Vancouver Washington FamilySearch Center

This article describes the services and resources available at a FamilySearch Center, a branch facility of the FamilySearch Library.

Family History Center

Family History computer area

FHC

Welcome to the Vancouver, Washington Family History Center. 

Center Information

Location Map:

• Location on Map

Address:

• 18300 NE 18th St Vancouver WA 98684 United States

(entrance to the Family History Center is on the north side of the church building. 

Enter through the main doors, and turn left to find the Family History Center entrance.)

Phone:

• 1-360-944-5773

E-mail:

• WA_Vancouver@ldsmail.net

Open Hours

Tuesday: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm and 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Wednesday: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm and 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm

Thursday: 10:00 am - 2:00 pm

Saturday: 10:00 am - 2:00p m

Holiday Schedule 2017

Closed in observance of the following holidays:

General Conference (September 30 - October 2)
Thanksgiving (November 19 - November 27)
Christmas/New Year's (December 19, 2017 - January 1, 2018)

All Classes are free! - all patrons welcomed

Classes Offered

• Consultant Planner & User Name & Helper Number

September 18 @ 10:30 a.m - 12:00. OR October 5 @ 6:30 p.m - 8:00

This class is for High Priest Group Leader over Temple and Family History, and Ward Consultants. The same class will be offered twice.  Each ward can send two representatives of their choosing from their ward.  Please make your reservations early so your ward will be able to take advantage of this new information from Family Search.

• The Family History Guide: Project 1 - Goals 12,13,14

September 28, 6:30 - 8:00 PM

Learn more about Charts, Account Setting and Apps.

• Consultant Planner & User Name & Helper Number

October 5, 6:30 - 8:00 PM

This class is for High Priest Group Leader over Temple and Family History, and Ward Consultants. The same class will be offered twice.  Each ward can send two representatives of their choosing from their ward.  Please make your reservations early so your ward will be able to take advantage of this new information from Family Search.

• The individual Value of our 4 main Partners

October 16, 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM

• The Family History Guide: Project 2 - Goals 1,2,3

Safe guard personal information, gather organize photos, documents, etc., interviewing family.

October 26, 6:30 - 8:00 PM

• Historical Overview of Records and Society

November 13, 10:30 AM - 12:00PM

• The Family History Guide: Project 2 - Goals 4,5,6

November 30, 6:30 - 8:00 PM

Browse memories, uploading memories, tagging.

Seating is limited, only those registered will have a reserved seat in these classes.

To Register:  Call 360-944-5773 during our open hours (see above) or email: WA_Vancouver@ldsmail.net

Handouts from classes

Searching Unindexed Collections on Family Search

As of June 2017, there are 2230 record collections available for searching on FamilySearch.org.

Many record collections are searchable, meaning that they have been indexed.  However, about 70% of the record collections are not yet indexed – but you can still “browse” the record collection.

Some of the following countries have the largest amounts of records that are on FamilySearch as unindexed collections:

Italy:  129 record collections

Germany:  45 record collections

Brazil, England, Guatemala, Mexico, Netherlands, Ohio, Portugal, U.S. General:  between 20 – 30 record collections each

Idaho, Indonesia, Maine, New York, Oregon, Russia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Wales, Washington:  between 10 – 19 record collections each

Many other interesting collections are available, from diverse locations such as:  Albania, American Samoa, Armenia, Benin, Cook Islands, Guam, Haiti, Hungary, Micronesia, Korea, Newfoundland, Slovakia, Wales, and more!!

Note:  dates found in these record collections span from before 1000 AD through as late as 2012.

The following kinds of records are available in these “browseable” collections:

• Land records
• Divorce Indexes
• Naturalization records
• Wills
• Burial records
• Cemetery records
• Probate
• Freedmen’s Bureau
• Court Papers
• Census
• Passenger Lists/Travel Documents
• Church Records
• Military Records
• City Records
• Birth, Marriage, and Death Registers
• Civil Registrations
• And more!

Case Study

If I’m looking for Samuel Osborn, who I believe was granted land in around 1888 in Poweshiek County, Iowa, where would I go to find this record?

If I’m looking for a relative, who lived in Stark County, Ohio at the time of his death in 1973, where would I go to look for the records?  What record collection could I search?

Staff Training

• Consultant Planner & User Name & Helper Number

September 14, 6:30 - 8:00 PM

• The individual Value of our 4 main Partners

October 12, 6:30 - 8:00 PM

• Historical Overview of Records and Society

November 9, 6:30 - 8:00 PM

Collections

• FamilySearch Catalog: This center has the ability to order any of the films and fiche available through the FamilySearch Catalog.
• We have a large number of microfilm containing images of Washington birth and death Certificates, plus much more.

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, including:

The 19th Century British Library Newspapers digital archive–Find.galegroup.com
Access Newspaper Archives–Newspaperarchive.com
Alexander Street Press, American Civil War–Alexanderstreet.com
Ancestry.com–Ancestry.com
ArkivDigital Online–Arkivdigital.net
Find My Past–Findmypast.co.uk
1911 British Census (accessed through the Find My Past website)
Fold3 (formerly Footnote.com)–Fold3.com
Historic Map Works Library Edition–Proquest.historicmapworks.com/
Kinpoint Premium-Kinpoint.com
Legacy Stories - Legacystories.org
MyHeritage-Library Edition-MyHeritageLibraryEdition
Paper Trail–Genealogytoday.com
ProQuest Obituary Listings-Obituaries.proquest.com
Puzilla-Puzzilla.org
World Vital Records–Worldvitalrecords.com

See this link for more information on these collections.

Hardware and Equipment

• 10 computer work stations (touch-screen) with printer access for patron use
• Scanner for copying film or fiche images to flash drive or paper
• Wi-fi access
• 7 microfilm readers
• 2 microfiche readers
• 3 Lexmark printers
• Photo/document scanner, sent directly to your family search account
• 1 HP color printer
• 1 Flatbed scanner

Resources in the Local Area

• • Clark County Genealogical Society: http://www.ccgs-wa.org/
  • Fort Vancouver Regional Library Genealogy Resources: http://www.fvrl.org/resources/genealogy

Links

• • RootsTech 2017 Links: https://www.rootstech.org/rootstech-2017
  • RootsTech 2016 Video Archive: https://www.rootstech.org/videos

Volunteer at the Center

• • If you are interested in being a consultant in our center, please send us an email: WA_Vancouver@ldsmail.net
  • Typically, consultants volunteer between 3 - 4 hours each week, assisting patrons with their family history research.
    

A family history conference hosted by FamilySearch. For online genealogical classes and videos see RootsTech.org.