St. John's Family History Center

In 1964 the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints established a system of Family History Centers to give more people access to the Family History Library's resources. Now more than 4,600 Family History Centers operate in 134 countries and territories.

Your St. John's Family History Center is located in the west end of St. John's in the meetinghouse of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and serves numerous communities. You do not have to be a memer of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to make use of the Family History Center. Everyone is welcome to visit the center and use our resources. There is no cost to visit the center.

The center houses a collection of microfilm and microfiche and is staffed by volunteer members of the local congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ or Latter-day Saints.

Our goal is to provide resources to assist you in the research and study of your genealogy and family history by:

- Giving personal one-on-one assistance to patrons
- Giving access to genealogical records through the Internet or microfilm loan program

One-on-one Assistance
Family History Center staff can show you how to use the center's resources. To make your visit most effective, collect and organize the information that you already have. Bring as much information as you have about the ancestor(s) you wish to research, including available birth, marriage and death information. FHC staff can help you use that information to begin creating a Family Group Record.

Genealogical Records:
Family History Centers provide free access to many subscription genealogy websites, including:

- 19th Century British Newspapers
- Newspaper Archives
- Alexander Street Press (American Civil War Collections)
- Ancestory.com (Family History Library Edition)
- ArkivDigital Online
- FindMyPast
- Fold3.com
- The Genealogist
- Godfrey Memorial Library
- HeritageQuest Online
- Historic Map Works (Library Edition)
- Origins.net
- Paper Trail, A Guide to Overland Pioneer Names and Documents

Family History Center Staff can also help you search the FamilySearch Catalog. The FamilySearch Catalog is a catalog of the holdings of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah, the central library of Family Search which has been gathering genealogical records for over 115 years. Most of those records were recorded onto microfilm and microfiche. Copies of those 2.3 million rolls of microfilm and microfiche circulate to Family History Centers all over the world much like a public library's inter-library loan system. The Family History Library's book and CD collections do not circulate