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Living In The Past: History Center Lets The Genealogy Out Of The Bottle

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By PAUL CATALA, Tribune Correspondent

Published: December 17, 2007

Updated: 12/16/2007 08:23 pm

DADE CITY - Sandra Haxton has gone back with the Sparkman family to Ireland in the late 1600s.

Judy Kelley has tracked the Holbrooks into the mid- to late 16th century.

As volunteers at the Dade City Family History Center, Haxton and Kelley have traced their ancestries back generations and have helped others find out where they came from.

Located at The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Fort King Road, the history center is one of 63 LDS genealogy satellite branches in Florida, all tied into the main center in Salt Lake City, one of the largest genealogy research centers in the world.

The church has about 2,200 satellite branches around the United States and 3,500 worldwide in 80 countries.

Dade City's history center opened in October 2000. Inside are three research computers tied into the LDS system, a digital film copier, hundreds of microfilm and microfiche records and a library with more than 2,000 resource books and records.

Operating in partnership with the Pasco County Genealogical Society, the history center open free to the public and staffed by about 25 volunteers.

"All the records they have in Salt Lake City, we have here, and what we don't have, we can borrow from there," Haxton said.

The LDS church stresses genealogical studies and encourages everyone to learn about their past, Haxton said.

"It was important enough that it's in the Bible," she said. "That makes it pretty important."

Having served as the history center's director for seven years, Haxton has taken advantage of its resources. Related on her mother's side to the Sparkmans, a pioneering Plant City family, she discovered that in the late 1800s, her great-great-grandfather had married his daughter-in-law after his wife and son died. So the man Haxton's grandfather thought was his father, was in fact, his grandfather.

"If my husband and I hadn't kept digging, we would have totally missed that," she said.

Some people come in expecting to unravel all their family's stories in a day or two, Kelley said. But the process can take months or years.

Volunteers often can point seekers to the right resources. A lot of census records, birth and death certificates and other documents can be found online, she said.

During her own research, Kelley found out that in addition to her father, her great-grandfather had been a lighthouse keeper in Maine. She has traced her family back Nova Scotia and to her great-great grandmother in Newcastle, N.H., in the 1840s.

"People find stuff unexpected," she said. "They find things that they heard may have not been true or they came from somewhere they didn't know about."

Researching at the history center is free, and copies cost 10 cents. Microfilm can be rented from Salt Lake City for $5.50 a month.

Paul Nauta, public relations manager for the Family Search in Salt Lake City, said satellite centers such as Dade City's are crucial for making the church's genealogical archives available to more people.

"You can get free help and expertise at the local history centers," he said. "It's nice to have warm bodies around to help you discover your genealogy, and it's a good way to get local advice about genealogy-related questions."

Once people discover the history center, they keep coming back, Haxton said.

"You get hooked on genealogy," she said. "We're all in the family of man and a spirit family with the heavenly father. So we ought to know who we are, and this is one way to do that."

DIGGING UP ROOTS

WHAT: Dade City Family History Center
WHERE: 9016 Fort King Road

HOURS: Mondays 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Wednesdays, 1 p.m. to 9 p.m.

CALL: 813-788-4826

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