BAKER — The Baker Block Museum on Friday will host free Family History Workshops conducted by volunteers with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Residents can learn how to delve into their families’ histories, climbing the family tree while unraveling relationships, clarifying fuzzy recollections and finding links to their ancestry.
The museum’s research library holds accreditation from the Mormon church, which is world-renowned for its expertise in genealogy, museum Director Ann Spann said.
“We’ve really been able to help people see family members not as name on a page but as a real person, and that’s thrilling,” Sister Chambers, a Mormon missionary and museum volunteer, said. Church rules do not allow her to use her first name, she said.
Chambers and her partner, Sister Grady, will conduct Friday’s one-hour workshops, showing participants how to use FamilySearch.org.
“They’ll learn about new features for sharing photos and documents. There are also features for collaboration so you can share your research with long-lost cousins who are also doing research,” said Chambers.
FamilySearch.org is a free service of the Mormon church.
“We want to be able to help anyone find their family and where they came from,” Chambers said.
The website’s database includes immigration records, census reports, naturalization records, birth and death certificates, and residency records.
“You can also see an image of the original documents,” Chambers said.
“It’s really fun when you find that one piece that connects what you do know to what you don’t know,” Chambers said. “We did that with someone the other day and this light bulb came on.
"They were so excited because they found something about their family they never knew before.”
WANT TO GO?
WHAT: Family history workshops
WHEN: 11 a.m., noon, 1 p.m. and 2 p.m. June 27
WHERE: Baker Block Museum library, 1307B Georgia Ave. (State Road 4)
NOTES: Volunteers will teach attendees how to research their family histories using resources including FamilySearch.org
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes at brianh@crestviewbulletin.com, follow him on Twitter @cnbBrian or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Family history workshops teach residents how to use resources