Geneanet, the international genealogy database based in France, has added more than nine million Italian records.
The new collection includes:
– Italy, Births and Baptisms, 1806-1900: 5,602,429 records
– Italy, Marriages, 1809-1900: 2,147,866 records
– Italy, Deaths and Burials, 1809-1900: 1,392,284 records
FamilySearch has similarly titled collections, but with less than a third of the records Geneanet has.
FamilySearch includes:
– Italy, Births and Baptisms, 1806-1900: 1,922,327 records
– Italy, Marriages, 1809-1900: 408,228 records
– Italy, Deaths and Burials, 1809-1900: 438,494 records
Geneanet recently partnered with FamilySearch to provide collections of birth, baptism, marriage, death and burial records from all over the Europe.
I have yet to determine what differentiates the Geneanet and FamilySearch’s Italian collections, apart from the quantities. If anyone knows, I would like to hear from you.
Free account
Without setting up an account, you can kick the tires on Geneanet by conducting three or four searches. You will see the first level of results, such as names and locations.
After you have used up your first few searches and if you want to continue, you must register for a free account. It is easy to do, requiring only your first and last names, your sex, username, and password.
The free account allows you to conduct more first-level results, see the full name of the main individual, place/year, receive email alerts by name and place, publish/upload your family tree, and view “many archival documents.” What you cannot do with a free account is use wildcard characters in your searches, such as an asterisk in D*ver.
Paid account
Premium members are those who pay $60CDN for a one-year subscription to receive name variants, wildcard characters, family tree matches, and “a billion individuals in the genealogy library.”
To explore the new databases, I entered the names of a few family members’ Italian ancestors. I saw several results, but nothing that indicated I had found the right family. If I had been successful, I may have tried a one-year subscription.
Search
Start your search on Geneanet here. If looking for Italian ancestors, limit the results by entering Italy in the Country field.
Multi-language website
Geneanet is the top non-US genealogy website. It ranked #7 on Genealogy In Time Magazine‘s Top 100 Genealogy Websites of 2016 and it has more than two million members.
This past week, Geneanet added more than eight million Dutch birth, marriage, and death records.
The site can be viewed in English, French, Dutch, German, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese.
