The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints has opened an expanded genealogy center in White Oak. It's open to everyone and doesn't cost anything.

By LUCIA ANDERSON

Date published: 9/19/2003

Mormon church expands facility

The bookshelves have volumes with titles like "New England Marriages Prior to 1700" and "American Passenger Arrival Records."

The drawers are full of microfilm reels and microfiche slides that contain census data, military records and vital statistics. There are notebooks crammed with indexes of records for every state in the union and for several foreign countries.

Kay Cavender, director of the the Fredericksburg Family History Center, is proud to show visitors around her newly enlarged domain.

The center used to be in two small classrooms at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Fredericksburg Chapel on Bragg Road in Spotsylvania County. But with the completion of the church's new White Oak Chapel on Boscobel Road in Stafford County, the center has acquired better facilities.

There's a special room for the computers, microfiche and microfilm readers with lights that don't glare on the screens. There's extra space for tables where patrons can spread out books and papers while they do their research.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been assembling genealogical data in its libraries since 1894. Mormons believe that family relationships are sacred and eternal. They believe that ancestors who were not Mormons can be brought into eternal unity with the family through the actions of those still living. But in order to do this, one must know who one's ancestors are. And that means genealogical research.

The Fredericksburg Family History Center is one of 3,500 such centers throughout the world. All of them are branches of the Family History Library at the church's headquarters in Salt Lake City and have access to its vast collection of microfilm and microfiche records.

At the Fredericksburg center, a researcher can dip into church birth records for Northumberland County from 1661 to 1810 or Catholic baptism records for Vincennes, Ind., from 1890 to 1934, among other things.

Records that aren't available at the Fredericksburg center can be ordered from Salt Lake City for a small fee. Patrons can search the computerized Family Library catalog on the Web at familysearch.org to find what they want.

The FamilySearch site also has a compilation of genealogies contributed by thousands of people, along with the International Genealogy Index, which lists records from the early 1500s to the early 1900s.

The center only opened recently, and business is still a little slow. It's staffed by volunteers from the church, with Cavender--also a volunteer--handling the administrative duties.

Although Mormons are committed to doing genealogical research for religious reasons, Cavender said that slightly more than half of her patrons are non-Mormon members of the community.

"Genealogy is the No. 1 hobby in the United States," Cavender said.

"Once you start doing it, you can't stop," said staff member Betty Dingess. "You suck all your friends in as well."

Weather permitting, the Family History Center is having an open house from 10 a.m. to noon tomorrow. Call the center at 361-7494 for cancellation information. The center's is located at 20 Boscobel Road, Stafford.

To reach LUCIA ANDERSON: 540/374-5405 landerson@freelancestar.com

Date published: 9/19/2003