FamilySearch Clarifies Member Access to Third-Party Websites

If you even have a moderate interest in genealogy and are a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, you may have heard that members of the Church will have free access to three large, online, genealogy database programs: MyHeritage.com, Ancestry.com and findmypast.com. Some of the members have already received an invitation to the three programs. In a recent blog post entitled "Update on Member Access to Partner Sites—May 2014" additional information about the roll-out of the programs was given. Here is a chart showing the categories of members with dates as to when their group will receive access:

Click on the image to see the details. The roll-out is clarifies as follows:

On Tuesday, April 29, those with family history callings including family history consultants, family history center directors, stake indexing directors and high priest group leaders, began receiving individual email invitations in English to sign up for these free accounts. Not all those listed above received their invitations at the same time, we are awaiting translation into additional languages and there are limits to the number of individuals that can create new, or convert existing accounts, with each of the partners. All those with family history callings should receive individual invitations by May 27.

If you are interested in getting free access and are in any of the described categories, I would suggest that you should make sure you are registered with FamilySearch with a current email address. The final roll-out is described as follows:

The roll out beyond those with family history callings will be done by individual email invitation and will last for approximately three months. After the initial three months and by the end of 2014, access will be rolled out in stages to all members within specific geographies.

In addition, the announcement has some very interesting disclosures:

The initial rollout will include access to the premium tools and features of these websites. In the near future, members will be able to connect data between information in FamilySearch Family Tree and the family history data on each of the above mentioned websites. Additionally, in the future, members will be able to submit names for temple ordinances directly through each of these websites with the same level of security that exists on FamilySearch.org today. More information will be available by the end of 2014.

We are excited by the progress the team has made in making these resources available to all members free of charge and encourage you use these sites to help you find your ancestors and submit their names for temple ordinances this year. We echo the words of Elder Quentin L. Cook of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who said in this past General Conference, “We finally have the doctrine, the temples, and the technology for families to accomplish this glorious work of salvation.”

I foresee a substantial challenge to those providing support to the members to come up to speed on all three programs. It is very important that Ward officers in charge of Family History matters learn about these new programs and are prepared to support them.