We still had one day before we would take my husband and son to the Salt Lake City airport and my daughter and I would continue on to California. It was raining anyway, so we thought we’d spend the day in Salt Lake City at Temple Square.
It’s a beautiful section of the city with amazing architecture and artwork, and Mormon missionaries at every turn, to help you find what you’re looking for. But the most remarkable part of our visit here, was the genealogy research we did — free of charge and with help from the Mormon nuns — at the Family Search Center.
All four of us found a spot in front of computers in the Family Search Center. The nuns helped us get started and we used all of their software and memberships to sites like ancestry.com. We researched both sides of our family and found ancestors back into Ireland and England, as well as many copies of the census as far back as 1880.
Here are some tips for using the fantastic Family Search resources when you’re visiting Temple Square:
Start at FamilySearch.org to plan your visit and followup before going to Temple Square.
Gather as much family information — maiden and married names, dates and places of birth — as you can prior to your visit, so you can make the most of your research at Temple Square.
Park at the public parking lot on the corner of North Temple and West Temple. It cost about $6 to park all day.
Ask a missionary/volunteer where to start. If you’re a newbie, they’ll probably send you to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building to get more individual guidance from the volunteers. If you’ve done this before, you can probably head right to the Family History Library, where there are several stories of artifacts to discover.
Purchase a copy card and print your discoveries to take home with you.
Continue your research close to home! Family Search centers throughout the globe are set up with free clinics to help you on your journey through genealogy.
Enjoy your adventures in genealogy! Be careful – it’s addicting!
Trip West 2010 Series:
Badlands
1880’s Town -Murdo, SD
Black Hills, South Dakota
Yellowstone National Park
Family Search in Temple Square, Salt Lake City
Ghost Towns, Wyoming and California
Manzanar War Relocation Center
Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks
Tags: genealogy, Temple Square
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10:02 am
I’d never heard that term “nuns” in referring to the LDS faith. Interesting!
3:56 pm
It is addicting isn’t it?!
There are some pretty amazing sites at temple square and the family history options are endless.
Hugs,
Holly
10:09 am
[...] Series: Badlands 1880’s Town -Murdo, SD Black Hills, South Dakota Yellowstone National Park Family Search in Temple Square, Salt Lake City Ghost Towns, Wyoming and California Manzanar War Relocation Center Sequoia and Kings Canyon [...]