It’s official.

Since 2006, thousands of volunteers have indexed and arbitrated more than 1 billion records through FamilySearch’s indexing projects.

The 1 billionth record (that’s a one followed by nine zeros) was indexed and arbitrated at 12:40 p.m. on Friday, and the volunteers who handled that record were identified as Kenneth B. of California, Brittney S. of Idaho and April R. of Alberta, Canada.

Volunteers index or transcribe digital versions of historic records to help make them searchable. Two people will transcribe the same group or batch of records and then an arbitrator will compare the transcriptions and settle any differences.

And volunteers haven’t stopped or slowed down.

By Monday evening, more than 1,000,685,000 records had been indexed, according to the counter at familysearch.org

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And now, the next question:

“It took us seven years to reach the first billion. How long do you think it will take us to reach the next billion?”

To search these records or volunteer to index, go to FamilySearch.org.

Email: rappleye@desnews.com Twitter: CTRappleye

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