Issue 48.09
The web site http://labs.familysearch.org/ is where FamilySearch showcases new family history technologies that aren’t ready for prime time. They will let us play with these innovations and send them feedback while they are still under development.
The latest find on the labs site is a new project knows as “Historical Family Trees” or “Community Trees.” It began as a project by one of the family history department employees and seven missionaries. It has grown to seven employees and more than 61 missionaries. They put together, with the help of a few others, 19 projects.
To find it, go to the labs.familysearch.org site and go to the project labeled “Historical Family Trees.” Go to the site via the link and you’ll see “Community Trees.” The main page contains the basic search box. Community Trees are lineage-linked genealogies from specific time periods and geographic localities around the world. The information also includes the supporting sources. Each Community Tree is a searchable database with view of individuals, families, ancestors and descendants, as well as printing options.
The scope of partner projects may be a small, grass roots village or township working together to form a family tree of all the known residents of its community for a given time period. Some are genealogical and historical societies working with FamilySearch to index several sources of data to link them to common, lineage-linked genealogies of a targeted geographic area of interest.
Many of the current projects were produced by FamilySearch’s Family Reconstitution team and date back to the medieval times. The current collections include British Isles: Peerage, Gentry and Colonial American Connections which was compiled from 15 reputable publications. These lines are very important because they connect to many immigrants to America. It also includes Canadian records, records of London, England, Norfolk Visitations, The Todd Knowles Jewish Collection, Europe’s Royal and Noble Houses of Germany, England and France. It has the Medieval Family Unit information which has been updated and corrected using on-line databases plus much more. It is a very exciting new addition to the online world of genealogy!
Shanna Sullivan Jones is a professional genealogist. For additional information, Shanna can be reached at (435) 628-4900 or shannasjones@msn.com