Gresham Oregon Family History Center

The Gresham Family History Center and its consultants are available to help you in the fun and fascinating hobby of family history or genealogy. If you’ve never done family history before, or if it’s been awhile since you have, you are in for a treat. With so many historical documents and records available online, and more being added all the time, each day can bring you a new discovery.



Center Contacts and Hours
Location Map:


 * Location on Map

Address:


 * 3600 SE, 182nd Ave Gresham, Oregon, 97030 United States
 * Across from Centennial High School, park in the north parking lot.
 * The entrance is on the north side near the rear of the building, but the actual door faces west, towards the street.

Phone: 1-503-665-1524

Email: OR_Gresham@ldsmail.net

Open Hours:


 * Tuesday:10:00am-9:00pm
 * Wednesday:10:00am-9:00pm
 * Thursday:10:00am-6:00pm
 * Saturday:10:00am-2:00pm
 * The Family History Center is open on Sundays for Family History Classes.

Holiday Schedule:


 * We are closed all major holidays and General Conference weekends (the first weekends in April and in October).


 * Inclement Weather: In case of inclement weather, please call the Family History Center to see if it is open. The number is 503-665-1524

What To Bring
If you are new to family history or genealogy and don't know where to start, start by gathering the information that you do have and know. Even a few names, places, and/or dates can give you a good place to start searching. Bring this information with you when you come and we can help you get started on your family research.

You might also want to consider bringing the following:


 * 1) a small notebook or steno pad
 * 2) pen or pencil
 * 3) a USB stick/flash drive/thumb drive, etc. to save information that you find
 * 4) computer glasses if you use them
 * 5) change for any copies you may make. Copies are 5 cents each.

Class Schedule:

 * Currently classes are taught through the individual wards or congregations. Please contact your ward to find out when the next family history class is scheduled to start. To find your ward go to lds.org and click on Meetinghouse Locator on the left hand side.
 * You can also learn online by clicking the ‘Learn’ button at the top of the page or by visiting our Family History Center and using our computers.

Staff Training Meetings:
The next Family History Center staff training has not yet been scheduled.

Collections

 * FamilySearch Catalog: You may order microfilm and microfiche from the convenience of your home computer from the FamilySearch Catalog and have it sent to this Family History Center to view. But check with us first: we might already have what you are looking for. We have several records available in our collection.
 * We have the complete 1850 Census records and several others. We have vital records on microfiche for Oregon, Washington and Oregon.  We also have the IGI for the United States and several other countries.

Databases and Software

 * FHC Portal This Portal allows you free access to many subscription databases including Ancestry, Heritage Quest, World Vital Records and more.  A partial list and description follows:


 * www.Ancestry.com has 7 billion genealogical records from around the globe along with millions of family trees posted Ancestry is a great research resource.
 * www.HeritageQuestOnline.com HeritageQuest® Online is a comprehensive treasury of American genealogical sources. It is rich in unique primary sources, local and family histories, and finding aids. Heritage Quest Online database is a collection of material for both genealogical and historical researchers, with coverage dating back to the late 1700s. Researchers can use HeritageQuest Online to find their ancestors, trace their paths across America, and learn what life was like in the areas where they settled.The collection consists of  six core data sets : 1. U.S. Federal Censuses feature the original images of every extant federal census in the United States, from 1790 through 1930, with name indexes for many decades. In total the collection covers more than 140 million names. 2. Genealogy and local history books deliver more than 7 million digitized page images from over 28,000 family histories, local histories, and other books. 3. Periodical Source Index (PERSI), published by the Allen County Public Library, is recognized as the most comprehensive index genealogy and local history periodicals. It contains more than 2 million records covering titles published around the world since 1800. 4. Revolutionary War records contains original images from pension and bounty land warrant application files help to identify more than 80,000 American Army, Navy, and Marine officers and enlisted men from the Revolutionary War era. 5. Freedman’s Bank Records, with more than 480,000 names of bank applicants, their dependents, and heirs from 1865–1874, offers valuable data that can provide important clues to tracing African American ancestors prior to and immediately after the Civil War. 6. LexisNexis U.S. Serial Set records the memorials, petitions, private relief actions made to the U.S. Congress back to 1789, with a total of more than 480,000 pages of information.

NOTE : You may also be able to access Heritage Quest Online from home via your local library’s web page using your library card.


 * www.Fold3.com This is a wonderful collection of original military records. If you have any ancestors who served in the military, this collection can allow you to access records for them and their families.


 * www.WorldVitalRecords.com Learn more about your family history and genealogy by searching through more than 3.6 billion records for the United States and the world including everything from vital records, census images, newspapers, digitized books and more.


 * FindMyPast.com Search millions of family history records from the United Kingdom.


 * The 19th Century British Library Newspapers digital archive–http://find.galegroup.com/bncn/ 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.


 * Newspaper Archives–http://www.newspaperarchive.com "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 OurNewspaperARCHIVE. 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.


 * ArkivDigital Online–ArkivDigital is the largest private provider of Swedish Church Records and other historical records online! All images are newly photographed color images of the original documents.


 * Find My Past–FindMyPast makes it easy to research your UK ancestry and create your family tree. Search census records and trace births, marriages, and deaths to bring your family history to life.


 * The Genealogist–English parish records, directories, census, civil registration, surname mapping, and selected army and navy lists.


 * Historic Map Works Library Edition–is one of the most extensive digital map collections available, with over 470,000 high-resolution, full color historic and antique maps. The core of the collection consists of cadastral (property and land ownership) maps illustrating the geographic and development history of the United States and also includes illustrations, city directories, and more. This unique content allows genealogists, historians, and academic researchers to track the "residential genealogy" of families and locations.


 * Paper Trail–Provides access to 19th-century westward American migration documents.


 * World Vital Records–Access to birth, marriage, and death records; Social Security Death Index; family trees; census records; immigration records; court, land, and probate records; military records directory lists; newspapers, family histories, reference materials, biographies, wills, gravestone photos, ship manifests, map collections, and yearbook collections. Proper log-in through the portal is confirmed by the words FamilySearch FHC Services Portal, World Collection Subscriber at the top right of the page.

Are you a PAF user?
We have a program, called Family Insight, that will help you combine your PAF information with familysearch.org. It will also help you to edit the location names to be sure that they are spelled correctly and placed in the correct format.

Hardware and Equipment

 * Have you been sitting all day and don't want to sit some more to do your famliy history? Well, we have a computer that you can use standing up, so stretch your legs and do some walking (in place) as you search for your family tree.
 * We have eleven new computers as of 2014 available for patron use. They have large 23 inch screens making it easy to have multiple windows open for research.  There are several USB ports, a camera SD card port and a CD-ROM.
 * We have three new printers, one with scanning ability so that you can scan your photos and documents and then save them to your USB stick. Copies are five cents each.
 * We also have microfilm and microfiche readers.

Staff Research Specialties
 

Resources in the Local Area
You may also want to check the Oregon Historical Society which has many historical records and manuscripts that may help you in your research of Oregon and Northwest ancestors. Their website is http://www.ohs.org/  

Other Resources

 * Oregon State Library: http://oregon.gov/OSL/
 * Northwest Digital Archives: http://osulibrary.oregonstate.edu/
 * Oregon Historic Newspapers: http://oregonnews.uoregon.edu/