Boone North Carolina Family History Center

The Boone North Carolina Family History Center is located in the LDS Church in Boone. We serve primarily Watauga, Ashe, and Avery counties.

Center Contacts and Hours
Location &amp; Map:

Address: 604 Poplar Grove Rd., Boone, NC


 * click link for a map: http://goo.gl/maps/GM1q4
 * Enter using the side entrance from the upper parking lot.

Phone: (828) 495-8744


 * This is a hall phone, so give us a little while to get to it.

E-mail: nc_boone@ldsmail.net

Open Hours: Wednesday evenings 6:00-8:30

Holiday Schedule: Closed the last two (2) weeks of December

Calendar and Events
To receive email notices of upcoming events and reminders of events you have signed up for, join the Boone NC Family History Center google group

Upcoming Events
Family History Workshops will resume in the fall. Meanwhile, join our google group where we will periodically post items about new things on familysearch.org and other helpful tidbits. We welcome you to also share things you have learned and/or ask for help from other members of the group.

Class Schedule
Workshops will resume in the fall.

Getting Started: Gathering and recording family information; basics of using the FamilySearch website; gathering information from home and family; finding what is already in FamilyTree; choosing a family or individual to focus on.

Recording Information and Orgainizing Records: forms; research logs; keeping accurate notes; recording your sources; FamilyTree and other cloud/internetoptions; personal computer options.

Getting to know the FamilySearch website: an in-depth survey of the website and how to use it, including using the Wiki, research courses, getting started aids, the catalog, the books tab, submitted pedigrees, FamilyTree, the Help tab, etc.

Online Search Tips/Tactics: the most useful online resources and how to effective search.

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.

Experience the Joy of Family History
Family History – for those who feel “it’s all been done” If your family has been LDS for several generations or you have a family history junkie in your family, you might feel that all your family history work has been done. What can you do to feel the joy of family history?

1. Go to familysearch.org. Search for records of your ancestors. By finding records of your ancestors’ lives, you will start to connect with them. They will become real to you and your heart will turn to them. And, in the process, you might find some surprises and people who need temple ordinances! 2. Add sources to your ancestors in Family Tree so others in your family can also see those records and feel that connection. 3. Become an indexer! Click the Indexing tab on familysearch.org and get started making indexed and digitized records available online. It’s easy and even fun. 4. Write your personal history so those that come after you will know you better and have their hearts turned to you. 5. Collect and compile stories from the lives of your ancestors to share with your family. 6. Organize and label family photos to preserve a visual record.

7. Create a blog or facebook page or website where you share picture and stories of your ancestors. 8. Volunteer to help out at the family history center so we can be open more hours during the week and serve more people. Working in the family history center is a wonderful way to learn while serving.

There are ways everyone can experience the joy of family history. Why not make a New Year’s Resolution to spend an hour each week connecting with your ancestors in 2013?

Eating the Elephant - family history one bite at a time
 

Feeling a desire to begin your family history? In this section of our wiki page, we will give you small steps you can take to get started with family history

Step One:

Register at FamilySearch

In order to get all you can from the FamilySearch website, you will want to register for a FamilySearch or LDS Account. If you have been involved with FamilySearch Indexing or have posted things in the FamilySearch Forums or here in the Wiki, you have a FamilySearch account already. Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint might already have an LDS Account which they use on lds.org to access ward and stake information.

If you don't have an account, click here for step by step instructions to register.

If you have an account, but have forgotten your user name or password, click here for help recovering your user name or resetting your password.

With your FamilySearch/LDS Account, you are ready to start exploring the FamilySearch website. Click here to go to the website. Click Sign In 

Step Two:

As you were exploring familysearch.org, did you see a link for Family Tree? If is immediately to the right of the FamilySearch tree logo in the upper left portion of your computer screen. If you don't see it, click here to gain access to Family Tree. Then go to Family Tree. What do you see there? If you were a user of new.familysearch.org, you will see many generations of family members. If you are new to family history, you might only see yourself, or perhaps your parents, or spouse and children.

Your task is to create some bridges to earlier generations. As you move back in your family, you will see wonderful things happen to your tree. Your family will begin to intersect with the family of others who have shared their information and your tree will begin to blossom.

In order to create those bridges, you need to start collecting. Search your home and gather up all the records you can find - they might be paper records or computer records. Talk to other family members and ask them what they know about your ancestors. Gather as much information as you can find. Be sure to record it carefully. You can use paper or computer to keep the information as you gather it.

As you are getting started, develop good practices early. When you gain a bit of information, record it and also record carefully where you got the information. Was it a conversation with Aunt Lucy? Was it a birth certificate you found? Or a wedding invitation? Or an obituary? Record your source with each bit of information.

There is several excellent wiki article about Research Logs that will help you see one way to keep track of what you found, where you found it, and even what you didn't find. Put "Research Log" in the search box at the top right of this screen to find the articles.

Step 3 - Adding to Family Tree Now that you have found family information, it is time to add it to Family Tree. You can type the information directly into Family Tree. Or, if you have your information on a genealogy computer program, you can upload a GEDCOM file to Pedigree Resource File and then move it from there to Family Tree. While you are adding names, be sure to add your sources. Get into that habit now and you will have a more accurate and useful record of your family.

To learn how to add parents or children to the family, click here.

To learn how to upload a GEDCOM file from your computer, click here.

To learn how to create a GEDCOM file in Personal Ancestral File (PAF), click here.

To learn how to add source information, click here.

Step 4 - For Latter Day Saints For members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the next step is to do temple ordinance work for ancestors you have found. Please see you local family history consultant or visit the family history center for help with this step. Step 5 - Find More Information You will soon discover that we do family history in a sort of cycle: find family information, enter it in our tree (along with the source so we don't have to wonder where we found a particular tidbit later on), do temple work for ancestors, then start searching again. This step will help you learn to search for records on the FamilySearch website. FamilySearch is busy digitizing records from microfilm and microfiche as well as capturing new digital images, so there are always more records we can search on the website.

Identify someone on your family tree who was born before 1940 and whom you want to learn more about.

To begin, go to https://familysearch.org and sign in. You want to always sign in so that you have access to as many records as possible. The home page is where you begin your search.

For search tips, click here or here.

To learn how to use the source box, click here.

For tips on adding sources to Family Tree, click here.

In addition, you can visit the family history center for free access to more family history websites. For a complete list of sites that are available at the family history center, click here.

To learn how to add information you find to Family Tree, click here.

Resources in the Local Area
The Watauga County Public Library in Boone has a genealogy club which meets on the last Friday of each month (May-October) at 3pm. This is a great place to come together with others who are interested in family history to learn and to share things you know.

The Watauga County Public Library in Boone is also a FamilySearch affiliate. Patrons can order microfilms and microfiche from FamilySearch to use in the library.

Links
Wiki page on Watauga County: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/Watauga_County,_North_Carolina

Wiki page for North Carolina: https://familysearch.org/learn/wiki/en/North_Carolina

Volunteer at the Center
We would love to increase the hours we are open to serve the public. Volunteers are welcome! Stop by and we can discuss your availability and train you.