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Religion and Genealogy Societies

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Posted by Your Guide on July 6, 2006 9:40 PM

The best known religious group that offers genealogical information to the public as well as its members is the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons). Through their family history centers the Mormon church is making genealogy information available to anyone who is interested in looking. Most of their information is available at no cost if you are able to visit a family history center. These are usually connected to or near their church building and are staffed by volunteers. If you are not near enough to a local center to visit in person, the center will assist you with microfilm and other records by mail for a small fee for each item.

Genealogy information is also available through churches that place no emphasis whatsoever on family history research. They do this by keeping minutes of business meetings, records of members, and minutes of meetings relating to members and their activities. Many youth groups take pictures of entire groups during camps and other fun events. Still others are reported in the local papers as their members participate in sporting events such as volleyball, softball and basketball tournaments. Records from long ago may include those members who were present at ground breaking ceremonies, charter members, and people who were married in that church. Genealogists who want a complete picture of their ancestor's lives should not neglect the research related to their religious activities and faith.

There have been many religious groups in the past that not only worshipped together, but also lived together and formed communities. These tight-knit groups usually married people of like faith and practices and kept records of marriages, births, deaths, memberships and refusal of membership. Because these groups lived, played, worked and died in close proximity of each other, researching them as a group can be very helpful to the genealogy researcher.



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