Just a few weeks ago, The Family History Guide website turned seven years old, having launched at the end of July, 2015. It has been quite an adventure, and it continues to be so! We have had visitors to the website from over 150 countries, and many people around the world use the site to learn family history and to train others.

Here’s a brief look at some of the milestones that have occurred for The Family History Guide, including some that occurred before the launch date in 2015 …

Pre-History

• Summer 2014 – A handout is created to help visitors at the Sandy (Utah) Granite family history center find online resources and answer FAQs.
• December 2014 – Work begins on converting the growing handout to a website.
• Early 2015 – An LLC is formed to establish a company for The Family History Guide.
• Spring 2015 – First draft of the website is presented to consultants and leaders at the Sandy Granite center.
• July 2015 – The website is formally launched at the BYU Family History Conference.

Web Development

• The initial site had a menu for learning FamilySearch, several country pages, and some miscellaneous help tools.
• In 2016 and 2017, menus were added for learning Ancestry, MyHeritage, and Findmypast.
• In 2017 the first family history activities were added to the site.
• The site continued to grow and improve, adding features such as these: Vault, Faiths menu, Intro menu, many more country pages, the Online Tracker, Youth pages, social media pages, QUIKLinks, etc.

Events

• In 2017 The Family History Guide Association was created as a non-profit charitable organization. A Board of Directors was also created.

Speaking engagements, conferences, and webinars for The Family History Guide Association include:

• RootsTech, each year from 2016 to 2021 as well as RootsTech London, as an Exhibitor. Numerous RootsTech class sessions and presentations have also been offered by Management Team members of The Family History Guide
• BYU Family History Conference
• National Genealogical Society as a Platinum Sponsor
• Numerous live presentations and Zoom webinars for genealogical societies, libraries, family history fairs and centers, etc.

People

Here are some of the people who have filled volunteer roles with The Family History Guide Association Board and Management Team:

• Board members: James Tanner – Chairman; Ann Tanner – Secretary/Treasurer; Bob Ives – Executive Director; Bob Taylor – Director of Development; Paul and Sue Maxwell – Industry Relations
• Education Directors: Laurie Beardall; Melanie Bosselman; Barbara Hogeland; Miles Meyer
• Marketing and Public Relations: Angelle Anderson, Scott Anderson, Debbie Brady
• Finance and Accounting: Kim Powell; Lyle and Lyn Ellis

We have also had interns from the BYU Family History Department and BYU Idaho.

Here’s to another seven years of success and service with The Family History Guide!