Crowe’s Nest by Elizabeth Powell Crowe

Members Add More Than 1 Billion People and 10 Million Family Trees to the Web Site in Less than Three Years

PROVO, Utah, May 12 /PRNewswire/ — Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, today announced that its members have added more than 1 billion people to more than 10 million user-generated family trees on the site since the tree-building and -sharing tools debuted in July 2006. Within just the last two years, members have more than tripled the number of people and family trees, and Ancestry.com members continue to benefit from the site’s content.
“We are excited about this milestone because it means more success for our members,” said Tim Sullivan, CEO of The Generations Network, parent company of Ancestry.com. “As the number of family trees grows, more people are uncovering historical records and meeting distant cousins who may provide missing pieces in their family story. We will continue to improve our member’s experience and provide them with the new records and tools they need to make these types of family history discoveries, share their findings and connect with people all over the world.”
To help subscribers discover their heritage and add to their family trees, Ancestry.com offers access to more than 8 billion records within 28,000 historical collections, including census records, passenger lists, and birth, marriage and death records, among many others. With these records, people can add new information and individuals to their family trees that they may have never known existed.
When John Harris of Atlanta, Ga, became interested in building his family tree, he only knew his father’s and mother’s names. After he entered what he knew on Ancestry.com, he quickly began to uncover his family history. “I was hooked after entering this data and getting a green leaf,” said Harris. The company’s signature green leaves, known as Ancestry Hints, led Harris to more clues about his family and helped him discover a census document that provided details on his father’s life, in addition to his father’s siblings that John wasn’t ever aware of. But the highlight for Harris came when he was able to connect to trees added by other Ancestry.com members. Through his research, Harris discovered nearly 500 new people in his family.
Ancestry.com members create profiles for each individual in their family tree, share memories, upload photos and images, record conversations and interviews, and invite family members to do the same. They can also connect with other members and search Ancestry.com’s extensive collection to find historical documents that capture their family story.
Dale Jordan of Winchester, Va., a member since 2003, experienced the true value of Ancestry.com’s community connections when he was contacted by another Ancestry.com member who had a photograph of one of Jordan’s ancestors. The woman found the photo at a flea market and discovered writing on the back that identified the person in the photo. She checked Ancestry.com, found a profile in Jordan’s family tree that matched the name on the photo, and contacted him to return it to the family. “My cousins and I are thrilled to have this photograph, the only one we have ever seen,” said Jordan. “I believe that it would have been lost forever if I had not made my family tree available on Ancestry.com.”
Since July 2006, millions of people have built family trees on Ancestry.com, some growing their trees to amazing heights. The largest tree includes almost 280,000 people. Another tree has almost 17,500 photos. And one user has shared her tree with more than 260 people.
For more information, or to build your family tree and discover your family history, visit www.ancestry.com.
About Ancestry.com and The Generations Network
The Generations Network, Inc., through its flagship Ancestry.com property, is the world’s leading resource for online family history. Ancestry.com has local websites in nine countries and has digitized and put online over 8 billion names and 28,000 historical records collections over the past ten years. Since July 2006, Ancestry.com users have created 10 million family trees containing 1 billion profiles and 20 million photographs and stories. The Generations Network also includes myfamily.com, Genealogy.com, Rootsweb.ancestry.com, MyCanvas.com, dna.ancestry.com, Family Tree Maker and Ancestry Magazine. More than 9.2 million unique visitors spent over 4.7 million hours on a TGN website in March 2009 (comScore Media Metrix, Worldwide).
Web sites: http://www.ancestry.com/

http://www.myfamily.com/

http://www.genealogy.com/

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/

http://www.mycanvas.com/

http://www.dna.ancestry.com/

http://www.familytreemaker.com/

SOURCE Ancestry.com

NewspaperARCHIVE, the world’s largest online newspaper archive, is ranked by Alexa as the second most visited genealogy database website in the world.

Cedar Rapids, Iowa (PRWEB) May 10, 2009 — NewspaperARCHIVE, the world’s largest online newspaper repository, has been ranked by Alexa, the Amazon.com-owned Internet usage tracking company, as the second-most visited genealogy database website.

“Alexa rankings have confirmed our goal, which is to firmly establish ourselves as an invaluable resource for family historians, whether dedicated researchers or weekend hobbyists,” said Dave Stoddard, Online Marketing Manager. “We provide a huge number of unique newspaper pages, but compliment that with a powerful search tool and plenty of great unique articles designed to help our users get the most out of NewspaperARCHIVE.”

Besides attaining the number-two spot for genealogy databases, NewspaperARCHIVE also holds the number three position for all genealogy services, as well as the number-nine spot for all genealogy websites.

NewspaperARCHIVE has recently launched a series of upgrades to their site in order to increase value for their users and improve the experience of searching thought million of pages of archives. Amongst these are a series of blogs aimed at increasing user interaction and helping genealogists connect, a series of attractive new membership options, and a refined search engine. Several more enhancements are expected in the near future.

About NewspaperARCHIVE.com.

In 1999, Heritage Microfilm launched the brand NewspaperARCHIVE.com, the world’s largest historical newspaper database online. NewspaperARCHIVE.com contains tens of millions of newspaper pages from 1759 to present, spanning almost 3,000 newspaper titles and 762 cities. Every newspaper in the archive is fully searchable by keyword and date making it easy to quickly explore historical content. Anyone interested in finding more information about Heritage Microfilm and NewspaperARCHIVE.com can visit www.heritagemicrofilm.com or www.newspaperarchive.com.

Two million new records were added to the FamilySearch Records Search pilot. The completed statewide deaths index for Alabama was published—over 1.8 million names. This collection covers deaths from 1908 to 1974. Digital collections were added for Jamaica (Trelawny Parish Civil Registration—births), the 1892 New York Census, and Spain (Avila Diocese, Catholic Church Records). Details:

Alabama Statewide Deaths: 1,858,819 records; New—Full collection, no images

Jamaica, Trelawny Parish Civil Registration Births: 66,333 records, New—Full collection, images only

New York Census, 1892: 19,634 records, New—Full collection, images only

Spain, Avila Diocese, Catholic Church Records: 48,788 records, New—images and updated localities 

These collections can be searched for free at the FamilySearch.org Records Search pilot (click Search Records, and then click Record Search pilot).

FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch has been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,500 family history centers in 70 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.