Fresno California East FamilySearch Center

(Add a brief paragraph about your center here and the area it serves. Information in italics below is guidance for you and should be deleted as you fill out the page. Remove italics from other text by selecting the text and clicking the "I" box in the Toolbar above.)

Center Contacts and Hours
Location Map:


 * Location on Map

Address:


 * 1880 Gettysburg Ave Clovis CA 93611 United States


 * Language: English

Phone:


 * 1-559-291-2448

E-mail:


 * [mailto:CA_FresnoEast@ldsmail.net CA_FresnoEast@ldsmail.net]

Center Director


 * William Holden (559) 292-1658

Open Hours:


 * Tuesday 10:00am-3:00pm and 6:30pm-9:00pm
 * Wednesday 10:00am-3:00pm and 6:30pm-9:00pm
 * Thursday 10:00am-3:00pm and 6:30pm-9:00pm

Holiday Schedule:

Closed December 16th through January 1st:

Class Schedule
Family Search Learning Center~ Browse through hundreds of on line genealogy courses to help you discover your family history.

Familysearch Learning Center

Examples:

Introduction to Hispanic Research

Course Description: This webinar is desgined for those who are just getting started with Hispanic Research. The research process, research logs, search tips, finding aids, and language aids will be presented along with a case study. The class also discusses the important record types for researchers lookin for ancestors in Mexicon, Latin America and Spain.

Link to course: https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/lesson/introduction-to-hispanic-research/925

Manual Separation Process for Separating Incorrectly Combined Records in Family Tree

Descriptiion to course: Instructions to correctly combine NFS records that were transferred into Family Tree containing vital information and relationships that apply to more than one person. The goal of Family Tree is to have a single record for each single person. Therefore, the incorrectly combined NFS record needs to have the combined identities manually separated into separate Family Tree Records.

Link to course: https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/lesson/manual-separation-process-for-separating-incorrectly-combined-records/974

Duplicates in Family Tree

Description of course: Why are there duplicates for the same person in Family Tree? What do I do with these duplicate records. How do I merge or combine these records into one record? Kathryn Grant provides information about these questions.

Link to course: https:/familysearch.org/learning center/lesson/duplicates-in-family-tree/927

Easy Steps to Descendancy Research- Video (4 minutes)

Course Description: Descendancy Research is the process of finding all the descendants (children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, etc.) of one of your ancestors. Descendancy research is a great way of connecting with living relatives and gives you ithe opporunity to continue learning about your family even if research on your ancestral line has stalled. This lesson will give you step by step instructions on how to research descendanats using the resources of FamilySearch.org.

Link to course: https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/lesson/easy-steps-to-descendanacy-research/877

Descendancy Research- video and slides (40 minutes)

Course Description: This lesson will help you learn what descendancy researchis, how to choose an ancestor, and then collect previous research about that ancestor.

Link to course: familysearch.org/learningcenter/lesson/descendancy-research/568

Intermediate- Family Tree:Sourcing- Document in Family Search to a Source.

Description of course: This lesson discusses how to attach a source from Family Search to an individual in Family Tree.

Link to course: https://familysearch.org/learningcenter/lesson/intermediate-family-tree-sourching-document-in-family-search-to-a-source/1030

Collections

 * FamilySearch Catalog: This center has the ability to order any of the films and fiche available through the FamilySearch Catalog.

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.

Hardware and Equipment

 * Our Family History Center has 18 separate computer stations; one microfilm copier; two microfilm readers; one microfische reader, and a copy/scanning machine.


 * Thanks to the efforts of Dennis McCauley and Bill Holden, we have one of the best family history centers set up in the Fresno Region. The Stake has recently increased the size of our internet bandwidth so our computers are able to connect much quicker to family history websites that in the past.
 * Thanks to the efforts of Dennis McCauley and Bill Holden, we have one of the best family history centers set up in the Fresno Region. The Stake has recently increased the size of our internet bandwidth so our computers are able to connect much quicker to family history websites that in the past.
 * Thanks to the efforts of Dennis McCauley and Bill Holden, we have one of the best family history centers set up in the Fresno Region. The Stake has recently increased the size of our internet bandwidth so our computers are able to connect much quicker to family history websites that in the past.


 * Due to the large number of individual computer stations, our Center offers an excellent facility to bring groups of ten to fifteen individuals at a time for family history training. We would request that if your Priesthood Quorum, or mutual class, or other organization bring in a group for training purposes, that you call Brother Bill Holden, the family HIstory director  at 559-292- 1658 so that we can schedule adequate staff to assist patrons on a one to one basis.

For youth groups, we request that the youth have their LDS accounts set up before coming to the Library so that time may be more fully devoted to helping them find names to take to the temple rather than setting up their accounts.

Staff Research Specialties
Richard and Carolyn Roach~Stake Index Leaders~559-292-6255

Bill Holden~Family History Director~works Tuesday nights at FHL; phone 559-292-1658

Dave Grenier- Family Search Missionary, works Thursday night at FHL; phone 559-297-1345; e-mail address: [mailto:grenida@pacbell.net grenida@pacbell.net]

Rebecca Shiner~Eastern Prussia; Great Britian Research~ 559-346-1390

Bishop Dan Winiecke~ Polish Russian Research~559-903-0605

Patrick Cummings~Leeds &amp; Grenville Counties, Ontario; New York Research~559-346-1259

Leon Papin- French Canadian Research~559-346-9620

''Jane Moffitt~Great Britian Research~works Tues. Mornings at FHL; 559-412-4267''

Bill Vaughn~Fresno East Stake FHL printing specialist- works Thursday night at FHL; phone 559-298-8345

Jana Last~Family History Blogger specialist~291-6375

''Steve Mecham~Ancestry.com Research~works Wed. Evenings at FHL; 559-291-7363''

Resources in the Local Area
American Historical Society of Germans From Russia:

Their purpose is purely historical by doing genealogical research of our German from Russia forefathers, as well as reuniting with living relatives, recording and preserving historical facts.

Genealogy Research Library and Museum

Library Hours: Tuesday to Friday 12:00 noon to 4:00 p.m., Closed Saturday to Monday

Tours and/or Personal Research by appoitnment

Central California Chapter, 3233 N. West Ave, Fresno, CA 93705-3402

Phone: 559-229-8287 Email: [mailto:info@ahsgrfc-centralcal.org info@ahsgrfc-centralcal.org]

American Historical Society of Germans

The Heritage Center ~San Joaquin Valley Heritage and Genealogical Center~Central Branch- 2420 Mariposa St., Fresno, CA. 559-600-6230; Fresno Library.org Heritage

Hours:

Mon-Thurs 10am to 7 pm

Friday, Sat 10am to 5 pm

Sun 12 noon to 5pm

Resources:


 * California vital record indexes, cenuses Great Registers


 * City Directories and Telephone Books for Fresno More


 * Orbituary File


 * Yearbooks from local area schools and colleges


 * online resources including ancestry library edition


 * newspapers: local and California dating back to the 1850's


 * Maps: Fresno, San Joaquin Valley and parts of California


 * Postcard and Photograph collection


 * William Saroyan Collection


 * Oral Histories

For a more complete list of Resources, go to: Fresno Library Heritage

Daughters of Utah Pioneers:

C.L. Fancher Camp meets in Clovis on the third Thursday at noon.

Lydia McCauley Camp meets in Fresno on the 2nd Thursday at 10:30 a.m.

Camp Sugar Pine meets in Oakhurst on the 2nd Monday at noon.

For more information, contact Sonja Kland 559-224-5236

International Society of Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 300 N. Main, Salt Lake City, UT 84103-1699

Dupinternational

Fresno County Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 1429, Fresno, CA 93716-1429; Phone no 559-600-6230

FCGS meets on the 2nd Tuesday of the month in Feb-July, Sept and Nov. at 6:30 p.m. in the Woodward Park Library located at 944 E. Perrin (at Champlain).

Meetings feature speakers on a variety of topics of genealogical and historical interest.

Save the Date! October 17, 2015; Lisa Louise Cook, host of the Genealogy Gems podcast, author, blogger, and national speaker, Lisa has spoken for the Southern California Genealogy Society's Jamboree, RootsTech, Who Do You Think You Are? We are pleased to bring Lisa to the valley. Look for more information on our website, Facebook page or email: [mailto:seminarfsgs@gmail.com seminarfsgs@gmail.com] to get on the mailing list.

Our website: Rootsweb Ancestry

Want to make a donation to the Church History Library? Contact Church History Library Donations;

Acquistions hotline 1-801-240-5696. Will accept journals manuscripts, books, letters, museum items with historical value with LDS content. E-mail inquiries to: [mailto:churchhistoryacquistions@ldschurch.org churchhistoryacquistions@ldschurch.org]

"MORE NAMES NOW AVAILABLE WITH FAMILY TREE HINTING UPDATES", January 5, 2015 by Robert kehrer.

On Tuesday, Dec. 23rd, Family Search released a new update of the hinting data view able on an ancestor's detail page and in the descendancy view in the Family Tree. In this data update, newly added or changed persons in the Family Tree have been hinted using all the newly available information. It also includes important new record sets, such as the Find-A-Grave collection, that have been recently published.

Additionally, engineers and architects have made numerous advancements in the software algorithms which makes it possible for more than 14 million new hints to be identified. Users of the Family Tree may wish to visit their ancestor pages again and see if any new hints are displayed.

We are excited as our users are about the accuracy and efficiency that these new tools provide., both the task of doing research, as well as the quality of the information found in Family Tree. In the days since this data release, users have set new daily highs in the number of sources they have attached to the Family Tree and the number of new persons added to the tree from historical records. With the vast number of daily additions to the Family Tree tied to historical documents, the Family Tree is becoming one of the largest and most accurate genealogical trees in the world. These new tools enable many new people to become engaged in Family History Work. We invite all who have used the new tools and hints to share their skills and love of this work with other friends and family members so that we can help accelerate this great work.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE WITH FAMILY TREE HINTS: I have been searching for years the names of other siblings of my great great grandfather, Samuel Mecham. I knew from the 1820, 1830, and 1840 census records of McKean Township, Erie County, Pennsylvania that his father Elam Mecham and his second wife Sarah had at least three daughters and two sons in this second family for Elam, including my ancestor, Samuel Mecham, but I had been unable to locate any records of these other siblings. In June of 2014, I went to the family tree page of Elam Mecham Sr. and there was a hint for me to check the 1855 New York State Census of Charlotte Township, Chautauquia County, New York. It had never occurred to me to check the census records of this county, though it was a neighboring county of Erie, Pennsylvania, just across the New York state line. I had never come across any links in Ancestry.com directing me to check this particular census record [primarily because Ancestry had not yet uploaded this particular collection in their vast census collections.] To my great joy, I found as I openned up this particular record, I found the names of Elam Mecham Sr. and his second wife Sarah, residing in the home of Joseph and Betsy Gillett. This particular census record stated that Elam and Sarah Mecham were the inlaws of Joseph Gillet. Upon subsequent review of records in this region, I found the marriage record of Joseph Gillet to Betsy Mecham.

Subsequent research in other historical documents has led to the discovery of another daughter, Mehitabel Mecham Horton, residing in the Charlotte Township regions. I have since submitted the names of these two newly found families for temple work. Had it not been for the family tree hint that I came across on the family tree page of Elam Mecham Sr., I would have not been led to this important census record, which yielded so much more important information on the identity of these two missing sisters to my great great grandfather, Samuel Mecham. ~Submitted by Steve Mecham, Jan. 17, 2015

The Benefits of Writing a Genealogy Blog By Jana Last

Have you heard about genealogy blogs? Have you thought about beginning your own genealogy blog? Genealogy blogs are a great way to share information about our ancestors. I began my genealogy blog in April of 2012 and have found so many benefits from sharing information about my ancestors in my blog. Here are some of the benefits I’ve found over the years:

• My blog acts as cousin bait, which means that if a relative of mine searches for one of our common ancestors on the internet, they may find my blog and contact me. I've had this happen several times. I recently had a previously unknown cousin who lives in Brazil contact me. He shared a photo of my great-grandfather with me that I’d never seen before. Blogs have a global reach. They can be read by people all over the world, which is amazing.

• Writing about my ancestors helps me to better analyze the research I have about them.

• Writing about my ancestors helps me to get to know them better. It's fascinating to learn about them. It also helps me to appreciate them and what they experienced during their lives.

• My immediate and extended family members near and far can learn about their ancestors by reading my blog. And hopefully my future descendants will read my blog and enjoy learning about their ancestors too.

• Even if distant cousins don't contact me when and if they find my blog, the information, stories, and photos I share may be helpful and interesting to them. They may see a photo of an ancestor that they'd never seen before. I know how exciting that can be.

• Each person in my family tree deserves to be remembered. And writing about them in a genealogy blog is a great way to remember them.

• I've made lots of genealogy blogging friends online. These friends are from all over the world. There's an active online genealogy blogging community and its members are very kind and helpful.

• Blogging about ancestors is fun!

_______________________________________________________________________

Indexing is More Important Now Than Ever Before February 4, 2015 By Michael Judson

FamilySearch researchers are constantly looking for ways to improve the efficiency of the indexing process, and they are also discovering ways to make better use of indexing work that has already been performed. The results of their research should warm the heart of every person who has ever indexed or arbitrated a batch of records.

If you read the article titled, “Magnifying Volunteers’ Gifts: A Progress Report,” you would recognize some of the innovative ways FamilySearch is making indexing much more efficient. Now there are more exciting developments that make even better use of the records that have already been indexed.

Searching, Hinting, and Descendancy Research

Indexing makes records searchable. You already know that untold thousands of people benefit from what your good work is making possible. As one grateful family researcher put it, “An unindexed record is an unfindable record.” Well, thanks to you and hundreds of thousands of volunteers like you, the days of unindexed records are numbered.

But what if you could get the computer to do the searching for you? What if the computer was bringing your ancestors to you instead of you having to go out and find them yourself? That day is now here thanks to a marvelous new capability on FamilySearch called “hinting.”

Hinting is when the computer looks at the information in your family tree and compares it against the information in the FamilySearch database—all 3 billion+ records! When it finds a record that matches most or all of the information about an ancestor in your tree, it is posted as a “hint” to new information about that person.

Now, how does the computer know that a record is related to one of your ancestors? You guessed it—it’s because someone took the time to index that record!

Maybe you’ve also seen the new descendancy view of your family tree, where you can look at the descendants of your ancestors to find missing cousins. This powerful new feature makes it easy to find the names of relatives who have been lost or forgotten but who belong to your family and in your family tree.

And how is this happening? Again, indexing makes it possible!

Indexing is vital to the future of family history, but now it’s becoming really vital. Like seeds planted in good soil, your indexing efforts are multiplying, and the Internet is being flooded with freely searchable records as a result. Thank you for being one who is making such a huge difference to those who are looking to make those amazing connections to their past.

– Article by Michael Judson

--

Personal experience with the benefits of indexing and how it has helped me expand my family Tree by Richard Roach

My Grandmother, Nana as we called her, was born 23 September 1886. She was the second of two children born to Philip Henry and Georgina Emma Brown. Soon after her birth her mother decided to start a new life without her family. Her father was a Colonel and an engineer in the English Army and was gone for many days at a time. So he shipped Nana and her brother Robert to England to be raised by his brother’s family. They both attended boarding school, traveling home to their Uncle’s on vacation and holidays. The months turned to years and for these two children, a bond was formed that would last a lifetime and across many continents. Nana traveled to America in the early 1900’s and her brother stayed in England. Soon they both married started families. Nana’s brother Robert and his family moved to Australia. In their letters back and forth and through two World Wars they kept in touch and up to date with each other’s family. One question which they discussed a few times was who their mother was and what her name was? They both had birth certificates from India. Their mother’s name was spelled differently on both certificates. On Robert’s his mother’s name was Georgina and on Nana’s it was Georgiana Emma. But what is her last name, and her family?

In one letter to Nana in 1947, Robert wrote that his father had been married three times.

In this letter he shed new light on their Dad and Mom. Dad had been married three times. Their mother was his second wife. But as to her maiden name he did not know. This was a mystery that she would share with her daughter, my Aunt Joyce before her death in 1977. A few years after I joined the church, my wife and I joined the effort to solve this mystery. What was my great grandmother’s last name? Aunt Joyce went to Australia and to England to search for information and living relatives. She came back with stories but no facts and no lost relatives being found. Aunt Joyce is older now and not able to travel. The last place she thought might shed some light on the subject was to visit the place Nana was born and that meant a trip to India.

Well one day in May of last year Carolynn was Indexing on the computer so I decided to surf Ancestry.com and check out the possible “hints” they had on my family. I clicked on my Great-grandmother’s name and they said they might have a marriage record for Georgina Emma. I got very excited as I clicked on the link and found a marriage document from India. It was for a Georgina Emma Whannell, to her second husband, John Battie. As part of the document her first husband was also listed, a Philip Henry Brown. That was the proof I needed, the name I needed, to solve the family mystery that had lasted 128 years!

The marriage record had been indexed in 2013, and released in 2014. I called Aunt Joyce right away and shared the good news! She feels it was a miracle, as do I, and I feel it was a blessing from a loving Heavenly Father, who wants the work connecting us to our ancestors to go forward. We have added three more generations to our family name and new stories to our family history.

Links
New-era/2014/10/25 Cool-ways-to-connect-through-family-history

New-era/2014/10/A-menu-for-a-great-interview

Ensign/2014/10/Missionary-family-history-and-temple-work

Ensign/2014/10/Whats-a-family-tree-gathering

New-era/2014/10/Family-history-i-am-doing-it

Ensign/2014/11/Sunday-afternoon-session/the-book

LDS Church Members~ Create your own personal accounts with "ancestry.com: ; "find my past"; and "my heritage" for free. Family History is more than a hobby. It is an activity that that blesses both the living and the dead. Connecting generations with the blessings of the Temple serves ancestors, safeguards individuals, and strengthens families. See: Familysearch Partner Access

Alison Shaw Knudsen had been looking for her father’s great grandmother for many years.

In fact, many people had tried for more than 40 years to find her. Her father had spent his entire adult life searching, without success. It seemed like a lost cause. Sister Knudsen felt a very strong impression to try again to find her great great grandmother. She and her husband began their search with a prayer.

They searched again through a their family history books, looking for a clue. Finally they turned to ancestry.com.

Latter Day Saints receive now receive free subscriptions to Family Search partner websites, such as ancestry.com. For more information, go to FamilySearch Partner Access. “Ancestry.com gave us a massive list of possibilities, “ said Sister Knudsen. “For some reason, I was prompted to click on one among-st hundreds of options- and there she was! We found this great great grandmother in an English workhouse at the bottom of a census record. We also found her father and mother on this record. The Spirit was electrifying at that moment in the room. No words can describe our joy at making this connection.”

Sister Knudsen had the privilege of performing her great great grandmother’s endowment and sealing to her parents and children. “I felt her spirit finally happy. She had lived a life of poverty and abuse with her family in an English workhouse. But in the temple, I felt the generations of our family present, now all eternally connected.”

Download your own free copy of "48 Ancestry.com Research Tips" in available PDF file: Family tree magazine free-ancestry-search-tips

BYU Relative Finder~ Roots-fb.cs.byu.edu Relative finder is a place where you can find how you are related to the world. Discover connections between you, presidents, prophets, and your families.

A little known program of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) provides genealogy information that may be difficult or impossible to obtain elsewhere. The records include naturalization files, visa applications, and citizenship tests, and may reveal family secrets and mysteries. In addition to relatives, historians or researchers can also request files.

Under the USCIS Genealogy Progam, which started in 2008, requests are usually completed within 30 days. The government will run a search of the name, as long as the person is deceased. If there are records available, the government charges additional fees for the files. The fee for a record copy from microfilm identified as (M) is $20 per request. The fee for a copy of a hard copy file identified as (HC) is $35 per request. More information about the fees associated with each file series may be found at USCIS Government History Genealogy Records.

The documents typically include immigration information, often (but not always) including exact hometowns in their ancestors native countries. The files often have information on brothers, sisters, aunts, and uncles. Many times it is useful to obtain the records of your uncles, aunts, and cousins who also immigrated from "the old country."

If the immigrant applied for American citizenship, the details are also included in these files. For anyone of Japanese, German, or Italian origin who lived in the United States during World War II, the documents often include FBI reports about the person's activities, including friends, family, and political activities.

For more information about the program, check out USCIS Government Genealogy.

FamilySearch's Top Databases for 2014 provide Resources for Family History Work~ Church News Resources for Family History Work

Using Free Message boards in Genealogy Research~ Genealogy Revelations Using-free-message-boards-in-genealogy-research

The National Archives~Resources for Genealogists~ Archives Government Research Genealogy

Making family History Fun for children:

Friend/2011/02/Family-history-fun

Lds-magazines/Friend-March-2012/2012-03-08-extra-extra-read-all-about-it

Magazines Friend-July-2013-07-31-familysearch-sleuth

Friend/2006/05/Grandmas-trunk

Friend/2009/10/My-family-tree

Friend/1982/03/Seek-and-find

Liahona/2002/08/Sharing-time-the-heart-of-the-children

Kids Family Tree Magazine

Volunteer at the Center
(Include information here about the volunteers you are looking for.)