The annual conference of the NSW & ACT Association of Family History Societies, held in September in Port Macquarie, included presentations by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about FamilySearch.
FamilySearch is a free online service designed to help individuals discover and organize information about their ancestors and extended families.
The three-day conference began with a family history fair, which was attended by an estimated 300 people. The FamilySearch booth sponsored by the Church fielded questions ranging from “Who are you?” to “How can I find my Irish grandmother’s marriage record?” Rather than finding answers for the attendees, experts focused on teaching them how to find answers themselves. The booth was manned by local Church members, who were kept busy throughout the day.
Six speakers representing major family history organisations made presentations the second day. Paul Parton from the Church spoke on “A Journey of Discovery using FamilySearch.”
He showed 200 listeners how to extend ancestral lines using three search techniques available in FamilySearch: Simple Search, which identifies an individual in a village, Filtered Search, which finds siblings of that individual, and Batch or Digital File Search which identifies all the individuals of a given surname in the village or parish covered. The demonstration added three generations to one person’s ancestral line.
To learn more about FamilySearch and/or create a free account click here.