Latter-day Saint Preliminary Survey

United States

U.S. Church Records

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Preliminary Survey

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There are a few resources you want to check when you first get started in the search for the records of your Latter-day Saint ancestors.

Home Sources

The records that are held by parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins could be very beneficial. The time spent in searching for original records could be reduced by finding what was searched by others before you. In addition to home sources, extended family members may have submitted information about your common ancestor to the Family Tree, Pedigree Resource File, or to the old Ancestral File, or to the old "Four Generation Program" which were microfilmed as part of the Family Group Records Collection. Many Latter-day Saint ancestors are found in the International Genealogical Index.

Online Sources

The following list of sites on the Internet will be helpful in searching for the records of your Latter-day Saint ancestors. In many cases, these sources will lead to other records where your ancestors were mentioned. Click on each source for more details about the record. A link to the web site for each source is also provided:

The usage of "Mormon" and "LDS" on this page is approved according to current policy.

1. Ancestry.com has several databases specifically related to Latter-day Saint ancestors
2. Chronology of Church History
3. Heritage Gateways
4. Iowa Mormon Trails Association
5. Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel 1847-1868
6. Mormons and Their Neighbors
7. Oregon-California Trails Association
8. Tracing Mormon Pioneers Also see the FamilySearch Wiki article Tracing Mormon Pioneers
9. Utah State Archives Cemetery Burials
10. Utah State Archives Death Certificates