OHFAIRFI-L Archives

From: Carol Swinehart <>
Subject: [OHFAIRFI-L] You will want to read this LDS online
Date: Sun, 07 Mar 1999 15:48:01 -0500

This was found at http://www.msnbc.com/news/246411.asp

I personally was concerned they were going to "blow up" their system before
they really got it up and running. I guess they were also. When I find
out when the testing is over and the site is up and running I will forward
that information to the list.

THE NEW WEB SITE (www.familysearch.org) won't officially
launch until mid-April, but it is expected to "go live" for testing any day
now. Church officials originally planned to leave the site open to all during
he test period. But for fear of being swamped, they now may limit access to
official testers with assigned passwords. The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints collects genealogical records of all kinds because the
Mormons believe it is important to perform religious rites on behalf of
dead ancestors. It has the world's largest collection of such data.
Genealogy is one of the most popular subjects on the Internet. As more
information goes online, it seems to create more genealogists. About 100
million Americans have at least dabbled in it, and 19 million actively
research their family history, according to a 1995 Maritz Marketing
Research study for American Demographics magazine.
Rootsweb (www.rootsweb.org) has more than 200,000 subscribers to
3,000 e-mail lists about genealogy. The number of subscribers is growing
rapidly, according to John V. Wylie, a professional genealogist from
Grand Prairie, Texas. Wylie is a co-founder of GENTECH (www.gentech.org),
a non-profit society to help genealogists use technology. Mormon Church
officials are vague about what Web surfers can
expect to find on their new site, but that hasn't dampened genealogists'
enthusiasm.

I think the reaction is probably going to be unanimously, 'Wow!
It's about time!"' said Marthe Arends, editor of the newsletter Pioneers
Online (www.eskimo.com/~mnarends), based in Bellevue, Wash. The
newsletter helps genealogists use the Internet. With 2.1 million rolls of
microfilm, 700,000 microfiches and 280,000 books, the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints (www.lds.org) is the ultimate source for many
genealogists. The master collection, which includes the birth, death and
marriage records of an
estimated 6 billion people, is kept in a vault carved 900 feet into the
side of
Granite Mountain. Completed in 1964, the vault is a testament to the
importance the Church places on tracing one's ancestors and performing for
them vicarious
ordinances of baptism and marriage so that those who lived and died before
Joseph Smith founded the church in 1830 can enjoy the benefits of God's
grace. The vault contains six separate chambers, each 200 feet long, 30 feet
wide and 15 feet tall. The entire vault, dug into the side of the canyon,
lies
800 to 900 feet under the mountaintop. The microfilm records are
maintained at a temperature below 70 degrees Fahrenheit and at a humidity
below 35 percent. Due to the need for a controlled environment, visitors are
not permitted, but MSNBC's 360-degree surround video gives you a sense
of what one sees at the mouth of the vault.
Anyone can use the materials at the Family History Library in Salt
Lake City free of charge. They may also borrow materials for a small
handling fee at any one of the library's 3,200 branches. A tiny, but
important portion of that is available by computer. In 1978, the church
began computerizing some of its records in a program dubbed FamilySearch.
The program is currently only offered at libraries and branch
libraries. The church won't sell FamilySearch to individuals because it
can't afford to offer everyone support for DOS, the older operating
system the program requires. That makes it the perfect candidate for
putting on the Web. With 2 billion rolls of microfilm, 700,000
microfiches and 280,000 books, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints (www.lds.org) is the ultimate source for many genealogists. One
of the first FamilySearch databases expected to be offered on line is
Ancestral File. The simple database lets surfers type in names and find
family trees compiled by other researchers, mostly amateurs. As useful as
that can be, the information is only as good as the person who submitted
it," said Arends. "I'd personaly like to see more primary sources being
put online." The International Genealogical Index, also part of
FamilySearch, lets researchers search millions of marriage, death and
birth records taken from records in the United States and abroad. The
church won't say if the index will be offered on the Web site. Even with
thousands of church volunteers typing the information from original records
into computers, "We can digitize only a tiny fraction of what we capture
each year," said David Rencher, manager of public outreach for the Family
History Department of the Mormon Church. Still, the output is impressive.
Over the past year, the church not only updated FamilySearch, but also
released five sets of CD-ROMs reaching back 450 years and ranging from
Australian Vital Records to the 1851 British Census. In 1999, it will
release the full 1880 U.S. Census and the 1881 British Census, both on
CD-ROM. Church volunteers are also working on a 17 million-person database
of Ellis Island immigrants that will be released on CD-ROM by the church,
posted online by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation
(www.ellisisland.org) and made available at the new American Family
Immigrant History Center due to open late next year on Ellis Island.

Carol Swinehart
Adminstrator of OHFAIRFI-L
Fairfield County OGS Webpage:
http://www.fairfieldgenealogy.org
Fairfield County Genweb:
http://www.fairfieldgenealogy.org/genweb.html
Searching Fairfield County Families: Swinehart, Homrighouser,
Betz,Foltz,Quickel,Anspach,Spohn,Troutman,Zartman
Church Archive Links:
http://www.greenapple.com/~cshart/chlinks.htm

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• [OHFAIRFI-L] You will want to read this LDS online by Carol Swinehart <>