Tending to the family tree

For those of you who have an interest in your ancestry and family trees, this link might be of interest.

Computers and the Internet are helping to make genealogy one of the fastest growing hobbies in the world....

“Members of the LDS church believe families are eternal, so all our vast work of family history is directed toward binding families together for the eternities. There are many people in the community who don’t have that same goal, but are very interested in discovering who their ancestors are....“The church has always been very interested and involved in humanitarian efforts within the community. Helping everyone learn more about their family history, whether they’re church members or not, is part of that community involvement.”

... information can be accessed via Family Search, LDS’s genealogy Web site. It’s available by going to http://www.LDS.org and clicking on the Family Search icon on the main menu. “The future of genealogy is to take it out of libraries and places like this and move it to your home,” Roberts said. “There is currently a five-year project under way to convert all the microfilm and microfiche in Granite Mountain to digital....“Right now the information contained in Granite Mountain is said to equal the content of more than 130 Libraries of Congress.”

Technological advances
Roberts said the technology associated with genealogy has advanced tremendously in the last few years. He largely credits this to the increase in computer capacity, both in processing power and storage ability.
But the long-held computer axiom “garbage in, garbage out” still applies. The upcoming conference has classes designed to help beginners avoid frustration and get quick results.
“We’ll have a class called Basic Genealogy 101, which teaches you how to do basic research and what kinds of things you should be looking for,” Roberts said. “It tells about the importance of having evidence, such as birth certificates, and how to go about finding that evidence.
“We’re going to have some areas that are geared toward teenagers. We believe it’s extremely important to involve our children in our family history, because they’re the ones who will be passing the information on to future generations.
“There will be a class on oral history, and another on how to use land records to find information. We also have a class called Research Resources, which will be presented by Margaret O’Brien, who is with the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society.” (click on the link for more info)