FamilySearch.org Review

FamilySearch.org is a family history and genealogy website supported and sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The service offered by the site, in terms of access to genealogical records and the ability to search through census information is provided free of charge to all public users. Like other sites which offer free services, the site is a little difficult to navigate at times, and it is occasionally difficult to know what records to search and when. That said, FamilySearch.org has done it's best to support new users by providing comprehensive research support, online help and FAQs to make using the site a little easier (especially for those who are new to online genealogy).

Joining FamilySearch.org is really simple, and just requires a valid email address and password. Once a member, you're free to search through the various records that are accessible through FamilySearch.org. Users have access to a fairly comprehensive list of genealogical data including the Ancestral File (with more than 36 million recorded surnames), the International Genealogical Index (with more than 600 million name records), US, UK and Canadian Census information since 1880 and the Pedigree Resource File (containing a wealth of family history data). Users can also benefit from specific resource collections, such as the Jewish Family History register and the African American Family History Register. As well as these resources, the site also hosts a 'Research Assistant' feature, which can automatically research your family name in a range of different locations, simply by entering a place-name. While we're not sure how accurate the claim that FamilySearch.org has "Billions of free family tree, family history, ancestry, genealogy and census records" is, we were pleasantly impressed by the extensiveness of the sources available on the site.

To supplement the available resources, members of the site can volunteer as an index researcher to give something back to the genealogical community. If you wish to, you can be emailed digital image records which you can index into a database, which is searchable by other users. For someone particularly interested in genealogy as a pastime, this is a great additional feature. The site also hosts a Family History Store, which allows users to buy a range of useful products and software to help make your genealogical journey a little easier! We were really impressed with the range of products available here, though it is a shame that only shoppers from the US and Canada can use the service! Finally, the interactive help centre featured on the site means that most problems that are likely to be encountered can be swiftly solved by reference to the online FAQs.

Whilst FamilySearch.org clearly does not provide full access to all of the resources available out there, we were impressed with the range of resources featured for a site which operates free of charge. Whilst we would recommend users join a site such as Ancestry.com in order to begin a comprehensive search for particular relatives, this site is a great addition to provide some free, supplementary information!