Family History Expos Genealogy Blog

Our Immigration Expo is a little over 2 weeks away and we would like to invite you to join us.

The spirit of migration is alive and well! The past, present, and future of international migration will come together in one location on March 18, in Salt Lake City at an unprecedented Immigration Family History Expo. To register for this event, please see our website at www.fhexpos.com.

World Trade Center Utah President and CEO Lew Cramer will join the Center’s Executive Vice President and COO, Elizabeth Goryunova in an opening address at the event to be held at Historic Masonic Temple, 650 E. South Temple. At the door registration begins at 8 a.m., the day’s session will begin at 8:30 a.m. Cramer and Goryunova will focus on the importance of migration, immigration, and emigration today and in the future.

“I love tracking the movement of peoples throughout the world it is a thrilling and invigorating experience,” Holly T. Hansen, president and founder of Family History Expos, Inc. said. “It’s also a necessary process for those who want to come to a deep understanding of their ancestors and themselves.”

The Immigration Family History Expo, hosted by Family History Expos, Inc., will feature notable speakers throughout the day. The event will culminate with author, producer, and director Lorie Conway’s in-depth look in to the history of immigration to America. Her presentation will include a special screening of Forgotten Ellis Island: The Extraordinary Story of America’s Immigrant Hospital.

Other notable speakers include:

• Brigham Young University Professor Fred E. Woods. Woods has held a Richard L. Evans Chair of Religious Understanding since 2005. Woods has also been a visiting professor at several universities and has lectured at many academic institutions in the United States and internationally. Professor Woods is the author or co-author of seven books and many articles, including three dozen on the topic of Mormon immigration/emigration in the 19th century. He is the editor and compiler of the Mormon Immigration Index CD released by the LDS Church in 2000. Dr. Woods will release his Mormon Migration website this year from the BYU Harold B. Lee Library.

• Arlene Eakle, PhD, president and founder of The Genealogical Institute, Inc. Eakle is a consultant, lecturer, author and researcher specializing in the geographic areas of New York, Southern U.S., British Isles, Switzerland, and parts of Germany.

• Kory L. Meyerink, MLS, AG, FUGA, vice-president of ProGenealogists, Inc. in Salt Lake City. Meyerink has worked with Ancestry and the Salt Lake City Family History Library. He is past president of the Utah Genealogical Association and founder of the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy. Meyerink is a nationally-known speaker, editor of Printed Sources, and adjunct faculty for BYU and San Jose State University.

• Holly T. Hansen, Family History Expos, Inc. Founder and President, is a lifelong resident of Croydon, Utah. She has been a family history educator for more than 15 years. Although she sponsors elaborate events, she also enjoys helping people one-on-one as they learn how to make technology work for them. An author, lecturer, and editor, Hansen devotes time every day to education.

Exhibitors will be at the event to offer hands-on demonstrations and techniques and technology to help researchers trace their roots.

Extend Your Visit

Many researchers are planning to spend two extra days at the renowned Family History Library to apply all they have learned at the Immigration Family History Expo. Extend your stay and join us for this informal gathering at special rates negotiated by Family History Expos, Inc. for you at area Salt Lake City hotels. Please see our website at www.fhexpos.com for more details.

Your local Family History Center has a wealth of resources for the family historian. Besides the ability to borrow microfiche and microfilm, each Center has their own resources including books, journal subscriptions, research aids and internet access. Using their computer system you can access the Family History Center Portal which provides free access to 10 genealogy subscription databases.

What’s the Family History Center Portal? Don’t let the phrase “Family History Center Portal” confuse you. A portal provides protected access to databases not available from your home computer. The Portal is a special service offered by the Family History Center, not available anywhere else.

Through the Family History Center Portal, a website accessed through a link on the Center’s computers, you can search the following subscription services for free:

Footnote.com–Through a unique partnership with the National Archives, Footnote allows you to find and share historic documents.

Godfrey Memorial Library–A genealogy and history library located in Connecticut. Godfrey provides links to resources throughout the United States.

Heritage Quest-Only available via a library subscription, Heritage Quest has U.S. census images, Revolutionary War pension records, Freedman records, digitized books and PERSI.

WorldVitalRecords- Has over 1.4 billion images for the United States and the world including everything from vital records, census images, newspapers, digitized books and more.

Alexander Street Press/American Civil War-Letters and diaries and resources about the American Civil War.

19th Century British Library Newspaper Digital Archives-A collection of newspapers to use for your English research.

Find My Past -650 million family history records from the U.K.

The Genealogist- UK census transcriptions, parish records, vital records, electoral rolls, directories and more.

Genline-Swedish genealogy database site with over 17 million Swedish church record images.

Historic Mapworks Library Edition-Over 1 million historic maps that include property maps and directories.

In addition, some Family History Centers may also independently subscribe to other genealogy websites. Contact your local Family History Center for more information.

The Family History Center Portal is only available through a Family History Center; you cannot access it from home. Not sure where your local Family History Center is located? Check out the directory at http://www.familysearch.org/ and look for the link Find a Family History Center.

As many of you know, we have had some website problems the last few weeks. Due to an incident involving the fire suppression equipment at the location where our web host server was stored, our previous website is not recoverable.

That’s the bad news, but the good news is we have a new website and a new blog that is going to be better than ever! Keep checking back here and at our website at http://www.fhexpos.com/ for updates and new features.

Thank you to all of our friends and supporters. We look forward to great things this year at Family History Expos.