Granville church seeking help with indexing project

• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is in need of help indexing records.
• It’s partnering with the Smithsonian and others to digitize records from the Freedmen’s Bureau.
• Local churches, genealogical or historical societies or individuals are invited to participate.
• To sign up, contact Leslie Nufer, Columbus Ohio East Stake indexing director, at 614- 472-3190.

GRANVILLE – Jesse Thomas has a passion for finding out more about his ancestors.

But as a black man, it’s likely some of his descendants came to this country as slaves, which has made researching them difficult.

“There’s an innate desire to know your history and heritage,” he said. “But in my own family, it’s been challenging. Every time I’d start out, I’d almost always throw my hands up. It can be overwhelming.”

That’s why Thomas, high councilor for the Columbus Ohio East Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was so excited June 19 when the church announced a major project.

Members of the LDS church around the world will spend the next year participating in a project through the nonprofit organization FamilySearch.

FamilySearch is partnering with the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Afro-American Historical & Genealogical Society and the California African American Museum to convert the records from the Freedmen’s Bureau into a searchable database.

But they need help and are hoping local churches of all denominations, local genealogical and historical societies and individuals passionate about history will volunteer to lend a hand, said Leslie Nufer, Columbus Ohio East Stake indexing director.

“The records recently became open,” she said. “There is lots of information, but it’s never been indexed. The church is trying to do it all in a year.”

The Freedmen’s Bureau was set up at the end of the Civil War to assist newly freed slaves. From 1865 to 1872, the bureau opened schools and hospitals and kept track of banking information, marriages, military service records and property purchases.

About 4 million handwritten records have been preserved, which can give many Americans the key to finding out more about their families, Nufer said.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a long history of indexing records, which involves finding important information on a document and putting it in an online database. FamilySearch, which is sponsored by the church, is the largest genealogy organization in the world.

The project seemed like the perfect fit, and a great service project, she said. So far, 300,000 people are signed up to volunteer around the world.

Churches around central Ohio, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Granville, are in the early stages of participating and about 200 people have offered to help in the east stake.

More indexers are needed and all people need is a computer with access to the Internet and an interest in history to get started, Nufer said.

The first step is to complete a short training led by Nufer. Then volunteers get access to a computer program that will allow them to download batches of photos of the records. Each batch takes about 30 minutes to an hour to digitize and volunteers can do as many as they’d like, Nufer said.

“The more hands you get, the sooner it will get digitized,” Thomas said.

Nufer, who has done lots of research on her own family, said she understands how significant it can be to finally have answers about your family tree.

Once the records are done, they will be searchable and open to anyone in the world, she said.

“When you look at these records, you see that these are people and these are the things they did in their lives,” she said. “It’s important to get that information out there to their families.”

ajeffries@newarkadvocate.com

740-328-8544

Twitter: @amsjeffries

Learn more

If you are a member of a local church, genealogical or historical society, or an individual who just enjoys history, contact Leslie Nufer, Columbus Ohio East Stake indexing director, at 614- 472-3190 to schedule a training to help with the Freedmen’s Bureau project.

For more information about the project, go to discoverfreedmen.org.