we had collected thus far onto
our host’s computer. He also
developed direct links for them to our online databases and website. Soon we had completed another busy and
productive day.
Tom introduces Sue & Pat to our Family History Website |
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