Friday, July 12, 2024

Updates on FamilySearch & Ancestry


About twenty years ago, we were blessed to be able to take a tour to Egypt. Of course it was marvelous........ but this post is not a travelog.

Upon my return, and being a genealogist, I got to wondering about Egyptian genealogy. I went to FamilySearch and found just what I expected: about six resources listed in the catalog and most of recent origin. Out of curiosity, in March 2024, I went again to FamilySearch to check the catalog for what's new in Egyptian genealogy.

And by gosh! There were 87 items listed......... 87 potential sources for those with Egyptian ancestry. Two of the listings appeared to me to be in Arabic. There were 29 suggestions for history; six for genealogy and even one for Jewish history. 

 Proving what? FamilySearch continues to seek out the records of the world's peoples and make that information available to one and all. 

Our perennial other favorite, Ancestry, began in 1983 as a book publishing company. (The first edition of The Source by Arlene Eakle was published in 1983.) Ancestry went online in 1996 and has expanded exponentially ever since. Ancestry launched Ancestry DNA in 2012 and to date, over 25,000,000 DNA kits have been registered. 

Between 1997 and 2023, Ancestry added 41,000,000,000 (yes, billion!) records from 88 countries to their website; this averages out to 2,000,000 million per month. Besides adding new records, Ancestry keeps adding new features, all to help us find our ancestors.

Point of this blog post?  If you've not checked BOTH FamilySearch and Ancestry recently, you should.  If you're sincerely seeking answers, that is. :-)  


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