FamilySearch.org, the world's largest Internet genealogy site, will be augmented with 240 million names in its genealogy database -- enabling users to access more than 640 million total entries, the Church has announced.
Beginning Nov. 22, the new addition -- in itself bigger than most genealogical databases on the Web -- will represent international data culled primarily from Western Europe, Scandinavia and Mexico. In terms of size, the upgrade is nearly equal to adding the name of every resident of the United States onto the site (based on an estimated U.S. population of 240 million citizens)."President Gordon B. Hinckley indicated that the launch of the site in May was just a beginning," said Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Presidency of the Seventy and executive director of the Family History Department. "With this upgrade we are making good on that promise and have extended the reach of the service to an even larger audience. It is all part of our gift to the families of the world."
Use of FamilySearch.org, which is provided free of charge by the Church, has amounted to 1.5 billion hits, exceeding all expectations. It is a barometer of the surging popularity of genealogy worldwide.
"The sheer volume of usage has been remarkable," Elder Christofferson said. "People everywhere have a desire to find out where they come from, and now those who trace their ancestry to countries outside of the United States, Canada and the British Isles will find additional help on the site."
Other improvements to the site include:
Improved search capabilities for specific events, dates and places.
GEDCOM file download capability (GEDCOM is a universal genealogy file format).
Specific source notations indicating microfilm or book.
Since its launch in May, FamilySearch.org has achieved the following milestones:
Surpassed the 1.5 billion "hit" mark during the last week of October.
Averaged roughly 8.5 million "hits" daily.
More than 300,000 registered users (20 percent from outside the United States).
More than 236,000 people receiving Personal Ancestral File 4.0, a free family-tree software program that can be downloaded from the site and that allows users to keep and organize genealogy records.
Users submitting approximately 1.2 million new names to Pedigree Resource File every month. This allows users to preserve their genealogical research and have it published on CDs.
In addition to the abundance of additional names, users will be able to download a Spanish language version of Personal Ancestral File 4.0. Short-term plans also call for the site to be upgraded with additional language versions of PAF 4.0, including French, German and Portuguese by Spring 2000.