'I found him' heard frequently from patrons
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Diann Lowery had worked long and hard trying to find information on a name she was given, but she had hit a brick wall. She loaded her stuff into her satchel and headed for her car. She had just left the Ogden Regional Family History Center when a worker called her name and told her the name she was looking for had come up on a different computer located behind where her station had been. She found that she had been looking for the wrong gender. She had been looking for a woman and it was actually a man's name. She was able to complete the research, submit his name, and get his temple work finished.
Brother Richard Ensign, a retired pharmacist and one of the assistant directors of the Ogden family history facility, said he hears of maybe three family history moments like Sister Lowery's a week. He said he is sure a lot go unreported.
"It's really fun to be walking down the hall and hear someone shout, 'I found him!' " Brother Ensign said.
There is a "Wanted Dead or Alive" bulletin board near the door of the west building where patrons can post names they are trying to find.
"It works real well; people will look at the board and contact the researcher with information," he said.
In the large room used for lectures and family reunions, Brother Doyle Olsen from Syracuse, Utah, was instructing Sister Elaine Cloward, also of Syracuse, on how to find and check duplicated names.
In another room, Ogden resident Wayne Moss meets his daughter from North Ogden, Katie Garr, once a week to research names. The two are exploring names from both sides of their family. They are currently going through names from Norway and Denmark in the 17th century and English names dating around 1100 A.D.
The well-kept building, found at 539 24th St. in Ogden, was first used as an institute building for the old Weber College, then a BYU extension center and now the Ogden Regional Family History Center. Aside from the Family History Center in Salt Lake City, it is the largest of the 3,400 Family History Centers in the Church.
Emil Hansen, retired dean of administrative services at Weber State University, is the director and oversees 250 staff missionaries and volunteers. Last year, the center had 64,000 hours of recorded family history activity. Beside his administrative duties, Brother Hansen can be found teaching classes to eager students ready to find information about their kin.
For those just starting, taking classes to learn family history research methods, techniques and tools will save them time, money and energy. The beginners who have never used a computer can take a basic computer class, and for those seasoned pros who know how to use a computer, they can jump right into the "Five Generation" class. "Organizing your files – Color Coding" is next on the list, followed by "PAF 5.2 - Basic."
Most classes range in length from 2-12 class periods, which generally last an hour and 20 minutes each. Approximately 25 – 30 different classes are offered each month. Individual classes meet one time a week. Interested patrons usually sign up well in advance so manuals can be made available for those who choose to purchase them. The only charges related to center classes are the cost of the manual.
The Ogden center offers hope and help to ward and stake family history leaders by providing top-notch training on all aspects of family history research. A CD with multiple "Teach Me" tutorials on many aspects of family history research currently used throughout the U.S. and Canada can be obtained at the Center.
Also taught are one-time, hour-long classes on a variety of subjects of current interest.
The ORFHC boasts 135 computers and hundreds of CDs with several different kinds of resource material, including: census materials, maps, books, manuscripts, histories, microfilms and other research materials. The research facility had nearly 50,000 patrons last year in an area that includes 39 stakes in Weber County as well as Ogden Valley.
Copy machines are available for making copies and some of the machines make photo-quality color copies.
The facility has its own audio-visual room dedicated to making photocopies of pictures, slides and other documents available to researchers. A flatbed scanner is also on hand for digitizing documents and photographs.
It is not uncommon for missionaries laboring in the Utah Ogden Mission to stop by on Tuesdays to use the computers for sending and receiving e-mails to and from their families.
For more information about the Ogden Family History Center, call 801-626 1132, FAX: 801-626-1129 or e-mail: UT_OGDEN@ldsmail.net.
