Genealogy is the study of families, family history, and the tracing of their lineages. Genealogists use oral interviews, historical records, genetic analysis, and other records to obtain information about a family and to demonstrate kinship and pedigrees of its members. The results are often displayed in charts or written as narratives. The field of family history is broader than genealogy, and covers not just lineage but also family and community history and biography.
FamilySearch is a nonprofit organization and website offering genealogical records, education, and software. It is operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is part of the church's Family History Department (FHD). The Family History Department was originally established in 1894, as the Genealogical Society of Utah (GSU); it is the largest genealogy organization in the world.
Find a Grave is a website that allows the public to search and add to an online database of human and pet cemetery records. It is owned by Ancestry.com. Its stated mission is "to help people from all over the world work together to find, record and present final disposition information as a virtual cemetery experience." Volunteers can create memorials, upload photos of grave markers or deceased persons, transcribe photos of headstones, and more. As of 2024, the site claimed more than 250 million memorials.
Ancestry.com LLC is an American genealogy company based in Lehi, Utah. The largest for-profit genealogy company in the world, it operates a network of genealogical, historical records, and related genetic genealogy websites. It is owned by The Blackstone Group, which acquired the company on December 4, 2020, in a deal valued at $4.7 billion.
FamilyTreeDNA is a division of Gene by Gene, a commercial genetic testing company based in Houston, Texas. FamilyTreeDNA offers analysis of autosomal DNA, Y-DNA, and mitochondrial DNA to individuals for genealogical purpose. With a database of more than two million records, it is the most popular company worldwide for Y-DNA and mitochondrial DNA, and the fourth most popular for autosomal DNA. In Europe, it is the most common also for autosomal DNA. FamilyTreeDNA as a division of Gene by Gene were acquired by MYDNA, Inc., an Australian company, in January 2021.
Family Tree Magazine is a publication about genealogy and family history published by Yankee Publishing, Inc. in Blue Ash, Ohio and Dublin, New Hampshire. It has a paid circulation of about 70,000. The first issue was published in 2000, with David A. Fryxell as editor and later editor-in-chief. Allison (Stacy) Dolan and Diane Haddad also served as editors for the publication. Current editor Andrew Koch took on the role in December 2018.
The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) is the oldest and largest genealogical society in the United States, founded in year 1845.
MyHeritage is an online genealogy platform with web, mobile, and software products and services, introduced by the Israeli company MyHeritage in 2003. Users of the platform can obtain their family trees, upload and browse through photos, and search through over 19.9 billion historical records, among other features. In early 2021 they were acquired by Francisco Partners for $600 million.
Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, born October 9, is an American genealogist, author, and speaker. She is also a consultant for the FBI and NCIS.
GeneTree was a family history website focused on using DNA testing to trace ancestry. A website account was free, and within their account users could order DNA tests, enter results from other testing companies, search the DNA database, create an online family tree, and correspond with family members – including sharing pictures.
WeRelate.org is an American wiki genealogy Web site that provides genealogy tools and data. WeRelate is a nonprofit organization, funded by tax-deductible donations, and is managed by unpaid volunteers. WeRelate had over 2 million person pages by March 2011 and claimed to be the "world's largest genealogy wiki".
Canadian Headstones is a project to capture digital images and the complete transcription of cemetery stones. It is a web-based Canadian non-profit corporation run completely by volunteers.
Maureen Alice Taylor, born April 14, 1956, is a genealogist, author, and speaker in Providence, Rhode Island with expertise in genealogy, art history, costume history and cultural anthropology. She is a blogger, and author of many books and magazine articles. The Wall Street Journal named her the "nation's foremost historical photo detective."
Findmypast is a UK-based online genealogy service owned, since 2007, by British company DC Thomson. The website hosts billions of searchable records of census, directory and historical record information. It originated in 1965 when a group of genealogists formed a group named "Title Research". The first internet website went live in 2003.
TheGenealogist is a family history website that provides subscriptions for researchers to help search genealogy records in the United Kingdom. The site is run by Genealogy Supplies (Jersey) Ltd which is part of the S&N Group. Among its accomplishments, the company has completely transcribed the England and Wales censuses from 1841 to 1911 inclusive. The site has been identified as among "the most prominent" subscription-based genealogy websites.
GenealogyBank.com is an online subscription genealogical service that provides access to records useful in family history research. GenealogyBank is one of the largest collections of digitized U.S. newspapers, dating back to 1690. In addition to digital newspaper archives, GenealogyBank also offers other online genealogy resources including the Social Security Death Index, obituaries, government publications, and historical books.
WikiTree is a genealogy website that allows users to research and to contribute to their own family trees while building and collaborating on a singular worldwide family tree within the same system. WikiTree is free for the user and financed via advertisements displayed to unregistered users. WikiTree is owned and hosted by founder's company Interesting.com, Inc.
The FamilySearch Research Wiki is a website containing reference information and educational articles to help locate and interpret genealogical records. The wiki is part of the FamilySearch website and was launched in 2007. It is a free-access, free-content online directory and handbook that uses a wiki platform to organize pages. Content is created collaboratively by a member base made up of FamilySearch employees, Mormon missionaries, and the wider online community. As of 2024, pages can be edited only by registered contributors who have completed training on current content policy.
Free UK Genealogy is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) acting as an umbrella organisation for FreeBMD, FreeREG and FreeCEN. The charity was formerly known as FreeBMD.
The American Genealogist is a quarterly peer-reviewed academic journal which focuses on genealogy and family history. It was established by Donald Lines Jacobus in 1922 as the New Haven Genealogical Magazine. In July 1932 it was renamed The American Genealogist and New Haven Genealogical Magazine and the last part of the title was dropped in 1937, giving the journal its current title. All editors have been fellows of the American Society of Genealogists.
