Genealogy and How Should I Use the Salt Lake City Archives?

[Kim (skyking4ar2) Bertram]

Last year, I had expected to be farther along in my genealogy pursuits, knowing that we would be in Salt Lake City after the Moab Forum rally, but was pretty unprepared. Then we had a new coach delivered so that shot that time pretty much.

This year, I have done some extensive work on the tree and its many branches and would like to know from others how to maximize my research time when we go through SLC again this year.

What different pieces should I count on to locate in SLC that I cannot access online and what tips can experienced searchers pass along to a neophyte. At this stage, I am still gathering the low hanging fruit, but have a couple of stops in the tree that I need to push through.

Any advice will be helpful.  ;D

 

[Chet18013]

Allow yourself at least one week at SLC. The amount of information there is mind boggling. They have classes there to teach you how to use the archives. Sign up for a class as soon as you walk in the door. There are always numerous volunteers there to help you with your research and assist you in looking up names and sources.

Enjoy your search and I hope you find out many interesting things, as we did in our visit to SLC.

We spent a full week there and are planning on another one in the near future.

 

[Kim (skyking4ar2) Bertram]

Regrettably, we won't have the luxury of a full week and that's another reason to economize the time.

The class tip is worthwhile and it will be important for me to have my list of "must have" information when I get there. What I don't know is the scope of what they have and how that will benefit me, hence the Forum question.

 

[Hfx_Cdn]

    Kim, sorry to say "told you so", the first advice is to go to the Main LDS Library at Temple Square, they have 5 floors of books, film, computer access, and HUNDREDS of willing helpers, including professional genealogist on site. 
    Next, I would suggest that you look at their extensive library of books, most of which have indexes.  Go prepared with a few new USB sticks/thumb drive, do not print or copy anything, copy it all to the stick.  Bring you own laptop if you have one, that saves time too.
    Donna would bring a lunch, and go from 8:30 AM to about 7/7:30 PM every day, other than Sunday as the Center is closed Sundays.  FWIW everything you got up at Brigham City can be obtained at any LDS Research Center, which is a lot, but nowhere near what is available at the main Center.

Hope that helps Kim, let me know how you make out.

Ed

 

[Kim (skyking4ar2) Bertram]

        Next, I would suggest that you look at their extensive library of books, most of which have indexes.  Go prepared with a few new USB sticks/thumb drive, do not print or copy anything, copy it all to the stick.  Bring you own laptop if you have one, that saves time too.
   

Are we saying that I can lift electronically anything I find to continue my research at my leisure? or to add to my collection of artifacts and sources?

 

[Chet18013]

Are we saying that I can lift electronically anything I find to continue my research at my leisure? or to add to my collection of artifacts and sources?

You can plug a USB drive into their computers. We took our laptop in with a portable flatbed scanner (you can buy one for less than $100) and scanned much of the material we wanted.

 

[Hfx_Cdn]

    Kim, when we were there last year they were working hard to electronically copy all of their books, but if memory serves my right, it is a multy year project.  So, yes you are correct, they have/had lots of hard books that are not available on line or via film, but that is as at May 2012, the last time we were there.  For my own research, they had people available to read Russian/Lithuanian documents, unfortunately they didn't contain any info for my families.

Ed

 

[Kim (skyking4ar2) Bertram]

My scanner is quite portable and the overall footprint is the same as my laptop, so that's a plus! I would have been doing fine since the research I need will be in the German records until we uncovered that my son-in-law is not "Acadian" Cajun but actually "French" Cajun, i.e. his family emigrated directly from France through Quebec, not Acadia.

The stories are interesting, especially when you can corroborate them with other documentation, which we hope to find in SLC.

 

[Hfx_Cdn]

    All the Quebec records will be in French unless you can find any Canadian records such as census which would then be available in both English or French.  If they didn't come through the Maritimes, then he isn't a Cajun, as you need to an Acadian which was localized as Cajun.  Enjoy your trip, Donna is envious of you since we won't be heading near a research center this year, however, she may try to go to the Canadian Archives when we visit the kids in Ottawa.

Ed

 

[Kim (skyking4ar2) Bertram]

      If they didn't come through the Maritimes, then he isn't a Cajun, as you need to an Acadian which was localized as Cajun. 
Ed

Ed,

You can make that distinction technically, but not locally. The families have inter-married for over 200 years and the distinction is often lost until you hear the difference in the French accents.

We are all outsiders to them.

 

[Hfx_Cdn]

    When you do get to come to the Maritimes next year you will visit a place called Grand Pre, it is where the Acadian Expulsion occurred.  You will also find that predominantly Quebecers and Acadians came from different areas of France, and are a very different group sharing only a common language.  But that's another trip to enjoy!.

Ed

 

[camperAL]

Greetings all,

Not to detract from the OP but.....  this might be useful to many.

Besides the SLC genealogy resources (think this is the largest in the country) the second largest (I've been told) is the Fort Wayne, Indiana genealogy section of the Fort Wayne Library. Might give people another resource that might not be known about. Plus closer for people in the midwest and eastern US. Best and good luck in your search.

 

[Hfx_Cdn]

    TheFort Wayne facility called the Allen County Library is indeed a treasure, but they are totally different types of research facilities, each with their own good and poor points.  What makes the Allen Co Library so special is that it is virtually city/county financed.  We stayed at a nice municiple campground call Johny Appleseed Park, about a 10 minute drive to the library.

Ed

 

[Molaker]

One thing I would caution researchers on LDS data is much of the data is unsubstantiated data submitted by individuals.  Specifically, any family trees you might find your treasures in must be used for reference only and thoroughly verified.  One of the LDS beliefs is that deceased individuals may be prayed into heaven (simplistic view).  This encourages LDS members to gather ancestor names so they may be prayed into heaven.  For the most part, these "collections" have been submitted to the LDS library with no validation.  Accuracy was/is not the foremost goal.

My DW and I have done a lot of genealogy research and when we first started, we began with what we already knew and what our parents and close kin had always told us, a typical start.  Over the years, some of this information was proven incorrect.  For example, my mother told me her grand parents had lived in Chillicothe, Mo.  When we got into it seriously, it made no sense.  Finally, we found it was Chillicothe, Ohio, which helped to solve a lot of questions.  But, here's my point...a family member who is LDS asked us for family tree information back before we found the error in Chillicothe.  That information wound up in the LDS library.  To this day, 40 years later, the "fact" that my mother's grand parents lived in Chillicothe, Mo. can still be found in the LDS data.

Use all data, including LDS data, for reference only until it meets reasonable verification standards.  If you don't know what these standards are, then there is a good place to start your genealogy education.

One last thing...many LDS "Stake" houses (local churches) have a genealogy department with direct access to the main LDS library.  Much of the data one might seek from Salt Lake City is available through these stake houses.  There are likely several near where you live and finding a local LDS member might gain you access to one of these library access points.

 

[Jim Godward]

One last thing...many LDS "Stake" houses (local churches) have a genealogy department with direct access to the main LDS library.  Much of the data one might seek from Salt Lake City is available through these stake houses.  There are likely several near where you live and finding a local LDS member might gain you access to one of these library access points.

I'll second everything Molaker has said.  Verify, verify and verify again if possible. There is a book I was given called, Evidence! Citation and analysis for the family historian by Elizabeth Shown Mills.  I found it to be an excellent primer in my search for ancestors.

To add what Molaker said about the local Stakes, I have found that if you call them, they will tell you the location and hours of the facility for family research. Many do require a short orientation before they let you loose and some require you have one of the volunteers aid you.  I also found that many times the volunteer I was working with was not LDS. 

 

[ArdraF]

One thing I would caution researchers on LDS data is much of the data is unsubstantiated data submitted by individuals.

This an understatement.  We have an example on Jerry's side where a young lady married into the family, got all excited about the family, and submitted the family tree to Ancestry.com.  When the other "real" genealogists saw it they went ballistic because it was so full of errors and misinformation.  They tried to have it removed so the errors wouldn't be compounded to no avail.  So years from now people will be using this person's bad information.  Another example has nothing to do with the LDS site.  A person in a branch of my family put his tree on the internet.  He had my nephew as his father's father - two generations off!  I told him to cease and desist because it was so bad.  If people aren't willing to check their facts, they certainly shouldn't be publishing it for all the world to use.  JMTCW!

ArdraF