Remember how I mentioned I’d be going to a family history fair at my church? Well I went, and it was awesome! If you are here for some family history resources (as hinted at in the title of this post) scroll down past the pictures!

There were several classes to rotate between all focusing on different family history related topics. Don’t let this picture make you think no one was there, this area was set up with extra chairs as it was the place where we met to say the opening prayer. I think that something like 30 adults ended up attending with at least that many children going nuts in the babysitting room.

After the classes were over we did the same thing we do at every Mormon gathering - Eat!
I spy green jello.

The desserts were supposed to be “family recipes” but I’m going to cry foul on this dessert, unless their family owns a bakery. I confess I ate some myself and it was delicious.

And this one too, although the people in line didn’t seem to mind that it wasn’t homemade. I was hoping to show you a picture of cupcakes made with a white cake recipe out of my great-great grandpa’s cookbook but things didn’t go so well. I might post the recipe here and see if someone can interpret it in a more delicious manner than I was able to.

While we were snacking we were able to walk around and look at displays containing family heirlooms. I set up a display with my brooch and cookbook but I forgot to take a picture of it. Probably because it wasn’t as pretty as some of these setups.

Look at that ancient can of ovaltine!

The Smith’s have done a LOT of genealogy. That family tree is really impressive up close, and I’m in love with the photo pillow sitting on the right.

I need to raid my mom’s supply and get some old family photos of my own to display. She has a whole box of treasures in our storage that I loved to sift through when I was younger.

And now for the resources. A big thank you to Sister Peterson for emailing these out to everyone, and I hope she won’t mind that I’m posting them here. I assume though, that she wants all of you to find your own ancestors as much as she wants me to find mine so I think she would be delighted to share these resources with you.

Susanne Peterson
May 30, 2009
Coppell 1st Ward
Family History Fair

FINDING YOUR DADA IN THE DATA
(just a taste of some of the available internet resources)

A FEW FAVORITE FREEBIES: (you will discover many other favorites of your own)
Ancestry (Subscription only) http://ancestry.com/
Arizona Births & Deaths http://genealogy.az.gov/
BLM General Land Office Records
http://www.glorecords.blm.gov
Castle Garden http://castlegarden.org/
Civil War Soldiers & Sailors http://www.itd.nps.gov/cwss/
CyndisList www.cyndislist.com
Ellis Island Family Center http://ellisisland.org/
FHC Portal (in FHC only) 9 subscription sites - all ACCESS & IMAGES FREE in FHCs
Find a Grave http://findagrave.com
Google Maps http://maps.google.com/
Google a name/location name, location or keyword search
RootsWeb http://rootsweb.ancestry.com/
US GenWeb http://usgenweb.org/
Utah State Archives http://archives.utah.gov/index.html

LDS & BYU SITES
BYU Center for Family History & Genealogy
http://familyhistory.byu.edu
BYU Family History Library http://www.lib.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp
FamilySearch www.familysearch.org
FamilySearchIndexing http://www.familysearchindexing.org/home.jsf
FamilySearch Labs https://www.labs.familysearch.org
new.FamilySearch https://new.familysearch.org
LDS Radio http://radio.lds.org (I tossed this one in – not FH related)
Mormon Pioneer Companies 1847-1868
http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompansearch/l.15773.3966-1.00.html
or Mormonoverlandtravel > Pioneer Company Search
PAF Tutorials http://paftutorial.byu.edu.org

A FUN SHORT FAMILY HISTORY VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c_cfGoOaXR8
length=2 min, 19 sec

You’ll be hearing about family history from me one more time this week, as I have a very exciting story about coming in contact with some long-lost Russian family members through this blog!