Taber’s Family Search Centre exploring the roots of family trees

By Heather Cameron
Taber Times
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Taber’s Family Search Centre is preparing to teach some Family History courses via Zoom in the fall.

“The Family Search Centre is open to all,” Joyce Schortinghuis, Director of the Taber Family Search Centre, said. “Everyone is welcome. The staff provides the same services and assistance to everyone who comes in.”

Run and owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the centre has been around since the 1970’s. Schortinghuis says that the centre has moved around from the Taber Church of Jesus Christ building on 50 Avenue to a couple of other locations, and at one time was in the building now occupied by The Taber Times office. Currently, Schortinghuis says, it is back in the northeast corner of the Church building at 4709 50 Avenue across the street from Clearview Lodge. 

“Although it is physically located in the church building, the Family Search Centre is part of a separate non-profit corporation whose sole purpose is to encourage and assist people in researching their family history,” Schortinghuis said. “It has no religious agenda or overtones, and proselyting is not allowed.”

 Schortinghuis says that over the last 10 years, technology and indexing have made the Centre much more efficient and user-friendly, replacing old film-reading machines with up-to-date computers, printers, and free access to many of the major genealogical sites such as FamilySearch.org, Ancestry.com, MyHeritage, Findmypast, Geneanet, Filae, ArkivDigital, and more.

Staff consultants, Schortinghuis says, are also available to help people learn about and use all these resources.

For more information on the courses or how to get involved in Family History, visit: https://free-familyhistory.ca/.