FamilySearch.org yesterday celebrated its 15th year of providing genealogists with online records — and many happy discoveries. Hard to remember, but it was originally launched as the Family Search Internet by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on May 24, 1999.
On the FamilySearch blog, Steve Anderson wrote, “In its infancy, FamilySearch started with two key databases, which included Ancestral File and the International Genealogical File (IGI), along with a few minor genealogical databases. The site originally provided access to 400 million names. Today, FamilySearch contains more than 3.2 billion records.”
I remember the days when I entered family names in the online IGI and was amazed at what appeared on the computer screen. It was almost like magic.
Happy anniversary, FamilySearch! Thanks for providing free online genealogy resources for 15 years.
Thank you Family Search!