Etobicoke Ontario FamilySearch Centre

= Welcome =

OUR GOAL: The goal of the Etobicoke Family History Centre is to provide a complete resource to assist you in the research and study of your genealogy and family history. We provide personal one-on-one assistance to patrons, access to genealogical records through the Internet and a microfilm loan program. We will also provide guidance on other resources such as Facebook and Google to assist your search.

“The stories of why people come here are different, but the motivation is mostly the same,” Bell said. “People want to know: Who am I? And who are my ancestors?”



Library
All library resources must only be used at the Etobicoke Family History Centre. Items cannot be loaned out or transferred to other facilities.

Databases and Software
Free Access to Pay-to-view Genealogical Websites at our Family History Centre

This centre allows the general public access to the Family History Centre Portal page. If you have a familysearch account you will get access to premium family history software and websites that generally charge for subscriptions. This special access that family history centres have been granted to these databases only works when the online services are accessed through a computer in a Family History Centre. Please note that entering the web sites of these providers through their regular public URLs will not provide you with free acess, you will have to subscribe to the various products to access search content.

 FHC Portal

This centre has access to the Family History Center Portal page which gives free access in the centre to the following premium family history websites that generally charge for subscriptions.

19th Century British Library Newspaper Digitial Archive – 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 19000. These support the study of colonial history, genealogical research, politics, urban studies and media courses. Access//Newspaper Archive – World’s largest online newspaper archive. Features billions of articles from historical newspapers around the U.S. and the world. Full page and fully searchable. Alexander Street Press – American Civil War – Research database, letters, diaries, photos and posters, 60 collections of audio tracks, videos, images and playlists in humanities, literature, music, women’s history, black history, psychological counseling and therapy, social and cultural history, drama, theatre, film and performing arts, religion and sociology. Ancestry Family History Library Edition – Powered by Ancestry.com, delivers billions of records in census data, vital records, directories, photos, and more. The world’s most popular consumer online genealogy resource it’s an unprecedented online collection of individuals from North America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and more. Find My Past – Create family trees, BMD indexes for England and Wales, parish registers, death duty registers, passport applications, passenger lists leaving UK, 1831 through 1911 censuses and military records. ArkivDigital Online – Swedish Church Records and much more. Fold 3 – (as of August 18, 2011) Previously known as Footnote – Resources cover colonial to mid-1900s US records. Fold3 provides convenient access to US military records, including the stories, photos, and personal documents of the men and women who served. Also incudes: some census records, vital records, photos, city directories, newspapers, town records, naturalizations, Revolutionary War records, Civil war and later military indexes, World War II “Old man’s Draft” Cards, War of 1812 pension files, Mexican War Service Records, World War I Officer Experience Reports, Confederate Casualty Reports. Heritage Quest Online – Census records (indexed by head of household, but not years are indexed), digitized searchable books, Periodical Source Index (PERSI), selected records from the Revolutionary War pension and bounty land warrant application files, Freedman’s Bank Records and U.S. Serial Set. Historical Map Works Library Edition – over 800,000 property maps covering the U.S. from late 1700’s to the present, over 100,000 antique maps covering the world from 15th to 19th centuries and city directories, atlases, business ads, bird’s eye views. Paper Trail – Index to Mormon and Oregon Trail Diaries. World Vital Records – Worldwide records including immigration, some U.S., Canadian and U.K. censuses, vital records, parish and land records, family histories, directories, court probate records, digitized books and newspapers, Irish wills and censuses, German Hungarian land census, Scottish death records, England and Wales BMD. Legacy Stories – Put the leaves on your family tree by giving voice to your ancestors. LegacyStories.Org is a social network for all things heritage. Provides a secure platform to upload stories and photos and add recorded narration. The resulting pictures, stories and narration can be linked as source records on FamilySearch Family Tree. The site offers a full suite of exciting features, including: Record oral photo narratives directly from your computer microphone ~ multi-media story publisher ~ social network for feedback and collaboration ~ public archives to view and share stories ~ five levels of privacy ~ the Legacy Shop for heritage replayed books, DVD equipment, software, etc.

Visiting our Family History Centre
Family History Centres are locally operated and supervised. The resources of the centres differ by location, our centre has a collection of books, periodicals, magazines, maps, atlases, computers, microfilm readers, a microfische reader and printers.

The centre is staffed by volunteers both from the LDS Church and genealogy enthusiasts from the community, staff members are not paid for their services. More experienced volunteers may be able to assist patrons with specific research challenges, but all will endeavor to assist in furthering your research.

You do not have to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to make use of a Family History Centre. Everyone is welcome to visit the centre and use the resources.

One-on-one Assitance
Family History Centre staff can show you how to use the centre’s resources. To make your visit most effective, collect and organize the information you already have. Bring as much information as you have about the ancestor you wish to research, including available birth, marriage and death information. FHC staff can help you use that information to begin creating a Family Group Record, and to move forward with your research.

Volunteer at the Centre
Additional volunteers are always needed and welcome. The first and foremost quality you will need to volunteer at the Etobicoke Family History Centre is a desire to help other people to research their family history. You do not need to be a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Volunteers typically serve a 3 hour per week shift. If you have a love of Family History work, computer knowledge and enjoy being around people, we need you! If you would like to volunteer at the Etobicoke Family History Centre please contact us during open hours or better yet, let us know while you are visiting our centre.

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