"We seldom get into trouble when we speak softly. It is only when we raise our voices that the sparks fly and tiny molehills become great mountains of contention."
If
there’s a theme for family history in the Church today, it’s
that the work is hastening. Exponentially. Research that used to take
weeks and even months—such as finding birth or census
records—now can take just minutes, thanks to these records
being digitized and put online.
FamilySearch
has made billions of digitized historical records available on the
FamilySearch
website. Even so, there are billions of other genealogically-valuable records that
aren’t available through FamilySearch. Some are easily
available only on paid subscription sites. While family history
centers offer free access to many popular subscription sites, not
everyone has a family history center nearby or can get there easily
when they’re open.
So,
in their ongoing quest to help members succeed with their family
history, FamilySearch has formed partnerships with key family history
players, such as Ancestry, MyHeritage and Find My Past. As a result,
members of the Church can get free subscriptions to these websites,
which means access to a treasure trove of additional historical
records anywhere they have an Internet connection. (Users age 13 –
17 require parental consent to sign up for free accounts.)
The
free subscriptions may not cover all historical records on partner
sites, of course—you may occasionally come across a specialized
record collection that requires a paid subscription. But in my
experience the free subscriptions cover the most important and
helpful records, such as birth, marriage, death, and census records.
Can
we expect more partnerships in the future? According to Dennis Brimhall,
the answer is yes. “This collaboration is one of the many ways
we will accelerate the delivery of family history resources and make
them accessible to the world.”
So
take advantage of these amazing free resources, and watch for more to
come.
Kathryn Grant is a user assistance professional with a passion
for usability and process
improvement. She also loves family history and enjoys the challenge and
reward of building her family tree.
As a child, she lived outside the United States for four years because of her father's job. This experience fueled her natural love of words and language, and also taught her to appreciate other cultures.
Kathryn values gratitude, teaching, learning, differences, and unity. She loves looking at star-filled skies, reading mind-stretching books, listening to contemporary Christian music, attending the temple, and eating fresh raspberries.
Kathryn teaches Sunday family history classes at the BYU Family History Library, and presents frequently at family history events. For more information, visit her Family History Learning Resources page