Auckland Family History Expo Attendees Learn About FamilySearch and RootsTech

Hundreds of family history enthusiasts from New Zealand attended the annual Auckland Family History Expo hosted by the Auckland City Council at the Fickling Convention Centre, August 11-13, 2023.

Representatives of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints volunteered their time and expertise to teach participants how to use FamilySearch to discover their family history and find information about their ancestors.

Paul Bennallack manages support and operations for FamilySearch International throughout the Asia Pacific region. He introduced FamilySearch to conference attendees and explained the various resources available on the FamilySearch.org website.

He also explained that there are over 5,000 FamilySearch centres across the world where anyone can get help with genealogical research. FamilySearch has over 40 million records specific to New Zealand and the South Pacific.

Wayne Goebel loves to attend the annual Expo. He said, “I’ve been coming for the past five years, and this conference is a great resource for anyone who loves family history.”

Dr. W. James Jacob, of FamilySearch International, presented attendees with an overview of RootsTech, the world’s largest family history conference.

RootsTech is now available to participants both in person and online. Total online participation at the conference this past March was over 4 million people.

Many expressed appreciation to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for covering the overhead costs of FamilySearch and RootsTech.

Jacob said that Rootstech.org offers conference sessions from the past three years He invited everyone to attend the next RootsTech conference February 29 to March 2, 2024, either in person in Salt Lake City, Utah or online.  Online sessions are free.