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FamilySearch 2019 Year in Review

FamilySearch International is dedicated to connecting families
across generations
by providing more searchable
records, interactive discovery experiences, the world’s largest
online family tree
, online and offline help, and other genealogy resources
and tools.

This year saw incredible advancements in all these areas.
Here’s a quick look at what FamilySearch has been up to in 2019.

Searchable Records

  1. In 2019, FamilySearch added 123.6 million indexed records and over 850 million new images of historical records. You can find other significant statistics in the graphic below.
  2. In addition to more searchable records and images, FamilySearch provided updates and new features to improve the indexing and record searching experience, including a new similar historical records tool that helps you find additional records that may belong to a person you find in a document. So when you find a family member in a record on FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch can now suggest other records that may include information about the same person.
  3. FamilySearch introduced an update that allows users to make corrections to names in an index. You can correct names that were indexed incorrectly or that were incorrect on the record itself. Learn more here.
  4. Using the new Thank a Volunteer feature, you can express appreciation for the thousands of volunteers who make indexed, searchable records possible on FamilySearch.org!
Searchable Records year in review

Discovery

At FamilySearch, we strive to provide inspiring, heart-turning
discovery experiences. This year, we worked toward that goal in part by
organizing major events in three countries to gather genealogy enthusiasts of
all levels of skill and experience.

  1. This year saw another successful RootsTech in
    Salt Lake City, which a total of 15,156 genealogy enthusiasts and experts
    attended.
  2. For the first year ever, a RootsTech conference
    took place in London, bringing in 9,727 total attendees. There were more than
    81,000 online views of the London and Salt Lake City RootsTech conferences combined.
  3. Mexico also had its own genealogy conference
    sponsored by FamilySearch, the Expo Genealogía, which successfully brought discovery
    experiences to hundreds of attendees.
  4. Along with the many discoveries that FamilySearch
    users have made on the site (see the below infographic for FamilySearch.org
    visits), FamilySearch created an online discovery experience center, which you
    can check
    out here
    .
Discovery experiences year in review

Family Tree Growth

  1. During 2019, 3.5 million FamilySearch.org users added
    nearly 47 million people to the FamilySearch Family Tree. Refer to the infographic
    below for other fascinating statistics about this year’s Family Tree growth.
  2. FamilySearch also introduced several new
    features to the Family Tree this year. For example, you can now see
    how you are related to other users of FamilySearch.org
    . All you have
    to do is opt-in, and you can see how you and another person (if he or she has
    also opted-in) are related.
  3. In a recent update, FamilySearch provided the
    ability to document all family relationships, including same-sex relationships.
    Learn
    more here.
Family tree year in review

Memories

Using FamilySearch Memories, you can preserve precious
moments and priceless images from your life and your family’s life. Here is a
quick look at the contributions that FamilySearch users made to memories this
year.

  1. An incredible 518,563 FamilySearch.org users
    added to their memories on the website.
  2. Users uploaded 8,751,822 photos and stories this
    year, for a total of 40,373,365 photos and stories in the Memories feature.
Memories year in review

Help

Behind the good work FamilySearch does are the individuals
who make it all possible, including users, employees, and thousands of volunteers.
Here are some of the highlights about these individuals and their contributions
to FamilySearch.org:

  1. In 2019, we had 318,000 indexing volunteers, who
    served for a total of 10.9 million volunteer indexing hours.
  2. One million customer support cases were resolved
    by staff and volunteers.
  3. An additional 66 FamilySearch family history
    centers were opened, making a total of 5,190 centers worldwide. In addition, the Family History
    Library expanded its hours of operation
    to include Sunday hours and later hours on Mondays.
  4. Volunteers and missionaries contributed a total
    of 15.4 million service hours in 2019.
Help year in review

Other Notables

Here are just a few other achievements and contributions
from 2019.

  1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which FamilySearch is a fully-owned nonprofit subsidiary, donated $2 million to the International African American Museum (IAAM) Center for Family History. The donation will help support the creation of the center there.
  2. At the annual meeting of the American Society of Genealogists, held on November 2 in Salt Lake City, Utah, David Rencher, chief genealogical officer for FamilySearch and director of the Family History Library, received a certificate of appreciation for extraordinary contributions to the discipline of genealogy
  3. The FamilySearch Research Wiki, a treasure-trove of genealogical expertise, advice, and insights for family history enthusiasts, published its 90,000th article.

After a year of impressive growth in 2019, FamilySearch is looking
forward to what the new year will bring!


Year in review infographics

Source: Family Search

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