I am not sure if everyone knows this, but the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints have Family History Centers that are open and available for anyone and everyone to go in and do research for their family lines. I work with the Family History Directors in our area. We are trying to get the word out to everyone that they are WELCOME to come in to the centers. The service is FREE. The facility is FREE. Often the FHC's have classes available or conferences and they are absolutely FREE also.
Family History research has changed over the years. When I started researching my lines, I needed to write tons of letters and make many trips to the Family History Center in my area. I ordered tons of microfilm and microfiche (at a price) to search records desperate to find my family. Today, the Internet has changed all of that. Through the Indexing program with the Church, millions of pages of these same microfilm and microfiche are being digiatlized and indexed to make research so much easier. The LDS church has also provided a website completely FREE to everyone. That helps us not only search for our ancestors but there are FREE classes available for just about every country/subject you may wish to know to assist with this research. You can watch the training videos as often as you want, you can do your research any time of the day (or night), and you can get tons of online help through the Forums and other programs on the site.
The Family History Centers on my area are providing classes once a month in several topics to teach patrons how to use this FREE program (FamilySearch), how to organized their information, and how to use some of the many free websites on the Internet. Check to see what's going on at your Family History Center. You can locate the nearest center to you at the FamilySearch website.
If you are hunting for your ancestors and have not been to a Family History Center in your area, you should really go see what is available and have them help you get started with all of the FREE services available to you on the FamilySearch website.
Check it out www.familysearch.org
