In 2016 FamilySearch announced the addition of partnering with other big genealogy database companies that have millions of records, subscribers, and great technology. These partnerships became a win/win for FamilySearch, Ancestry, Findmypast and My Heritage. The last three are all commercial websites that are competing with one another.  When FamilySearch, a free website, proposed sharing records for indexing records and technology with the other sites, they agreed and became collaborative Partners with FamilySearch. These partnership not only benefited each company but also make everything better for their users as well. One of the reasons that FamilySearch was eager to partner was to get help with indexing billions of records, as explained in this short video.  FamilySearch also offers complementary subscriptions to the Partners to members of The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints. You can access how to get these offers on familysearch.org >Get Help on the home page> HelpCenter> look for the last Icon that looks like two people Shaking Hands.   Open and apply the instructions to get subscribed.  Hint: Write down your username and password for each site and keep it in a safe place!

Many people have inquired about why we need this.  “Do I really need to add my tree to each site?” Yes, for your benefit you should.  Each of the Partners searches their own database with the information you supply in your original tree.   “Where do I find out how to use these websites?”  Of course, The Family History Guide has provided a great deal of help here.  The Family History Guide also has information about to other Partners with Family Search, Geneanet and American Ancestors on this page.

The Family History Guide has Projects for getting started on each of the four big websites.  Family Search, Ancestry, Findmypast and My Heritage.  Find the projects on the Homepage right up at the top for step by step instructions on how to get started with any of them at your own pace.

“What are the advantages of each?”   Sonny Morton gave a wonderful presentation on  Comparing the Big Four Genealogy Giants at RT 2017  See it here.   Aren’t they all the same?  In a word, no.  It is worth the time to watch this video to benefit from all of Sonny’s excellent research.  It can also get your excitement level up for Rootstech 2019 Feb 27-March 2 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

People sometimes say “I barely understand FamilySearch, I don’t think I want to complicate my life with more websites to manage and keep updated.”  It doesn’t need to be a big burden upon our shoulders at all.  One of the reasons we need to add our tree to each Partner Site is because the search engines do the work of finding the Partner’s records for our family members. You don’t even have to look at the hints, matches and records until you are ready to search for a specific person. There is a very high degree of accuracy in the search engine’s record results, depending upon how correct your information is when you submit the tree to the Partner Sites. I think of the Partners and an investment in my family history future. If you sign up, it works for you 24/7, year around and stores the records for you for a later time and a specific individual. The synergistic work of these Partners can save you hours upon hours of researching on your own.  Let them all work together for your good!