If you have ever had an attraction to genealogy, there's never been a better time to become involved with this wonderful hobby. While the Internet has quickly developed into a powerful research tool for genealogists seeking their roots, other benefits have been created for families. Some interesting Web sites now combine the search for family history with the connectivity of the Internet to offer ways to share all types of family information.
An exciting Web site for anyone interested in family history is FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org), the Web site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also called the Mormon Church. Since Mormons consider genealogy a religious mission, they maintain one of the largest collections of genealogy data in the world. Their FamilySearch site contains more than 665 million names. This Web site can, of course, help you find your roots. The interesting thing, however, is that this Web site will also help you share your family history with others. At this site you can permanently preserve your family history and distribute it to others around the world. Visit the FamilySearch "Share My Genealogy" area to add your genealogy files to the Granite Mountain Records vault, located near Salt Lake City where they will be archived and made available to others on compact disks or through the Internet.
The popularity of genealogy and the emphasis on family has given rise to a new variety of Web site - the community-database combo. Community-database combo sites most often link to other genealogy sites and maintain active bulletin boards for sharing information. Their base level databases are usually free, but access to more detailed, in-depth information often requires registration and sometimes a fee. When visiting these sites, be ready for some e-commerce. Most sites make money through combinations of membership fees, banner ads, and sales of genealogy software and books.
These sites aim to expand the usual genealogy research activity by offering ways for users to enrich their current family relationships. Family Web sites encourage family members to communicate and share experiences with each other through free secure family Web sites. Thirty million Americans are members of families in which someone has created a family Web site.
FamilyTreeMaker (http://www.familytreemaker.com), is one of these sites. It uses its community section to empower every day people who are interested in genealogy to uncover and share their unique family stories. This site encourages people to create a home page and search through other people's homepages to see if they are researching the same surnames.
At YourFamily.com (http://www.yourfamily.com) you can create a family Web page as well as search to locate other family homepages. YourFamily invites you to add your family tree to their extensive database. Their bulletin boards may help fill in your family tree. Another service is their special free bulletin board to help locate long-lost relatives. After you have created your own family homepage, you can post a taped oral history and heirloom photo-albums.
SurnameWeb (http://www.surnameweb.com) sponsors an online community along with a free Web site and a free Web-based e-mail account. They give you tools to announce your Web site to your friends inviting them to visit. Other free tools help you improve your search engine ranking and create a press release to deliver to local newspapers. Your guest book is ready for visitors' comments, names, and e-mail addresses.
One site, MyFamily.com (http://www.myfamily.com), stands out for its full development of the family community concept. While they offer free online family history software, which enables multiple family members to work as a team in updating their family tree, MyFamily has taken the family concept well beyond genealogy. MyFamily.com is a password-protected community on the Internet where users can post family news, create family photo albums, hold chats, and maintain a calendar of family events.The Shops@MyFamily.com offers private wish lists, e-mail reminders, and personalized gift-giving recommendations. MyFamily.com offers free newsletters on other important family topics such as cooking, photography, money, health, travel, and more.
MyFamily is just one of a number of community-type Web sites for families and other groups. Often you will find sites dedicated to various groups such as high school reunion committees, church organizations, or former military units.
With all these tools just waiting for you, it may be a great time to give in to your genealogical curiosity. Or perhaps you would like to use one of these sites to bring your current family closer together.
