Cochrane Alberta FamilySearch Centre

Centre Contacts and Hours
Location &amp; Map:

Address


 * 1100 Gleneagles Dr. Cochrane, AB  T4C 2J9  Canada  (West Entrance)
 * Location on Map

Phone:1 403-932-1145 1 403-932-1145 

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

'''Open Hours:


 * Tuesday:  12 noon - 3:00 pm
 * Tuesday and Thursday:   7:00 pm - 9:00 pm

Holiday Schedule: closed from Friday December 8 reopens Thursday January 4

Class Schedule:
Classes will be held at the Cochrane Alberta Family History Centre - West Entrance of the LDS Church at 1100 Gleneagles Dr Cochrane Alberta T4C 2J9

AND at the Cochrane Public Library - please read class description to determine which location to attend.

Cost: Free

Registration: 403-932-1145 - please leave your name, phone number and the topic/section you are interesting in attending. We encourage you to attend all weeks of a specific topic, but we also welcome drop-ins week by week.

Laptop computers welcome, wifi available at Family History Centre

Starting Your Family History / Genealogy Research - 6 Week Class
This 6 week class will be repeated 3 times during 2018

Time and Location: Wednesdays 7:30 - 9:00 pm at the Cochrane Family History Centre, 110 Gleneagles Dr., West Entrance

Cost: Free

2018 Session 1 January 17 - February 21

2018 Session 2 April 4 - May 9

2018 Session 3 September 19 - October 24

RootsMagic (Saturday February 10, 2018)
RootsMagic is a personal family history software. Learn both why you may be interested in keeping a copy of your research on your personal device and how to use the software. If you are currently using a different personal genealogy software program, come learn tips and tricks that these personal family history software programs do and them apply that information to the software you already have.

Location - Cochrane Public Library 10 am - noon

Cost - Free

Registration - Through the Cochrane Public Library

Tips and Tricks to Searching on Ancestry.com's website (Saturday, March 3, 2018)
Ancestry.com is a dominate website in the family history and genealogical research community because of its vast record collections, excellent search functions and its highly accurate hinting features. Learn how to start harnessing this tool in your research.

Location - Cochrane Public Library 10 am - noon

Cost - Free

Registration - Through the Cochrane Public Library

Cochrane RootsTech Family History Conference (Saturday March 17)
(Hosted by the Cochrane Public Library and the Cochrane Family History Centre)  Information on the LDS Family History Fireside on Sunday March 18 can be found at the very bottom of the conference information and speaker bios.

Date: Saturday March 17

Time: 9:00 am - 2:45 PM

Location: Cochrane Family History Centre, 110 Gleneagles Dr., West Entrance

Cost - FREE

RootsTech - Track (These are rebroadcasts from RootsTech)
Censational Census Strategies

Are you finding everyone you’re looking for in the census? Learn about some tried and true tips for finding missing ancestors.

Don't Just Be a Searcher, Be a Researcher

Searching or researching? There is a difference. Join Crista for a look at how to be a better searcher and a thorough researcher.

Big 4: Comparing Ancestry, Findmypast, FamilySearch and MyHeritage

See a side-by-side comparison of Ancestry, Findmypast, FamilySearch and MyHeritage, highlights/challenges of each and access options.

Mothers, Daughters, Wives: Tracing Female Lines Finding the women in our family can be challenging—but not impossible! Learn more about Mothers, Daughters, Wives

European Track (This Track is taught by Daniel Jones From the Family History Library in SLC)
Finding your European Ancestors: Although research is different in every country, there are similarities among much of continental Europe. Come and learn the basic record types and strategy of tracking your family in European records.

Foreign Language Research: Most people have ancestral families who spoke a foreign language. However, you don’t need to be fluent! We’ll talk about resources that can help you read a foreign-language record, and we’ll read a record together.

At Home with German records: The golden age of German research is just dawning. From FamilySearch and Ancestry to German archives websites, come find out how to access the array of German records available online.

Nordic National Archives: Family history in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark has gotten much more accessible thanks to each country’s National Archives. Together we’ll explore the wealth of information available at the archives’ websites.

Research How To’s Track (This Track is taught by Deanna Bullock)
Starting your Family History Research:  Interested in where your family came from, the lives your ancestors lived and how you ended up living in Canada. Come learn the basics in starting your family history or genealogy research.

Using FamilySearch Wiki and Records Collection to Research your Family Tree: FamilySearch is one of the Big 4 genealogy websites and is the run by the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. It is free to use and available to everyone. Learn to how find and access its millions of free records (many of which have been digitized and available for viewing for free at a local Family History Centre), build a family tree online and attach historical records to ancestors in your family tree.

Using databases to find women’s maiden names and lost children in England and Wales post 1837:  Civil Registration began in England and Wales in 1837, two websites - FreeBMD and the recently updated General Registrars Office website can be used together help you break down brick walls around women’s surnames and children you may not have known about, or who just simply disappear from the records. This class is specific to England and Welsh research.

Organizing and Collaborating your Research using personal software:  RootsMagic is a desktop personal genealogy software program which allows you to keep a “Master” database of your genealogical research and move and correlate your information with FamilySearch, Ancestry, MyHeritage and FindMyPast. Come learn how to use this powerful tool.

Ancestor Stories, A Case Study and FamilySearch Indexing
Our Ancestor’s Stories Matter - how to bring them to life:  Come learn several methods of bringing your ancestors and their stories to life in easy, shareable ways. (Taught by Candice Fisher)

Ontario, Ireland, Canada, Ireland, England and back again!   Join Cassie as she goes through her journey through various databases in her search for the origins of her mother’s maiden name.

FamilySearch Indexing Lab - If you’ve ever used FamilySearch and wondered what the little blue boxes beside your ancestor’s name are and what to do with them - they like Ancestry.com’s shaky leaves, are hints attached to historical documents that their computer’s search algorithms have determined may be records that belong to you ancestor specifically. These records may include documents such as church or government records for birth/baptism, marriage, death/burial, land records, immigration, census, etc. In FamilySearch these records hints are created by volunteers reading online digitized copies of historical documents and “indexing” what they are reading. FamilySearch then searches these indexed records and finds possible matches in your tree. Come learn how to read these historical records and “index” so more records and hints can be made available for your and other researchers just like you. This is a great way to “pay it forward”. Historical records available for indexing come in many languages. A personal laptop will be required for this class. Max size is 10 people/session. A FamilySearch account must be created prior to the lab, please let us know if you’d like help to create one. (Both sessions of this lab led by Myrna Hunt)

Speakers Bios
Daniel R. Jones, MS, AG is an Accredited Genealogist specializing in Swiss and German research. His interest in genealogy began when as a youngster he would pore over his mother's Book of Remembrance, but his love of family history took off at the age of 13 when a Boy Scout merit badge brought him to a Family History Center at a local LDS chapel. Daniel has been working professionally since 2003 in helping several high-profile clients with research all over Europe. He has experience in numerous archives across more than a dozen countries in Europe, North America, and Africa. Daniel is a staff member on the International Floor at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.

Deanna Bullock has been researching her family history since she was a teen. She studied Family History at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah and is currently the Director at the Cochrane Family History Centre. Deanna has been a speaker at genealogy conferences across Western Canada and continues to upgrade her skills by attending genealogy institutes in Salt Lake City, and putting into practice the things she learns from colleagues, journals, magazines, podcasts and blogs.

Cassie Leszczynski started researching her family tree two years ago through classes at the Cochrane Public Library. The research has grown from a folder to a box, an interest to a full-fledged hobby. Cassie currently researches in Canada, Ireland and in Poland.

Candice Fisher is a wife and mother of 4 who finds time to take evening classes to finish her university degree. Candice has a passion for family and a strong interest in connecting the past to the current day by finding and sharing her ancestors stories with her children and extended family.

Myrna Hunt is a long time family history and genealogical researcher. She is currently both the director for FamilySearch’s online indexing initiative in the northwest Calgary region as well as a volunteer for FamilySearch answering online and phone questions for patrons who use FamilySearch.

Fireside: Temple Work and FamilySearch from an LDS Perspective (Sunday March 18)
LDS Fireside with guest speakers Brother Steve Miller speaking about the new Family Story Rooms available in Calgary and Brother Daniel Jones from the Family History Library in Salt Lake City will be speaking about Temple and FamilySearch from an LDS Perspective

Location - Royal Oak Chapel

Time - 7 pm

Audience - LDS members and guests

Tips and Tricks to Searching on FamilySearch.org (Saturday April 21)
FamilySearch.org is a free website belonging to the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah with user user-submitted trees and digitized record collections from all over the world available in their "free to the public" online collections.

Location - Cochrane Public Library 10 am - noon

Cost - Free

Tips and Tricks to Searching on MyHeritage's website (Saturday May 5)
MyHeritage is based in Israel and the strength of its databases and public user-submitted trees lies first in Continental Europe and so is an excellent resource to people researching their family in European, Scandinavian, British, etc counties.

Location - Cochrane Public Library 10 am - noon

Cost - Free

Temple and Family History Leadership and Consultant Training Meetings:
Wednesday, April 18, 2018 Royal Oak Building 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Wednesday, October 17, 2018 Royal Oak Building 7:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Collection

 * FamilySearch Catalog: This centre has the ability to view, for free, digitized versions of many of the records available through the FamilyHistory Library Catalog. All microfilm currently stored in the Granite Mountain Vault in Salt Lake City is expected to be converted to digital and available for viewing at local Family History Centres by the end of 2020.  Billions of records have already been converted to digital format.

Databases and Software

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


 * 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.
 * Access 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 Our NewspaperARCHIVE. 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— http://alexanderstreet.com/
 * Research Data: Contains indexed, searchable information on over 4 million soldiers and thousands of battles, together with 15,000 photographs. http://asp6new.alexanderstreet.com/cwdb/
 * 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. http://solomon.cwld.alexanderstreet.com/
 * Images, Photographs, Posters, and Ephemera: Provides a vivid history of the American Civil War with over 1,400 images. http://cpho.alexanderstreet.com/
 * Social and Cultural History: Personal accounts of well-known historical figures.
 * Women and Social Movements in the United States: Organized around the history of women in social movements in the United States between 1600 and 2000 A.D.


 * American Ancestors—http://www.americanancestors.org/ Advance your family history research today with AmericanAncestors.org! Created by the expert staff at New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS), America's founding genealogical organization, AmericanAncestors.org is the portal to the nation's leading resource for the highest-quality comprehensive family history services. Consult with our expert staff, some of the most respected genealogists in the profession. Read the most significant original scholarship and important publications in genealogy. Access millions of exclusive and sought-after records online. Learn with in-depth online courses and webinars from expert staff. Explore the largest collection of original family history research materials in America.


 * Ancestry.com—http://www.ancestry.com/ Ancestry gives you access to thousands of collections of records from around the world, including immigration, census, voter, vital, and military records; newspapers and periodicals; family trees; photos and images; directories, maps, court, land, wills and financial records, stories, memories, and histories; and detailed records about births, marriages, deaths, land ownership, and much more. It is the largest for-profit genealogy company in the world.


 * ​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. Click the link from the Premium Family History Websites page to install the current client version of ArkivDigital Online.


 * Findmypast—http://www.findmypast.co.uk/ 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. Please note that not all of the content from findmypast is available in family history centers.
 * 1911 British Census (accessed through the findmypast website)—The 1911 UK Census is a record of everyone who lived in England and Wales in 1911. It provides a unique snapshot of the lives of those who lived at that time.


 * Fold3 (formerly Footnote.com)–http://www.fold3.com/ Search or browse millions of historical documents and photos. Fold3 has refocused their efforts on gathering the best online collection of military records and stories. The Fold3 name reflects military history and honor, since traditionally, the third fold in a flag-folding ceremony honors and remembers veterans for their sacrifice in defending their country and promoting peace in the world.


 * Geneanet--http://geneanet.org With 3 billion referenced individuals and 600,000 trees online, Geneanet is the first site dedicated to genealogy in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Germany. The Geneanet community has two million members who exchange genealogical information.


 * ​The Genealogist— http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk  This resource, available in centers in the U.K. only, contain English parish records, directories, census, civil registration, surname mapping, and selected army and navy lists. This site is now available only in the United Kingdom. It is NOT available anywhere else.


 * ​Kinpoint Premium—https://kinpoint.com Kinpoint is designed to make it easier for you to do your family history by letting you see what to work on at a glance; quickly find missing information in your family tree; and discover insights into the lives of your ancestors.


 * ​MyHeritage—Library Edition—http://myheritagelibraryedition.com/research Used by millions of people worldwide to help research family history, build a family tree, and add photos, historical records, and more.


 * Paper Trail—http://www.genealogytoday.com/ Provides access to 19th-century westward American migration documents.


 * ​ProQuest Obituary Listings—http://obituaries.proquest.com/obitsweb/obits/do/home The ProQuest obituaries collection is a premier resource for genealogical and historical research. You can use the collection to search obituaries and death notices from prominent newspapers, such as the New York Times (dating back to 1851). The collection includes both famous and lesser-known individuals and can be searched by name or by keywords appearing in the body of the article.


 * Puzzilla— https://puzzilla.org Premium Services. Find new research opportunities on descendant lines in Family Tree.


 * World Vital Records—https://www.worldvitalrecords.com/ The link to World Vital Records currently redirects to MyHeritage.com. In the near future, World Vital Records will be removed from the Portal. (Updated 15 July 2016)

Hardware and Equipment

 * The centre has several computers available to enable visitors to undertake on-line research as well as three microfilm and one microfiche reader. We have printing facilities for the computers but not for the readers although what patrons do is use their phone cameras to record the image on the screen and this works just as well and has the advantage of giving you a digital record of the screen. Our printer / scanner will enable you to upload your family photographs into your family tree on Family Search.

Family History Library in Salt Lake City
Free classes offered throughout the month. Live in Salt Lake City and live broadcast for free for anyone to attend remotely. All classes are recorded and most are then stored in the archives to be viewed/reviewed at any time in the future.

https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Family_History_Library

BYU Family History Library Classes
Free classes offered throughout the month. Live from the Family History Centre at BYU and live broadcast for free for anyone to attend remotely. All classes are recorded and most are then published to YouTube to be viewed/reviewed at any time in the future.

https://sites.lib.byu.edu/familyhistory/classes-and-webinars/

Southern California Genealogical Society Webinar Series
The online webinars are free, but you must register ahead of time.

http://www.scgsgenealogy.com/webinar/jes-index.html

Still to come in 2017

Saturday Nov 4 “We're Here in America, Now What?

Wednesday Nov 15 Ancestral Hunting Grounds: Doing On-Site Research

Saturday Dec 2 Your Mom's mtDNA

Wednesday Dec 20 100 Days to a Better Family History

Cochrane Family History Centre
https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Cochrane_Alberta_Family_History_Centre

We have classes planned for 2017 and 2018 as well as a Family History Conference coming in 2018

FindMyPast
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liz51u4gGFc&utm_source=fmp&utm_medium=email&utm_content=1039894-A-29-C&utm_campaign=news&utm_term=FMP-CAM-Newsletter-251017-UK+-+S

MyHeritage
https://blog.myheritage.com/2017/10/tune-in-to-our-one-day-genealogy-seminar/

Books:
Libraries Public, University, Government

Google Books/Newspapers

Internet Archive - http://upfront.ngsgenealogy.org/2017/10/did-you-know-that-you-can-borrow-books.html

Resources in the Local Area https://familysearch.org/partneraccess

 * The Alberta Genealogical Society
 * Alberta Family Histories Scoiety


 * Alberta, Canada, Birth, Marriage, and Death Records 1870 to the Present
 * Calgary Public Library https://calgarylibrary.ca/resources/history-genealogy/
 * Cochrane Public Library http://www.cochranepubliclibrary.ca/
 * Cochrane Historical and Archival Preservation Society http://www.chapscochrane.com/

Volunteer at the Centre
If you are interested in sharing your genealogy or family history knowledge and research skills, please contact the Centre Director, Deanna Bullock at 780-777-4222 Call Send SMS Call from mobile Add to Skype You'll need Skype Credit Free via Skype