Free Access to Ancesty.com, MyHeritage.com and findmypast.com begins

Various notifications have gone out from FamilySearch.org about the impending free access to Ancestry.com, MyHeritage.com and findmypast.com. There now seems to be a schedule for FamilySearch to send out email notifications granting access to the three programs. As a Church Service Missionary, I got a notification today. Within a very few minutes, I was able to get complete access to all three websites. From the schedule I have seen, this process will go on for a few months before all the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have access to the programs.

There is no way to speed up the process. Because I had accounts with Ancestry.com and MyHeritage.com, the existing accounts will all of the links and documents were carried over to the new free accounts. I could even use the same login and password to access the accounts. Both entities suggested that a connection between the programs and FamilySearch Family Tree would be possible in the future.

There seem to be a lot of rumors going around and some misinformation. As a long time user of all three programs, I am extremely impressed with the ease of getting access. Of course, I know all about logins and passwords and all that. I expect that there will be a significant number of people who will not be able to follow the directions and will need help logging into the three websites. I predict this because we are still working out problems in getting Church members into FamilySearch.org.

Just be patient, the email will come. I will report about my experience using all three programs once I get a chance to use them with the LDS Access.