Jesus Christ

Mormons are well-known for their passion for genealogy. They have provided many tools for people who love researching their family history and it is made accessible to people who are not members of the church.

Many Mormon church buildings have a family history library. Here, you can find knowledgeable volunteers who can help you get started with your family history. The centers usually have magazines, books, and other resources, including computers and microfilm machines. There is no cost to use them, and no missionary efforts are made. The libraries are there only to help people do their genealogy.

The church also has an extensive genealogy website, FamilySearch.org, containing family histories submitted by church members and non-members alike. There are many other resources on the website as well, which is continually growing. You can study free online lessons about how to do your genealogy, going step by step or only reading the parts you need help with.

You can download a free, full-featured family history program for your computer at no cost. It is quite comparable to those you purchase. You can purchase more features if you choose, but you can easily do everything you need with the free version, which is fully functional and has no expiration date.

25,000 historical titles are now digitalized and free online. These are valuable to people searching for clues about their family or the history of the places they lived. Many census records, including the 1900 census, are also free on the website. The Social Security death index is on the site in a searchable format, and there are also vital records indexes for Mexico and Scandinavia.

The church has an ongoing volunteer project which uses both members and non-Mormons alike. Volunteers for FamilySearch Indexing are working to put a variety of important records-census records, records for births, deaths, and marriages, and other essentials into a digital format. Often working from scanned documents, they type the needed information into a form. The Mormons then prepare it to be placed on the Internet, where people can access it at no cost. With thousands of volunteers working at home whenever they have some free time, many critical records are being made available to the public. Anyone can sign up for this, and work entirely from home on their own schedule. Once a project is selected from the list, the volunteer has a week to complete the assignment. If an emergency arises and they can’t finish, the record is removed from the list and someone else completes it for them. This makes it an excellent project for people who can’t leave their homes, who spend hours on a train commuting (because projects can be downloaded so you can work offline) and for those with young children who need volunteer work that can be done during nap time. Many people who are not Mormons have chosen to participate in this non-denominational project.

Mormons consider family history an essential part of their religion. They teach that families are forever, and as they get to know their family members who have died before them, they begin to build the bonds that make this relationship meaningful. In addition, they submit those names for ordinances which the person who has died can choose to accept or reject, including the ability to be connected as a family for eternity. For a Mormon, family history is more than names and dates-they’re part of their forever Mormon family.