FamilySearch

FamilySearch

URL	FamilySearch.org
Commercial?	No
Type of site	Family history
Available language(s)	English
Owner	The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Launched	01999-05-24May 24, 1999
Alexa rank	5,989 (February 2012)
Current status	Active

FamilySearch is a genealogy organization established and run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch consists of a collection of records, resources, and services designed to help people learn more about their family history. FamilySearch gathers, preserves, and shares genealogical records worldwide. FamilySearch offers free access to its resources and service online at FamilySearch.org, one of the most heavily used genealogy sites on the Internet. In addition, FamilySearch offers personal assistance at more than 4,500 family history centers in 70 countries, including the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

FamilySearch cites as its motivation to provide genealogical information the "beliefs of the LDS Church that families are meant to be central to our lives and that family relationships are intended to continue beyond this life."

History

• 1894: Founded as the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU)
• 1938: GSU begins microfilming records of genealogical importance
• 1963: The microfilm collection is moved to the newly completed Granite Mountain Records Vault for long-term preservation.
• 1995: After a controversy, a deal is struck between the Jewish and LDS communities to "Remove from the International Genealogical Index in the future the names of all deceased Jews who are so identified if they are known to be improperly included counter to Church policy."
• 1998: FamilySearch/GSU begins digital imaging of records
• About August 1998: Decision is made by LDS Church leaders to build a genealogical website.
• May 1999: Website first opened to the public. It almost immediately went off-line, overloaded because of extreme popularity.
• October 1999: Surpassed 1.5 billion hits.
• November 1999: 240 million names added, bringing the total number of entries to 640 million.
• 2001: Work began on a replacement website, backed by a consolidated database, giving users the ability to edit data. (Later named 'New FamilySearch' and which will at some point become known as the 'Family Tree feature' on the FamilySearch.org website.)
• November 2005: New FamilySearch.org enters first Beta test. Enough bugs are found, along with extensive user feedback and suggestions, that it takes longer than expected to get to the second beta.
• February 2007: New FamilySearch.org enters Beta 2 testing.
• June 2007: New FamilySearch.org was made available for church members in some areas (by LDS temple district), increasing through the next several years
• 2008: The Vatican issued a statement calling the practice known as baptism for the dead "erroneous" and directing its dioceses to keep parish records from Mormons performing genealogical research.
• Early 2009: New FamilySearch available to church membership around the world, with the exception of Utah/Idaho and the five Asian temples.
• Mid 2009: New FamilySearch gradually being made available to church membership in Utah and Idaho.
• November 2009: New FamilySearch available to church membership worldwide, except for members in the five Asian temple districts.

Features

The FamilySearch.org website offers free access to digital images of genealogical records. These images can be searched along with a number of databases, including:

• US Census Records, index and images to 1850, 1870, 1900, index and links to images on Fold3.com for 1860, index to 1880 and 1930, index to 1910 and 1920 with links to images for premium content users
• Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Application Files
• US WWII Draft Registration Cards, 1942 index and images of draft registration cards
• Ohio Deaths, 1908-1953 index and images of Ohio death certificates
• Massachusetts Births, 1841-1915, index and images of Massachusetts state birth records
• Family Trees, includes user submissions to Ancestral File, Pedigree Resource File and International Genealogical Index (IGI)
• U.S. Social Security Death Index, index to deaths of over 90 million individuals
• International Census Records including Argentina, Canada, England and Wales, Czech Republic, Mexico, Norway, Netherlands.
• Vital Records Index, which includes Denmark, Finland, Mexico, Norway, and Sweden

Visitors to FamilySearch.org can also search the catalog of the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah. The library holds genealogical records for over 110 countries, territories, and possessions, including over 2.4 million rolls of microfilmed genealogical records; 742,000 microfiche; 310,000 books, serials, and other formats; and 4,500 periodicals. The microfilm and microfiche can be ordered and viewed at over 4,000 library branches (called Family History Centers) worldwide.

FamilySearch also offers research help through the FamilySearch Wiki at wiki.familysearch.org and Forums at forums.familysearch.org.

Digitization and indexing projects

Main article: FamilySearch Indexing

FamilySearch is in the process of digitizing its entire microfilm collection and making those images available online. The images and related indexes are published as they become available through familysearch.org. The searchable indexes are created by volunteers using FamilySearch Indexing software developed by the LDS Church. To ensure greater accuracy, each batch of records is indexed by two separate indexers and any discrepancies are sent to an expert arbitrator. Indexing volunteers need not be members of the LDS Church and FamilySearch is currently working with genealogical societies all around the world to index local projects. At the end of 2010, 548 million vital records had been transcribed and made publicly available through the FamilySearch website.

Classes and training

FamilySearch offers free lessons on FamilySearch.org to help people learn how to do find their ancestors. The topics range from basic research to training on specific record types and are designed for both beginners and experienced researchers. Most of the classes come from research consultants in the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, but FamilySearch is also collaborating with partners such as the Mid-Continent Public Library in Independence, Missouri to record and post classes.

"New" FamilySearch

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released a web application for members (and, eventually, the public) to be able to interact with very large, unified databases of connected genealogical information. When released to the public, it will be moved into the current FamilySearch.org site and will be called the Family Tree. Many of the FamilySearch databases are being combined into one database and all the records for each individual are being combined into folders. These folders are then being linked to pedigrees.

Some prominent features of the new website are:

• Support for multiple assertions on facts, allowing people to "agree to disagree".
• Source citations, including links to source images. This promised linking service may not be available in earlier versions. Documents scanned from the Church's 2.4 million rolls of microfilmed vital records, from around the world, will eventually be linked to individuals in the system. These films are currently being scanned and indexed.
• Several features specific to the membership of the LDS Church, facilitating temple ordinance work.
• A one-world pedigree of linked families that will operate wiki style, with anyone able to add comments and information.
• A mapping utility that maps locations where an individual has resided. It is a mashup of the new FamilySearch website and Google Maps showing pushpins for events in a person's life.

Integration with BYU Family History Archive

Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah is digitizing copyright-free family histories and placing them online, or via a dropdown menu item in the navigation bar on FamilySearch. Links to the digitized books are being added to the Family History Library catalog at FamilySearch. As of late 2009, this archive currently has nearly 50,000 digitized books, with approximately 5,000 new titles being posted online every two months on average.

See also

• Ancestral File Number
• GEDCOM
• Genealogy and baptism
• Immigrant Ancestors Project
• Personal Ancestral File
• RootsTech

External links

• FamilySearch.org
• New FamilySearch.org
• FamilySearch Research Wiki - a collaborative web site containing family history research guidance
• FamilySearch Labs - a site where new features are beta-tested.