Thanks to the inspired efforts of thousands of volunteers, millions of Americans now will have an easier time gathering information about their ancestors.
Tuesday, a database containing 22 million names of arrivals to Ellis Island was made available to the public. People will be able to search on computer for those immigrants who came to the United States during the period 1892-1924. Those were the peak years for the processing of new arrivals at Ellis Island.
The Ellis Island database was compiled and placed online through a partnership involving The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation and the National Park Service.
That followed another remarkable genealogical breakthrough in late February — the release of the Freedman's Bank CD. That culminated an 11-year project that involved volunteers who extracted, linked and automated microfilm containing mid-19th-century family records of 480,000 black Americans, many of them freed slaves who had savings at the Freedman's Bank.
Freedman's Bank, based in Washington D.C., was chartered in 1865 to offer financial assistance to blacks, including many who were victimized by slavery. An estimated 10 million African-Americans living today have ancestors who deposited money there.
The Ellis Island database announcement culminated a seven-year effort involving 12,000 Latter-day Saint volunteers in 2,700 congregations throughout the United States and Canada. They donated an estimated 5.6 million hours of work.
Officials estimate that 40 percent of Americans living today can trace at least one ancestor through Ellis Island. One of those is Lee Iacocca, former Chrysler chairman and the leader of the Statue of Liberty—Ellis Island Foundation. On NBC's "Today Show," Iacocca said he had waited 20 years to be able to get in touch with his ancestors.
The millions who visit the American Family Immigration Center at Ellis Island will have access to computers to search for their ancestors. Plus, the new database will be free to the public on the Internet at the Ellis Island Web site, www.ellisislandrecords.org.
A number of other genealogical records and tools are available at the church's family history Web site, www.FamilySearch.org. The site is a testament to the popularity of genealogical research, as it receives about 9 million hits a day.
Gratitude should be extended to all who participated in the aforementioned two projects. They have done something that transcends generations.