The FamilySearch Center, presented in partnership with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, offers the general public personalized assistance in helping trace your personal or family genealogy.

Discover Your Family's Story at the FamilySearch Center in the John Parker Library

Have you ever been interested in discovering your family's origins, but never had the tools? Now you can take advantage of the FREE family history resources available at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center's FamilySearch Center.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. Walk-ins welcome!

The Family Search Center is open to visitors, serving everyone from beginners to the advanced.

Volunteers provide free, personalized assistance in tracing your family tree.

Preparing for your visit requires no prerequisites. To add to your experience,however, you may want to talk to relatives. Try to obtain names of parents, maiden names, perhaps dates of births and deaths, along with any family stores or family folklore. Volunteers will help you organize your information and help trigger future searches.

While you are at the Family Search Center, take some time to check these resources:

  • Search the U.S. census from 1930 to 1790;
  • Explore the Social Security Death Index;
  • Learn to research passenger list, military, state and county records, and surname databases;
  • Order microfilm records from the Family History Library at Salt Lake City, Utah;
  • Learn how to obtain copies of birth, marriage and death records.

Reservations available but not required: Call (513) 333-7737 to schedule an appointment.

Our Stories Must Be Told

This was the mandate given to us by Henry Gates, Jr. when he spoke at the Freedom Center recently. The volunteers at the Family Search Center want your genealogy story to add to its collection. Whether your ancestor came over on a slave ship or in steerage from Europe, Americans have stories to tell. If you have a tale telling of courage or sacrifice of your forebears or if you learned new facts about your family from your genealogy research, we would appreciate your sharing them and letting us save them for future generations.

Read some of these stories now

Partnership

The FamilySearch Center is presented in partnership with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Click here to make a difference

What our visitors say

"Outstanding help! This was truly a great surprise and was the 'icing on the cake' of a great museum experience."

"I have been here four times and I just found out about this today! I plan to utilize this service to trace my family. Perfect timing!"

"I really loved it; I found my ancestors. I feel so privileged and blessed to now have a resource and linkage to my ancestors. Thanks NURFC!"

"The crew is 'The best'! They are always willing to help, but better than just finding information for me. They are showing me how to do it for myself. That kind of assistance is invaluable."

Upcoming Events