St Johns Arizona Family History Center

We are a stand alone Family History Center (not in a Chapel Building). We serve the cities of St. Johns, Concho, and surrounding areas.



Center Contacts and Hours
Location Map:


 * 50 N. 1st West St. Johns, Arizona 85936 United States
 * We are directly North of The Lawyers Title Building whose address is on Cleveland 
 * Location Map

Phone: 928-337-2543

E-mail: [mailto:AZ_StJohns@ldsmail.net AZ_StJohns@ldsmail.net]

Open Hours:


 * Tuesday: 9am - 1pm 6pm - 9pm
 * Wednesday: 9am-1pm
 * Thursday: 9am - 1pm 6pm - 9pm

Holiday Schedule:


 * We are closed the last 2 weeks of December for Christmas Break. 

Calendar and Events
FHC Consultant Training Meetings held on the 3rd Wednesday of every month at 6pm, except in the months of May, July and December.

Consultant Training Meetings:
Our next Consultant Meeting will be held on Wednesday - August 19, 2015 at 6:00 p.m.

= "RootsTech Family History Discovery Day sponsored by The St. Johns Arizona Stake Family History Center" =

Saturday, May 16, 2015. Our second annual Family History Fair!
Register online - Go to www.lds.org/hostfair &amp; click on "Attendee Sign Up" (to the left of the screen), then click the blue bar that says "Click Here to find an Event". In the address search block type in the St. Johns zipcode (85936). Click on the St Johns AZ Stake event and then enter your information (Name &amp; email address). You will receive an email that you must respond to in order to complete your registration. Once you are registered, we will send you an email with detailed information on the classes that will be offered. If you don't register online please arrive at 8:00a.m. so that you can register prior to the event.

In addition, please make sure you have registered for an "LDS Account" at lds.org or familysearch.org - If you are not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, register for a free Family account at familysearch.org. If you need help, your ward consultants/staff at the Family History Center will be glad to assist you. Make sure you hve your Username and password with you!!!

6 Steps to Choreograph Your Research Across the Internet ~ Janet Hovorka - Intermediate Learn to correlate your research between the big family history sites. Distinguish the difference between navigating your cousins' conclusions and actual sources about your family history. Discover how to use tabs and time lines to consistently create solid, well-analyzed results.

Branching Out: Useful Tools to Help You Find More Names for Your Family Tree ~ Tony Nisse ~ Beginner and Intermediate This session is for those looking to efficiently search out the ancestors missing from their family tree.

Building a Genealogy Research Toolbox ~ Thomas MacEntee ~ Beginner Participants will learn not only some of the most important online resources for genealogical research, but also how to organize these resources into an easy-to-access and portable virtual toolbox.

Discover New Research Opportunities with the MyHeritage and FamilySearch Partnership ~ Mark Olsen ~ Beginner Learn how FamilySearch users can access MyHeritage Record Matching technology to match records automatically to people in their family tree with 97% accuracy! Discover how the partnership between FamilySearch and MyHeritage can help advance your genealogy work.

Family History on The Go ~ R. Farrer &amp; Crystal Beutler ~ Beginner - YOUTH Too busy to do family history? Use tablets and phones to get family history work done while on the go.

FamilySearch Family Tree: Now and in the Future ~ Ron Tanner ~ All This class will give an update on the current status of Family Tree and its latest features. Additionally, this session will discuss the new features planned for Family Tree.

Find Missing People in Your Family Tree ~ Peggy Johnson ~ Beginner Learn how new tools at FamilySearch.org can help you find more ancestors and cousins to add to Family Tree—even if you think you have shaken every branch.

Find Names and Strengthen Your Family with the My Family: Stories That Bring Us Together booklet ~ Diane Loosle AG CG ~ Beginner ~ YOUTH This session is for members just getting started with family history and for consultants helping them. This class introduces the printed and online version for the My Family: Stories That Bring Us Together booklet and related tools. Participants will learn how to use these tools to strengthen families and bless their kindred dead.

Finding Family on Newspaper.com ~ Peter Drinkwater ~ All It's amazing what type of information you'll find out about your family in the newspapers! He'll show you how to navigate the website and what they have to offer.

Finding the Living Among the Dead: Using the Internet to Find Your Living Cousins ~ Amy Archibald ~ All Why do we need to find living cousins? Find photos, more information, birth parents, people to collaborate with, DNA testing candidates, finding heirs, lost contact with cousins, medical, plan reunions. Memories on FamilySearch, Facebook, etc.

From Tree to Temple ~ Jim Ison ~ All This class will help you prepare an ancestor's name for temple ordinances, starting with how to submit that name and what comes next. In addition, this class will cover how to teach about the temple experience and preserve the memory for your family and how to get other family members involved by sharing reserved names with other family members.

Getting Started in Genetic Genealogy ~ Diahan Southard ~ Beginner It is all the rage, this DNA testing for genealogy. But what can it tell you? Even more importantly, what CAN’T it tell you? Learn the basics of DNA testing and walk away with confidence in this area of research.

Getting the Most Out of Ancestry.com ~ Crista Cowan ~ All Are you getting the most out of your Ancestry.com subscription? We'll show the five major areas of Ancestry.com and our favorite tools for advancing your family history research.

Map My Ancestors ~ A.C. Ivory ~ Intermediate There are thousands of historical maps that can help trace and plot your ancestors. Many of these maps have been digitized and are freely available online. This presentation covers some databases and websites where people can access these maps.

Personal History Triage ~ Alison Taylor ~ All How to Tell the Best Ten Stories of Your Life - "Just the facts, Mam" can be pretty dry! Alison tells you how to liven up your stories with great examples.

Tracing your British and Irish Roots with FindMyPast ~ Elaine Collins ~ All This presentation will introduce the key resources you need to get started with tracing your British and Irish ancestry, including censuses, civil registration, parish records, and census substitutes, as well as exploring the wealth of less obvious sources that could help unlock the lives of your ancestry across the pond and add color to your family tree. We will focus on the unrivaled collections available on FindMyPast and other essential UK resources, including new records that have been recently published from leading institutions, such as the National Archives, the British Library National Archives of Ireland, and many local archives, spanning over 600 years. This guide will include practical tips on searching to get the best out of the online resources and to help you find those elusive ancestors.

What's New at FamilySearch ~ Devin Ashby ~ Beginner What are the latest tools from FamilySearch, and how do I use them? Come learn how to navigate familysearch.org and use the four main tabs at the top of the website. It's never been easier!

'''The Write Stuff. Leaving a Recorded Legacy; Personal Histories, Journals, Diaries, and Letters ~ Valerie Elkins ~ All''' Discover technology that makes leaving a legacy easier. Learn about apps and software to preserve your thoughts, stories, and memories. Still love paper? Find new ways for the old-fashioned pen and paper that gives you the best of both worlds.

'''You’ve Mastered the Census and Basic Search, What Next? ~ Karen Auman ~ Intermediate''' Unsure where to look next after you’ve searched Ancestry.com and FamilySearch? This course will help you formulate a plan to dig deeper into online sources, including un-indexed material, local and state archives, and less-frequently used portions of popular websites.

These following Classes will be held in the High Council Room:

Indexing - Hands on Help - with Beth Peterson ~ St. Johns Stake Indexing Director If you have already registered with an LDS Account or Family Account (if you are not a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints), bring your Username and Password with you and you will be able to sign-in and learn how to index.

If you don't have an LDS or Family Account - please register before the Fair at "https://familysearch.org" once there: in the upper right hand side of page - click on "Sign In" then click on "Create an Account" also upper right and then fill in your information. You create your own Username and password - but write them down because you will need to remember them! They ask for a "Contact Name" this is what everyone will see if you add, edit, or reserve names, so usually your name is sufficient. You will need to have an email account to finish out the registration process - so if you don't have an email - create one of those before trying to register on FamilySearch.org. Any questions call one of your Ward Consultants and they will be glad to help you!

Youth Temple Challenge ~ Karen Lee ~ Youth ~ All Elder Neil L Andersen has challenged all youth to take a name to the temple.

Youth the Next Generation of Givers ~ Karen Brown ~ Youth ~ All Collecting Life Stories from Living Relatives, before it's too late!

'''We are pleased to announce that we have Randy &amp; Susan Norton coming from the Gila Valley in person to teach 4 different classes to us. These will all be held in the Chapel:'''

Introduction to FamilySearch.org's Family Tree - Come prepared with user name and password and 4 generation pedigree chart. They'll teach how to Log in - Website overview - bridge living gap, tree, views, person page, info card for each person, search, memories, temple ordinances, watch lists, Help, Family Tree App, Find-Take-Teach

Connecting Memories: Photos, Stories &amp; Audio - Scanning &amp; Uploading photos. Bring a scanned photo file or bring a picture to scan &amp; upload. Connecting to family tree, Uploading stories (audio), documents - Demonstrate memories app

Searching records - Types, hints, search tab, fuzzy and exact searches, tips &amp; techniques, Partner sites, Google, Mocavo, Attaching sources, source tracker, Temple Submission and duplicates.

Descendancy Research - descendancy view, green card, Puzzilla, Kinpoint - This will help you find names for the temple - especially if you have Pioneer Ancestry, hints to records that you can attach to your ancestor etc.

After reading the descriptions of the classes, pick one class for each hour that you would like to attend:

9:45-10:45 Chapel "Intro to FamilySearch.org/Family Tree" Instructors: Randy &amp; Susan Norton Primary A "From Tree to Temple: Preparing Names" Relief Society "FamilySearch &amp; Tree 2014 &amp; Beyond" Primary B "Building a Genealogy Research Toolbox" High Council "Temple Challenge for Youth" - Instructor: Karen Lee Young Women "Write Stuff: Histories, Journals, Letters"

11:00 -12:00 Chapel "Connecting Memories: Photos, Stories, Audio" - Instructors: Randy &amp; Susan Norton Primary A "Finding Missing People in your Family Tree" Relief Society "What's New at FamilySearch" Primary B "Getting the Most of Ancestry.com" High Council "Youth, the Next Generation of Givers" Instructor: Karen Brown Young Women 1. "Branching Out &amp; Finding Names" (30min) 2. "Strengthen Family with My Family Booklet" (30 min)

Lunch provided in the Cultural Hall 12:00 - 1:00

1:15 - 2:15 Chapel "Searching Records/Hints &amp; Tips" - Instructors: Randy &amp; Susan Norton Primary A "You've Mastered the Census, What's Next?" Relief Society "Family History On the Go" Primary B "Discover more with My Heritage Partnership" High Council "Indexing" - (Hands-On) Beth Peterson Instructor Young Women "Map My Ancestors"

2:30 - 3:30 Chapel "Descendancy Research, Puzzilla, Kinpoint" Instructors: Randy &amp; Susan Norton Primary A "Finding Living: Using internet to find cousins" Relief Society "What's New at FamiySearch" Primary B "6 Steps to Choreograph Your Research High Council "Indexing" - (Hands-On) Beth Peterson Instructor Young Women "Personal History Triage: Tell 10 Best Stories of Your Life"

3:45 - 4:45 Chapel - No Class Primary A "From Tree to Temple: Preparing Names" Relief Society "Getting the Most out of Ancestry.com" Primary B "Tracing British &amp; Irish Roots with findmypast.com" High Council "Indexing - (Hands-On) Beth Peterson Instructor" Young Women "Finding your Family on Newspapers.com"

Collections ===


 * FamilySearch Catalog: This center has the ability to order any of the films and fiche available through the FamilySearch Catalog.
 * We have books on Family Histories donated by local families. We have an "Arizona Collection" of books on Northern Arizona, Apache County and surrounding areas. We have a photography collection that was donated by Margaret J. Overson that has been scanned, indexed and accessed through our computers on our FHC Database program.
 * Microfilm #F9504- Primary History of the St. Johns Stake Primary History of the St. Johns 2nd Ward
 * Microfilm #F9508- Newspaper - The St. Johns Herald - 08 Oct 1885 - 22 Dec 1897 (incomplete)
 * Microfilm #F9507- Newspaper - The St. Johns Herald - 05 Jan 1888 - 31 Oct 1889 (incomplete)
 * Microfilm #F9505- Newspaper - The St. Johns Herald - 23 Oct 1890 - 24 Dec 1892
 * Microfilm #F9506- Newspaper - The St. Johns Herald - 05 Jan 1893 -28 Aug 1897 (incomplete)
 * Microfilm #F9508- Newspaper - Apache Review - 30 May 1888 - 09 Jan 1889 (incomplete)

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.

Hardware and Equipment

 * We have a multi-purpose copier/scanner, binding machine, computers (including an older computer with the large floppy drive), printers, microfilm/fiche readers, Digital Imaging System that includes a flatbed scanner &amp; Microfilm/fiche reader so you can copy/save pages from films/fiche, books, photographs or documents.

Resources in the Local Area
"St. Johns, Arizonacity website Link 

St. Johns City Cemetery Link you will find Maps of the City of St. Johns Cemetery in .doc format "Old Cemetery" is the southern part of the cemetery and the "New Cemetery" is the Northern part of the cemetery. Then there is an alphabetical list of persons buried there in "Locator in excel format". They keep it up to date fairly regularly. If you have any questions or more information for them call 928-337-4517 Ext 222.

The Apache County Website Link

The Apache County Historical Society Museum website Link

The Apache County Historical Society Blog Blogspot

Arizona Birth Death Certificates - Free On-line Link

Arizona Gravestones.org Link

Links
(Include links to other websites of interest to those who visit your center such as links to the city, county and state wiki pages where your center is located.)

Arizona 1912-2012 - Posting illustrated histories of Arizona towns Link

Billion Graves for St. Johns Cemetery Saint Johns Cemetery

Billion Graves for St. Johns Eastside Catholic Cemetery East Side Cemetery

Find-A-Grave for Apache County, Arizona: Find a Grave

Apache County, Arizona Research Wiki page: Apache County, Arizona

1st Battalion, Arizona Infantry Research Wiki page: 1st Battalion, Arizona Infantry (Union)

Arizona Research Wiki page: Arizona

President Edward Burgoyne's Blog on "I Can Do Family History" Blogspot

Apache County Library District Link

Arizona Digital Newspaper Program Link

Arizona Memory Project Link