Finding a Family History Center for Free Research

While Family Search has an amazing website that provides free access to records, not all are available online to be viewed. Some records have been digitized, some are digitized but only available via a local Family History Center (FHC), or records are available via microfilm, which requires a visit to a a local FHC.  I will walk you through finding your nearest location.

Note that FHC are everywhere on the globe and in many cities throughout the USA.  You also gain free access to Ancestry if you browse from one of their computers.

• First navigate to Familysearch by going to https://familysearch.org/ 
• Once you arrive there, scroll to the bottom and notice the right most box where is says “Family History Centers” and click on the smaller words “Find a center”.
• If you cannot find it, then click here —> Find FHC
• In the search box, start typing a city name. 
• In my example, I start typed “Brooklyn, New York”
• You may notice locations appearing as you type, you can select them or allow it to take you to the location if finds.

Notice that the below view provides the first Brooklyn location.  You can zoom in and out and move the map around with the mouse.

This isn’t the only location but one of a few. Notice that hours are listed, providing their number, and location hours.  I recommend that you call to confirm hours so that it is not a wasted trip. If visiting over the weekend, try to arrive early enough so you can gain access to the computers. 

Desktop:  To see other blog posts for your island or country, click on the menu that appears at the top right of this post. It will take you to the page containing posts for your island or country.

Mobile Devices (Smartphone & Tablets):  To see other blog posts for your island or country, at the top of the page, click on the “Most Recent Post”, a popup menu will appear, select an option. It will take you to the page containing posts for your island or country.