A visit to Salt Lake City - Part 4 - Orlando / Florida Guide
Florida Guide > Travelling
On our second day in Salt Lake City we were keen to visit the Family Search Center and the Family History Library.
The Family Search Center is situated in the Joseph Smith Memorial building which can be found on the south east corner of Temple Square. This is a beautiful building housing elegant banqueting rooms often used to celebrate weddings and other speci occasions. The tenth floor is home to The Roof and The Garden restaurants, both open to the public, and a cafe and gift shop can be found at lobby level.
The Family Search Center is situated on the lower ground floor. The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints believe very much in the foundations of family and believe that tracing lineage is necessary for special religious ceremonies that seal family units together for eternity.
In the Family Search Center volunteers will help you to start your family search, they will log you on to one of the many computers and show you how to start looking for your ancestors. As well as having access to the Family Search website you can also gain free access to sites which in other circumstances you would have to pay to use, such as Ancestry and Find my Past. There are limits to how far the volunteers are able to help, some are more knowledgeable than others but if you come up against a brick wall then you may be directed to the Family History Library.
There are some fascinating exhibits on display and one such family tree spawns, over several generations, three US Presidents and a UK Prime Minister. Also in the Family Search Center you can have your photograph taken against the backdrop of the New York docks, posing as a new immigrant arriving in the country. The photograph is presented as a sepia image and emailed to you free of charge.
We had a very reasonably priced lunch at Nauvoo Cafe on the lobby level before strolling, once again, through the beautiful gardens of Temple Square and over to the Family History Library. This building houses the largest collection of genealogical records in the world, millions of entries on microfiche, microfilm and in publications as well as access to several genealogical websites via the many computer terminals available. The library houses records from countries all over the world including the UK and other European countries, with the majority of records covering people who were born prior to 1930. You can access the Family Search catalogue free of charge at familysearch. org.
The library is staffed by a combination of volunteers and professionals. The young lady who assisted myself and my sister was a qualified genealogist, she knew exactly where to look in order to further our search, and it was amazing to be able to view our grandparents marriage certificate, on microfiche, thousands of miles away from home.
We had a fascinating couple of hours researching our family tree and literally had to be praised away having managed to trace one branch of the family back to the late 1800' s.
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