Friends of Layton FamilySearch Center

12/22/2025

https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/family-tree-mobile-app-search-update?cid=EM-00048621&lid=q03rzetprksr

Next time you need to search for something or someone on FamilySearch, try out the new mobile search experience.

12/19/2025

12/18/2025

Church Records in Counties and Cities:

Church records are one of the most useful genealogical resources in the United States. What you may not know is that there are many smaller collections of church records online, by location.

The Ancestor Hunt site (https://theancestorhunt.com/church-records.html) provides links to church records by state, including many counties and cities, for a variety of faiths.

You can learn more about church records in states in Goal 4 of the state page, such as for Colorado (https://www.thefhguide.com/project-9-us-colorado04.html ).

12/12/2025

Check out the informative classes being offered at the Layton FamilySearch Center this coming week. No reservations are required. You can view all the classes being offered at the Layton FamilySearch Center at the following link:
https://www.familysearch.org/en/centers/layton_utah/classes

12/11/2025

Success with U.S. Research before 1850:

As you trace your ancestry in the United States, you've probably noticed that things can get tougher as you go beyond 1850 or so.

This RootsTech video by Julia Anderson (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qL1HIf49UAs) helps you break through the 1850 research with valuable strategies for dealing with less record information, lack of indexes, hard-to-find sources, and more.

See also the Record Information section of Goal A1 (https://www.thefhguide.com/project-9-united-states.html ) in the United States page.

12/04/2025

I Have a Question:

In case you haven't seen this new feature in The Family History Guide, check out the I Have a Question page in the Research Skills menu (https://www.thefhguide.com/ihaq.html). It features 90-second videos that answer some of the most commonly asked questions about doing genealogy research, with links into our website for more information.

For additional interactive videos, see the Guided Learning page (https://www.thefhguide.com/guided-learning.html), also in the Research Skills menu.

12/01/2025

Inside FamilySearch Historical Images:

FamilySearch has many records that are online but have not yet been indexed. The Explore Historical Images feature (https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/) opens the door to these images, and this brief FamilySearch video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbWcuVkLdeo) shows how to use mapping to find the record locations of the unindexed records.

For more about learning to use the Explore Historical Images feature, see Goal 5 in Project 4: Discover (https://www.thefhguide.com/project-4-discover05.html ).

11/26/2025

Is That My Ancestor?

How do you know if a record hint or an online search result is actually about your ancestor, instead of someone else with a similar name, date, or location?

In this short video by Family History Fanatics (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMOYnb7FxhM) you'll get some tips on sorting it out, such as establishing family connections, determining occupations, etc.

For more information on handling the evidences you find, see Goal 7 in Project 4: Discover (https://www.thefhguide.com/project-4-discover07.html ).

11/24/2025

Exploring Canadian Vital Records:

If you are tracing ancestors in Canada, you'll find that the Canada Vital Records article on the FamilySearch Wiki (https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Canada_Vital_Records) is a go-to resource. It has links to online vital records, and it describes what's in birth, marriage, death and divorce records. It also covers research strategies and tips for using Canadian vital records more effectively.

For additional help with research, check out Goal 2 in the Canada page (https://www.thefhguide.com/project-9-canada02.html).