harold@hp-pcd.UUCP (Harold Noyes) (11/08/83)
#N:hp-pcd:51800001:000:1575 hp-pcd!harold Nov 7 10:46:00 1983 Regarding Mormons and Roots-- It is true that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (the correct name for the "Mormon" church) is doing a **LOT** of work in genealogical research. This work includes the micro- filming of city/county/parish/etc records wherever possible. It also includes the "name extraction" program- a major effort to incorporate computer technology into the genealogical research process. Because of the nuances of genealogy (ie name spelling changes, mis-spellings, use of incomplete names in some records, incompleteness of records, etc), it is *VERY* difficult to have "automatic" cumputer research of genealogy. The name extraction program of the Church is the best they've been able to come up with to date and does incorporate the unprecedented database that the Church has collected. Access to the entire database and the name extraction program is available through every "Stake" (ie parish) of the Church. Call any Bishop or Branch President listed in your phone book and they can tell you all the info for their local area-- address, open hours, who the local person responsible for the name extraction program is. For you hard-core genealogy buffs, the Church sponsors an annual "World Genealogical Conference". It is held at the Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. More info can be obtained direct from the BYU people. Hope this has been helpful. If you have other questions, please feel free to ask. I'm *NOT* an expert, but I belong to a Church that *IS*. Harold B Noyes !hplabs!hp-pcd Corvallis, Oregon