Genealogy Takes Root on the Internet

▪ 2004

      By 2003 the number of people who had discovered the benefit of using the Internet to research their ancestry had increased dramatically. Many Web sites provide access to databases containing indexes to vital records and population censuses useful for genealogical research. For example, in September 2002 Scotland's People, the official Web site for the General Register Office for Scotland, became the world's first site to offer downloads of digitized copies of official birth, marriage, and death records. Scottish census records for 1891 and 1901 are also online, and baptism, marriage, and burial entries from the country's church registers were expected to become available in 2004. For a small fee, any of these images may be downloaded to a home computer and printed out. Not only is this method less expensive than ordering copies of documents for delivery by post, but it is also much more convenient than having to visit—or hiring a local researcher to visit—an archive that may be located thousands of kilometres away or in another country. In addition, a good deal of census and immigration information is available for purchase on CD-ROM, as are entries in parish and criminal registers and militia muster rolls. Many 19th- and early 20th-century trade directories and atlases had similarly been digitized and published on CD-ROM.

      Specialized computer programs, including Personal Ancestral File, Family Tree Maker, and Generations, have been available to genealogists for 15 years. This software can help organize information that family historians have collected about their ancestors and facilitate the printing out of the data in family groups or various forms of family tree. Software programs also allow information to be shared with other family members by burning it on to CD-ROM or posting it to Web sites. Most programs assist in the transfer of genealogical data to and from other researchers, even when they use different software programs, through a common standard for genealogical data called GEDCOM, which was developed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS). The LDS Church has long been a pioneer in genealogical research because its members believe that their deceased ancestors can be eternally reunited with their families through temple covenants, but LDS members have to identify them first.

      One of the first genealogy databases to be transferred to the Internet was the International Genealogical Index (IGI), which contains birth and marriage information from around the world. The IGI was compiled by the LDS and was previously available on microfiche. Other databases on the LDS's freely accessible FamilySearch Web site include transcriptions of the 1880 federal census of the U.S. and the 1881 censuses for Canada and England and Wales.

      Another major genealogy Web site, Ancestry.com, provides subscribers with access to a number of family history databases, including digitized images of the U.S. federal censuses from 1790 to 1930. The index to the 1930 census, which contains information about 124 million Americans, became available online in January 2003. The U.K.-oriented version of the site, Ancestry.co.uk, contains images from the 1891 England and Wales census. In April 2003 Ancestry.com's owners, MyFamily.com, acquired the rival subscription Web site Genealogy.com. The site includes databases containing ships' passenger lists of immigrants to America and provides free access to the 55 million names on the U.S. Social Security Death Index 1937–1997. RootsWeb.com, also owned by MyFamily.com, is a free genealogy Web site providing many tools for both beginners and experienced researchers. The site also contains more than 27,000 mailing lists and 132,000 message boards through which family historians can communicate and provide help to one another.

      Although full civil registration records for England and Wales are not yet accessible online, the relevant indexes have been accessible since 2003 via the Family Research Link Web site. The 1901 census for England and Wales has its own site, from which images may be downloaded for a fee. Searching the index is, however, free of charge. Digitized copies of wills and estate inventories for Scotland from 1500 to 1901 are downloadable from the Scottish Documents Web site, and all those for England and Wales from 1384 to 1858 from the Documents Online Web site. In both cases there is a charge for downloaded copies but not for an index search.

      Other useful Web sites for genealogy researchers include that for Ellis Island, which contains a searchable database of the 22 million immigrants who arrived in the U.S. between 1892 and 1924. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission site has an index of the 1.7 million members of the armed forces of the U.K., Australia, Canada, India, New Zealand, and South Africa who died in World Wars I and II. Since 1996 American family historian Cyndi Howells has compiled a list of links to genealogical Web sites. By the end of 2003, Cyndi's List contained more than 200,000 links to an astonishing variety of sites throughout the world. The U.S. GenWeb Project is a network of Web sites staffed by volunteers committed to providing free genealogical information for every county in the U.S.; it is especially rich in the areas of local history, state censuses, and church and cemetery information.

      In the past few years, what were referred to as “genetic genealogy” sites have appeared on the Web offering DNA testing and containing databases of previously acquired DNA samples. Mitochondrial DNA, which is principally inherited from female ancestors, may provide a link to people who lived more than 10,000 years ago. Y-chromosome DNA, which is passed down through the male line only, can be used to link families together and indicate their likely origin. All mitochondrial and Y-chromosome DNA samples obtained (so far) indicate that all humans are related, although estimates of how long ago our most recent common ancestor lived vary from 120,000 to 2 million years. Genetic genealogy is still in its infancy, but advances in the study of genetics might enable family historians a decade from now to prove scientifically their descent from historical personages and compile family trees currently beyond their wildest dreams.

Alan Stewart

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