Desert Messenger

November 1, 2017 www.DesertMessenger.com 19 ����� | S������ RAIN G�����-B��� By Shanana Rain Golden-Bear The Quartzsite Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints invites residents and visitors to enjoy free access to its Family Research resources and services Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am -1pm. Colleen Clyde, the director, suggests folks come in before noon to get started, so there will be plenty of time. Mrs. Clyde works with four other volunteers who will help guide you through the maze of programs available. FamilySearch is a genealogy organization operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was previ- ously known as the Genealogical Society of Utah (or "GSU") and is the largest genealogy organization in the world. The church also maintains mem- berships with other family research sites including Ancestry, MyHer- itage, Find My Past, etc. FamilySearch maintains a collection of records, resources, and services designed to help people learn more about their family history. FamilySe- arch gathers, preserves, and shares genealogical records worldwide. It offers free access to its resources and service online at FamilySearch.org, one of the most heavily used gene- alogy sites on the Internet. In addi- tion, FamilySearch offers personal assistance at more than 4,500 fam- ily history centers in 70 countries, including the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the search section of familyse- arch.org anyone can search for re- cords of an ancestor. Use of the Family Tree section requires a (free) registered account. The Family Tree section allows users to collaborate on a single, shared, worldwide fami- ly tree (currently with about a billion names.) The resource is maintained to support the process of obtaining names and other genealogical in- formation so that Latter-day Saints can perform temple ordinances for their kindred dead. Local director Mrs. Clyde said, "I've always wanted to get into fam- ily history, from a very early age, but I worked. So now that I'm retired, I can fi nally really get into it". The church has designated three LDS offers Family Search services | S������ RAIN G�����-B��� rooms which are available for re- search, equipped with seven com- puters, a micro-fi lm reader and mi- cro-fi sh reader, indexing fi les, with a printer. Indexing is a popular hobby, with millions of people around the world inputting data, such as marriage or death certifi cates, etc. Indexing makes records searchable Online. When you index you help connect families by typing up historical doc- uments so they can be published online. The FamilySearch.org website of- fers free access to digital images of genealogical records. These images can be searched along with a num- ber of databases. FamilySearch.org also contains the catalog of the Fam- ily History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. The library holds genealogical records for over 110 countries, ter- ritories, and possessions, including over 2.4 million rolls of microfi lmed genealogical records; 742,000 mi- crofi che; 310,000 books, serials, and other formats; and 4,500 pe- riodicals. FamilySearch also offers research help through the Fam- ily History Research Wiki, Forums, digitized books, and online free family history courses through the Learning Centre. The FamilySearch.org website has recently added support for mobile platforms with two new apps: Famil- ySearch Tree App and the FamilySe- arch Memories App. Currently both of these apps provide support for iOS and Android and are available in 10 different languages. Both of these apps are available to download for free. These technologies allow the user to look up their own family his- tory and archive stories and photos onto their servers for free. The church is open for family re- search on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9am-1pm. The Church is located at 455 S. Riggles Ave. Quartzsite. To learn more about researching your family history, contact Colleen Clyde at 805-368-7657, or 928-927-4110.

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