FamilySearch Web Site Receives Three Billion Hits

The Church’s FamilySearch™ Internet Genealogy Service, a source of 640 million names worldwide, received its three billionth hit in May, just under a year after the site was introduced.

Receiving as many as eight million hits a day, www.familysearch.org allows users to download Personal Ancestral File at no charge. Personal Ancestral File, a family history software program that helps users organize their family history records, is now available in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German.

The site also provides a searchable master index for the Pedigree Resource File. The Pedigree Resource File is available on a series of CD-ROMs and is growing at the rate of 1.1 million names a month as users submit personal family records via www.familysearch.org.

Soon, FamilySearch will be adding vital records indexes from Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Mexico, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. These indexes will supply the dates and places of births, christenings, deaths, and marriages.

“We are delighted the FamilySearch Web site has been instrumental in helping so many people discover their heritage,” said Randy Bryson, director of FamilySearch.

The Church is the world leader in offering family history resources, with its vast records at Salt Lake City’s Family History Library and more than 3,400 Family History Centers worldwide.

The Church’s FamilySearch™ Web site can be reached at www.familysearch.org.