Beloit Wisconsin Family History Center

The Beloit Wisconsin Family History Center serves Beloit, Wisconsin, as well as South Beloit, Rockton, and Roscoe, Illinois. Our center has access to a microfilm reader and computers with internet access for researching. We can assist in your research efforts by offering beginning research help and training of the various internet research options that are now available.

Center Contacts and Hours
Address: 2535 Austin Place, Beloit, WI 53511

The entrance to the FHC is on the west side of the building, please knock to be let in. Or you may enter through the main doors and go through the gym to the FHC doors on left of gym.

Map: https://familysearch.org/locations/centerlocator

Phone: 608-362-4646

Center Director: Elaine Maurer

Open Hours: 1st and 3rd Wednesdays from 7:00 - 8:00 PM and by appointment (email to make an appointment)

Holiday Schedule: We are closed the Wednesday during the 4th of July week. We are closed the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. As well as the Wednesdays during the Christmas holiday season.

Calendar and Events
As events are planned, dates will be posted here.

Collections

 * Family History Library Catalog: This center has the ability to order any of the films and fiche available through the Family History Library Catalog.

Databases and Software

 * FHC Portal This center has access to the Family History Center Portal page which gives free access in the center to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions. These websites include:
 * The 19th Century British Library Newspapers digital archive - This fully searchable database of the British Library's newspaper holdings provides a complete run of 48 national and regional Victorian British newspapers for the 19th century from 1800 to 1900. These support the study of colonial history, genealogical research, politics, urban studies, and media courses.
 * Access Newspaper Archives - "NewspaperArchive.com is the world's largest online newspaper archive. Featuring billions of articles from historical newspapers around the U.S. and the world, NewspaperARCHIVE makes exploring history and genealogy easy and fun. Discover fascinating news in archived newspapers hundreds of years old—including obituaries, birth announcements, sports articles, comics, and more—to fill in the life stories you are interested in. And share those stories with others through our community at Our NewspaperARCHIVE. All of our historical newspapers are full-page and fully searchable. Try exploring above, and discover your history today!"
 * Alexander Street Press, American Civil War - Research Data: Contains indexed, searchable information on over 4 million soldiers and thousands of battles, together with 15,000 photographs. Letters and Diaries: Contains approximately 100,000 indexed pages of diaries, letters, and memoirs, including 4,000 pages of previously unpublished manuscripts, such as the letters of Amos Wood and his wife and the diary of Maryland planter William Claytor. Images, Photographs, Posters, and Ephemera: Provides a vivid history of the American Civil War with over 1,400 images.
 * Ancestry Family History Library Edition – U. S. federal and state census records, vital records, passenger lists, Canadian census, church, and vital records, UK census records, birth, marriage and death indexes, and other international records.
 * Find My Past – Create family trees, BMD indexes for England and Wales, parish registers, death duty registers, passport applications, passenger lists leaving UK, 1841 through 1911 censuses, and military records.
 * Fold 3 (as of August 18, 2011) Previous known as Footnote – Resources cover colonial to mid-1900s US records. Includes some census records, vital records, photos, city directories, newspapers, town records, naturalizations, Revolutionary War records and Civil war and later military indexes, World War !!"Old man's Draft"Cards, War of 1812 Pension Files, Mexican War Service Records, World War ! Officer Experience Reports, Confederate Casualty Reports.
 * Heritage Quest Online – Census records (indexed by heads of household, but not years are indexed), digitized searchable books, Periodical Source Index (PERSI), selected records from the Revolutionary War pension and bounty land warrant application files, Freedman’s Bank Records, and U. S. Serial Set.
 * World Vital Records – Worldwide records including immigration, some U.S., Canadian and U.K. censuses, vital records, parish and land records, family histories, directories, court probate records, digitized books and newspapers, Irish wills and censuses, German Hungarian land census, Scottish death records, England and Wales BMD.

Hardware and Equipment
We have 3 computers, all with printer access. We have a microfilm reader and a microfiche reader available for use.

Resources in the Local Area
Wisconsin Historical Society www.wisconsinhistory.org/genealogy/

Rock County Genealogical Society www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~wircgs/

Illinois State Genealogical Society www.ilgensoc.org/

Winnebago County Genealogy genealogytrails.com/ill/winnebago/

Winnebago and Boone Counties Genealogy www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ilwbcgs/

Links
Wisconsin Research Wiki familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Wisconsin

Illinois Research Wiki familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Illinois

1940 United States Federal Census familysearch.org/1940census

United States Social Security Death Index familysearch.org/search/collection/1202535

Billiongraves Index familysearch.org/search/collection/2026973