Ancestry.com- Shaking Your Family Tree, June 17, 1999

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Shaking Your Family Tree

June 17, 1999

Shaking Your Family Tree, by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.

Online Tidal Wave Swamps 'FamilySearch' Site

by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.

FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service launched officially last month after an eight-week test, then was promptly was forced to undergo a series of major programming and hardware upgrades. Visitors' time at the site had to be limited also.

Initially more than 40 million hits were recorded at the site (http://www.familysearch.org), but users representing another 60 million hits were wailing to connect. Administrators had expected that the site would draw no more than 25 million hits. Hits are a measure of text, graphics and other data accessed with each "hit'' representing an exchange of a computer file, graphic, or other information between the site and internet users. It takes more than 20 hits to display all of the information and images viewers see just by accessing the site's home page. So, the number of people visiting the site is more difficult to quantify, but it is less than the number of hits per day.

Roughly 400,000 users visited the site on opening day. Overwhelmed, it was off-line for several hours as its capacity was shored up. Technicians added server computers and increased the volume threshold. A "rotation'' subprogram was installed to help funnel excess users. The latter informs Web browsers that the site is at capacity and gives the number of minutes one must wait to connect. Additionally, visits were being limited to 15 minutes to give more people access to site and prevent people from staying online for hours.

So, what's all the excitement about? First, it is free, and secondly exploring one's family history is one of the most popular uses of the World Wide Web. FamilySearch offers a huge genealogical database consisting of more than 600 million names of deceased people found in the International Genealogical Index (IGI) and Ancestral File.

The IGI's records list dates and places of births, christenings, and marriages, dating from the early 1500s through the early 1900s. Most of these records are compiled from public domain sources and extracted from thousands of original records.

Ancestral File contains a compilation of genealogies from around the world and records that have been contributed by thousands of people -- mostly amateurs. Accuracy has not been verified. The information is linked into pedigrees.

One can access the Family History Library Catalog (one of the site's underrated treasures) which describes the library's 3 million-plus holdings of microfilm, microfiche and books. Most of what is on the catalog can be ordered for use at any of the 3,200 worldwide Family History Centers.

So, if you can get on, can you download your family history and be done with it? Not hardly. The genealogy neophyte is likely to be overwhelmed and wind up with the wrong ancestors hanging upon their family tree. Even experienced researchers should be careful about accepting any of the data at face value. Check the sources given and then examine the primary records for yourself.

A search for information about one of my ancestors, with a fairly rare name, turned up 74 listings. Of those, in references to the man likely to be mine, I found a great deal of conflicting and erroneous information. One reference claims he was married about 1745 in Tennessee -- not likely, since the first permanent settlement in this locality was not until 1769. Another gave him a marriage date of about 1719 in Virginia and another has the event taking place in North Carolina. My records would show him as a 10-year-old bridegroom at that time? I don't think so. Dates of his birth ranged from 1707 to 1709 with the only agreement being that he was born in New York.

While a valuable finding aid to a great deal of genealogical information, FamilySearch is just one of many genealogy-related sites on the World Wide Web. Today's family historians have discovered a high-tech way to pursue an ancient hobby and they are logging on by the millions.

(c) 1999, Los Angeles Times Syndicate

Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter

Return to Myra Vanderpool Gormley Main Page
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June 17, 1999
	Online Tidal Wave Swamps 'FamilySearch' Site by Myra Vanderpool Gormley, C.G.
FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service launched officially last month after an eight-week test, then was promptly was forced to undergo a series of major programming and hardware upgrades. Visitors' time at the site had to be limited also. Initially more than 40 million hits were recorded at the site (http://www.familysearch.org), but users representing another 60 million hits were wailing to connect. Administrators had expected that the site would draw no more than 25 million hits. Hits are a measure of text, graphics and other data accessed with each "hit'' representing an exchange of a computer file, graphic, or other information between the site and internet users. It takes more than 20 hits to display all of the information and images viewers see just by accessing the site's home page. So, the number of people visiting the site is more difficult to quantify, but it is less than the number of hits per day. Roughly 400,000 users visited the site on opening day. Overwhelmed, it was off-line for several hours as its capacity was shored up. Technicians added server computers and increased the volume threshold. A "rotation'' subprogram was installed to help funnel excess users. The latter informs Web browsers that the site is at capacity and gives the number of minutes one must wait to connect. Additionally, visits were being limited to 15 minutes to give more people access to site and prevent people from staying online for hours. So, what's all the excitement about? First, it is free, and secondly exploring one's family history is one of the most popular uses of the World Wide Web. FamilySearch offers a huge genealogical database consisting of more than 600 million names of deceased people found in the International Genealogical Index (IGI) and Ancestral File. The IGI's records list dates and places of births, christenings, and marriages, dating from the early 1500s through the early 1900s. Most of these records are compiled from public domain sources and extracted from thousands of original records. Ancestral File contains a compilation of genealogies from around the world and records that have been contributed by thousands of people -- mostly amateurs. Accuracy has not been verified. The information is linked into pedigrees. One can access the Family History Library Catalog (one of the site's underrated treasures) which describes the library's 3 million-plus holdings of microfilm, microfiche and books. Most of what is on the catalog can be ordered for use at any of the 3,200 worldwide Family History Centers. So, if you can get on, can you download your family history and be done with it? Not hardly. The genealogy neophyte is likely to be overwhelmed and wind up with the wrong ancestors hanging upon their family tree. Even experienced researchers should be careful about accepting any of the data at face value. Check the sources given and then examine the primary records for yourself. A search for information about one of my ancestors, with a fairly rare name, turned up 74 listings. Of those, in references to the man likely to be mine, I found a great deal of conflicting and erroneous information. One reference claims he was married about 1745 in Tennessee -- not likely, since the first permanent settlement in this locality was not until 1769. Another gave him a marriage date of about 1719 in Virginia and another has the event taking place in North Carolina. My records would show him as a 10-year-old bridegroom at that time? I don't think so. Dates of his birth ranged from 1707 to 1709 with the only agreement being that he was born in New York. While a valuable finding aid to a great deal of genealogical information, FamilySearch is just one of many genealogy-related sites on the World Wide Web. Today's family historians have discovered a high-tech way to pursue an ancient hobby and they are logging on by the millions. (c) 1999, Los Angeles Times Syndicate Myra Vanderpool Gormley and Julie Case are co-editors of Missing Links, a free weekly genealogy e-zine. To subscribe, send your request to: Missing Links Newsletter Return to Myra Vanderpool Gormley Main Page Return to Columns Main Page
Copyright 1998, 1999, Ancestry.com Inc. and its subsidiaries. Terms and Conditions \| Privacy Statement