Family search and my heritage partner to bring new help for genealogists
brenda kellow
october 27, 2013
The FamilySearch.org Blog announced the new partnership with MyHeritage.com that promises to open up new and faster access to family identification and family trees. As you know, FamilySearch is and will always be free to the user. On the other hand, MyHeritage has some free areas but other areas require a subscription. This means that FamilySearch’s huge data collection of over two-billion global historical records and online Family Tree profiles will become available to MyHeritage. Likewise, My Heritage will provide FamilySearch with its powerful technologies. Paul G. Nauta, FamilySearch Publicity Manager, explained it this way on the Blog.
“MyHeritage, the popular online family history network, and FamilySearch.org announced today the signing and commencement of a strategic partnership that forges a new path for the family history industry. Under this multi-year partnership, MyHeritage will provide FamilySearch with access to its powerful technologies and FamilySearch will share billions of global historical records and family tree profiles spanning hundreds of years with MyHeritage. This will help millions of MyHeritage and FamilySearch users discover even more about their family history.”
Chief Executive Officer of Family Search Dennis Brimhall explained in his statement to Business Wire, www.businesswire.com/news/home/20131014006192/en on October 14, that FamilySearch “values collaborative partnerships that enable more people, in more places, to discover their family history.” He went on to say, “MyHeritage is an innovative company that has a fast growing, global online audience. We are excited to commence this partnership which enables FamilySearch to better serve the global family history community.”
Time will only reveal whether or not the current trend of the large companies becoming business partners will provide a more extensive free database or not. For now, FamilySearch.org is free. The databases that are currently free on MyHeritage.com will remain free and the portion that requires a subscription will continue to charge us to view them.
SEVENTEENTH CENTURY WHITE SLAVE CHILDREN: After searching countless hours in 17th century Maryland and Virginia for information on my early ancestors, I was astounded when I read that children who came unaccompanied by parents during that era were sentenced by the courts into bondage. The author compares this practice with something like it in English law. I was aware of many emigrants entering voluntarily as indentured servants. However, these kids did not just hop on the ship. They were kidnapped. I was further horrified to learn that many of these children sentenced into slavery went into the ‘servitude’ of the commissioners and justices of the court, the very people who sentenced them. There were over 5,000 white kids snatched from their homes, never to see their parents again. Their names are in the book published by Genealogical Publishing Company and written by Richard Hayes Phillips, Ph.D. The title is, “Without Indentures: Index to White Slave Children in Colonial Court Records (Maryland and Virginia).” The appendix names a few of the children, the ships on which they were transported and the parish or shire from which they were taken. I did find some of the surnames I trace. Now I must search to find out if any of them are related to my families.
Finding out about these slave children in an area where I have searched thoroughly, or thought I researched thoroughly, is another reminder that none of us, no matter how seasoned a researcher, knows everything. We can always learn something new.
MANUALLY HUNTING FOR PEOPLE: When you cannot find someone in a census index, it does not mean the person is not in the database for that decade. Two examples of people conducting a manual search are Bob Dunfield and Jean Funk. Bob, failing to find the female by her maiden name, searched the census for that decade for women named Elizabeth from beginning to end and found her. Elizabeth’s surname had been misspelled. Jean Funk found her person by doing the same thing and found her female whose surname spelling had been butchered. Yes, a manual search is tedious, but it can be fruitful. The pursuit of genealogy is definitely not for lazy people.
Brenda Kellow has a bachelor's degree in history, teaches, and lectures on genealogy. Before retiring to publish her family’s histories in 2007, Brenda held certification as a Certified Genealogist and as a Certified Genealogical Instructor. Send reunion announcements, books to review, and genealogy queries to: [email protected].