Rootschat

Last updated

RootsChat is a free online genealogy forum for researching family history through collaboration. The countries include research in United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, USA and South Africa. It was launched by Trystan Davies and Sarah Davies on 31 December 2003. [1] 18 months after its launch its membership was 16,000 and it was gaining 140 new members per day. [1] [2] Members ask questions and exchange information using a number of online forums.

Contents

Membership

As of April 2014 there are now over 200,000 members with over 4.5 million postings covering over 588,000 topics. [3] RootsChat uses volunteer forum moderators in an effort to keep a friendly atmosphere and welcome new visitors.

Members have created various games combining the resources available to them, and their passion for genealogy. These include Censuswhacking, whereby people look through the English census indexes for a unique first name, surname or occupation; and a monthly challenge with an aim of discovering as much as possible about a randomly selected person. [2]

At irregular intervals "Meets" are organised, where RootsChat members can meet and get to know each other face to face.

Website Organisation

The message posting area of the site is organised into various boards, some grouped together. As well as generic beginner and "common room" boards, countries and British and Irish Counties all have their own boards to allow people researching in the same areas to communicate and share knowledge. There is a strong ethos of sharing resources, with members frequently looking up census and parish records for each other. [4]

In addition to these boards there are special Cornish, Irish, Gaelic and Welsh boards for postings in each respective language.

There are also several very active "Special Interest" boards, including

Friendship bonds created between members have led to the creation of two boards, the "Lighter Side" and "Totally Off Topic" available to members only, and a chatroom for humorous and postings unrelated to family history[ citation needed ]

RootsChat in the News

In a case reported by the BBC [5] the members of the site were successful in closing a police enquiry dating back over fifty years. In another, through the help of RootsChatters, the relatives of airmen killed in a crash in 1942 were traced and were able to attend the funeral ceremony for the lost airmen. [6] [ full citation needed ]

In 2014 the BBC reported about a Tennessee woman who found her half-brother in Birmingham, England, after help from Rootschat members. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genealogy</span> Study of individual descent and bloodline

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FamilySearch Library</span> Genealogical library of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

The FamilySearch Library (FSL), formerly the Family History Library, is a genealogical research facility in downtown Salt Lake City. The library is open to the public free of charge and is operated by FamilySearch, the genealogical arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Internet forum</span> Online discussion site

An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporarily archived. Also, depending on the access level of a user or the forum set-up, a posted message might need to be approved by a moderator before it becomes publicly visible.

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 closely connected with the church's Family History Department. 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.

Genes Reunited

Genes Reunited, originally known as Genes Connected, is a genealogy website that was launched in the UK in 2003 as a sister-site to Friends Reunited. It has over 13 million members and over 780 million names listed.

Milnet.ca is a website privately owned by Canadian officer Lieutenant Colonel Mike Bobbitt, which serves mainly as an online discussion group regarding the Canadian Forces.

The EnviroLink Network serves as a clearinghouse for environmental information on the Internet, as well as providing free services to help progressive organizations adopt emerging technologies. The EnviroLink Network with EIN 25-1721380 tax exempt status was revoked on the 5th of May 2012 with revocation posting date of 11 February 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New England Historic Genealogical Society</span>

The New England Historic Genealogical Society (NEHGS) is the oldest and largest genealogical society in the United States, founded in year 1845.

Darius Gray is an African-American Latter-day Saint speaker and writer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JewishGen</span> International electronic resource for Jewish genealogy

JewishGen is a non-profit organization founded in 1987 as an international electronic resource for Jewish genealogy. In 2003, JewishGen became an affiliate of the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York City. It provides amateur and professional genealogists with the tools to research their Jewish family history and heritage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megan Smolenyak</span>

Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, born October 9, is an American genealogist, author, and speaker. She is also a consultant for the FBI and NCIS.

RootsTech is a family history and technology conference and trade show held annually in the Salt Palace Convention Center, Salt Lake City, Utah. It first debuted in 2011 having been created from the ground up by a team at FamilySearch. The conference claims to be the world's largest family-history technology conference. Over the years, RootsTech has welcomed a number of celebrities, television personalities, and actors as keynote speakers.

Findmypast Online genealogy service based in the UK, owned by DC Thomson

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.

The Genealogy Roadshow is an Irish genealogy television series created by Big Mountain Productions and presented by Derek Mooney. The first (2011) & second (2014) series were broadcast on RTÉ One.

<i>Finding Your Roots</i> American documentary television series

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is a documentary television series hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. that premiered on March 25, 2012, on PBS. In each episode, celebrities are presented with a "book of life" that is compiled with information researched by professional genealogists that allows them to view their ancestral histories, learn about familial connections and discover secrets about their lineage.

The Ontario Genealogical Society, operating as Ontario Ancestors since early 2019, is the largest organization devoted to research into family history in Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1961 as a Registered Charity corporation, the Society has grown by 2020 to include 30 local branches covering all of Ontario and five Special Interest Groups.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elisabeth Thorsell</span> Swedish writer and genealogist (born 1945)

Elisabeth Thorsell is a Swedish writer, professional genealogist and a veteran within the Swedish genealogical movement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Family History Research Wiki</span> Genealogy wiki

The Family History Research Wiki provides reference information and educational articles to help genealogists find and interpret records of their ancestors. It is a free-access, free-content, online encyclopedia on a wiki, hosted as part of the FamilySearch site. It is sponsored by FamilySearch, a non-profit organization and genealogical arm of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Anyone may read any of the articles, and almost all articles can be edited by registered users (contributors); registration is free.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Miriam Weiner (genealogist)</span> American genealogist, author and lecturer

Miriam Weiner is an American genealogist, author, and lecturer who specializes in the research of Jewish roots in Poland and the former Soviet Union. Weiner is considered to be one of the pioneers of contemporary Jewish genealogy through her work to open up archives and is described as a trail-blazing, highly respected guide and leading authority on archival holdings and resources in pre-war Belarus, Lithuania, Moldova, Poland, and Ukraine.

Roger P. Minert was a professor of family history at Brigham Young University (BYU) until he retired in 2019. He is a professional genealogist and an emeritus AG. He has a background in German language study and has published reference books for genealogy work on German immigrants, guides on performing German genealogy research, and books about the history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany. He frequently presents on German family history topics at genealogy conferences.

References

  1. 1 2 Sam Burson New website where genes detectives take on other people's past, Western Mail, 16 June 2005. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  2. 1 2 Rob Liddle The kinship of strangers, BBC News, 13 June 2005. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
  3. "Rootschat Forum Homepage" . Retrieved 14 November 2011.
  4. "Rootschat Lookup Forum".
  5. news.bbc.co.uk Genealogists help police inquiry 10 June 2005
  6. http://www.raf.mod.uk/news/news_0608_16.html
  7. RootsChatters discover a half Brother for American lady researching her Black Country Family History, BBC News, 14 April 2014.