By Robin Tanner
The annual Genealogy and Family History Conference is taking place this week at BYU.
More than 500 genealogy enthusiasts are attending the conference and many more buy the syllabus, according to the conference center secretary Cathryn Nelson.
One of the highlights of this year”s conference is a new research tool released by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
It is a CD-ROM containing The Vital Records Index for Scandinavia. Some 4.5 million extracted records from original birth, christening and marriage certificates from Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden are available.
The information was extracted from church records kept from the late 1500s to 1905. Jackynn Nelson works at the Family History Center in Salt Lake City as a part time missionary on the Scandinavian Reference desk.
Her first experience with this software proved to be successful. “It is easy to use, but there are limitations,” Nelson said.
Nelson explained that because of common names in Scandinavian countries, just a name is not sufficient to complete a search. “You have to have more information,” Nelson said.
Nelson suggested that information such as the possible birth city or approximate date will greatly help in using this software.
Carolyn Ugolini, of Sandy, said she is very involved with genealogy.
While living in Italy, she and her family made plans to return to the United States.
“My husband wouldn”t come here unless he came with his ancestors,” Ugolini said. Ugolini”s husband is a native of Italy. This heartfelt desire to find ancestors, not only blessed their lives, but the lives of others.
Seven years ago, Ugolini created Italian Family Tree Research. In her research efforts she has been able to use some of the software provided by the Church of Jesus Christ.
“The Church has created databases that are really helpful,” Ugolini said.
Ugolini has also attended the Genealogy and Family History Conference for eight years. “I think the conference is great, especially for people that are beginning their genealogy,” she said.
There is valuable information to be learned at the conference and from looking to our ancestors, Ugolini said. “They lived and they suffered, there”s a bridge there,” Ugolini said.
