Community Trees added to Genealogies on FamilySearch.org

You may not have been aware of the Community Trees program. It is an extremely valuable, but highly focused database of compiled genealogical data on specific localities or during certain time periods. FamilySearch announced that the Genealogies section of FamilySearch.org will now be able to search the Community Tree databases directly. This search capability has been added to the Genealogies section of FamilySearch.org. Here is a screenshot showing where this capability was added:

Here is a description of the content of the Community Trees program:

Community Trees are genealogies from specific periods and localities that have been linked according to family relations. Community trees often include supporting sources. Most of the genealogies are joint projects between FamilySearch and others who live in a particular area or have expertise in the area or records used to create the genealogies. Each community tree is a searchable database with views of individuals, families, ancestors, and descendants, as well as options for printing. 

The scope of projects may involve members of a small villages or townships who work together to form a family tree of all known residents of the community for a given time period. Some are projects involve genealogical and historical societies that work with FamilySearch to index several sources of data to link them to common, lineage-linked genealogies of a targeted geographic area. 

The scope could also be focused on a particular record set and locality. The goal may be to identify and reconstitute all families of a particular place from a village, county, or even a country. Many of the current projects were produced by FamilySearch's Family Reconstitution team and are for communities from medieval times. 

GEDCOM downloads of the community trees may be available, depending on restrictions that have been set for access to the records. No information for living people is usually available in the public views of these community trees. Edits and corrections to the databases are usually restricted by project partners; please contact these partners to offer suggestions, corrections, and new information. Some partners may have additional information or enhanced versions of the genealogies on their own websites. These databases will be updated if they are a work in progress.

According to FamilySearch's post, these trees have extensive sources and should have a low error and duplication rate. At the bottom of the search form above, you can see a blue button that contains a drop-down menu that enables you to search all of the databases, the Ancestral File, the Pedigree Resource File, the International Genealogical Index and Community Trees at one time or search each one separately. 

Some of the most interesting compilations on the Community Trees program include the Paget's Heraldic Baronage collection and the Royal and Noble Houses of Europe. The Royal and Noble Houses of Europe includes the following:

This database contains individuals ranging from A.D. 100 to the 1800s; includes ancestors and descendants of Clodion "der Langhaarige" ancestor of the Merovingian kings; Gorm "den Gamle" of Denmark; Charlemagne of the Franks; Wladimir I Swjatoslavitsch "der Heilige" Grossfürst von Kiev; Louis IX of France; Edward I of England; Charles I of England; and Spanish Kings of Navarre, Castile and Léon with many other European royal, noble, and gentry lineages with Colonial American connections.

This particular database has over 380,000 lineage linked entries for an extensive source for the most accurate royal lines available. If there is a "little used" resource from FamilySearch the Community Trees program has been long overdue for publicity. The amount of information in this set of collections is monumental. The major limitation is and always has been that the collections were only helpful if your particular lines fell within the focus of the collections. However, now, with the ability to search the entire set of collections from FamilySearch.org, the site becomes much more valuable.