Family History in Chiloe

We went to Chiloe, an island to the south of Osorno, for a family history conference in Castro, the capitol of Chiloe.  The conference was about general (not Church specific) family history put on over two days in the public library for anyone who wanted to come.  It was free to all.  Those involved were the Church's Family History Center, the Castro public library and the Registro Civil, the government statistical branch.   It was very interesting. The directors of Indexing and the Family History Center talked about genealogy in Chiloe, a fellow who has done much genealogy with the Maipu Indians spoke (fascinating), and the director of the Registro Civil in Chiloe spoke about the Catholic Church records and Chilean records.  The program was very well done.  

We went to Castro about 10 days ago to the Family History workshop they were having in conjunction with the pubic library.  It was fun event and we learned a lot on how to do a workshop.  They had a speaker on what genealogy is -- names, dates, and places -- and how family history is more than just data but is stories and pictures what make your ancestors more alive to you.  Then a fellow who has done genealogy for 30 years on the island talked about his information and that he uses PAF and showed people a variety of names of their relatives!  The second night we have the Registro Civil (the birth, death, marriage records portion of the government) talk about Chilean records, both the Catholic Church records and the government records.  Then the Family History Center director spoke about our Church's family history program and even mentioned the Spirit of Elijah!  It was a non-church meeting but he fit it in.  Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and the crowd grew from Thursday to Friday.

And it was fun to stay in a hotel for a night!