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The overall purpose of FamilySearch Family Tree is to "...enable inspiring journeys that bring joy to all people as they discover, gather, and connect their family—past, present, and future." We aim to help you discover your family and, in turn, discover more about yourself. To learn more about FamilySearch, visit FamilySearch.org/about.
FamilySearch International is found online at www.familysearch.org. Family Tree is the FamilySearch product that helps users discover and document their family histories. Family Tree is different from other genealogy websites. Some differences include:
- Family Tree is a free, shared, collaborative, public tree linking families together with the goal of connecting every member of the human family. Every user of Family Tree works together on the same data. Other sites only allow users to create and manage their own private trees.
- Family Tree compares historical records to people in the tree to provide Research Helps on a person's profile.
- Family Tree compares similar people in the tree to locate potential duplicate profiles for a person, which can possibly be merged.
- Family Tree provides messaging and collaboration tools to facilitate communication between users and resolve data issues. FamilySearch Support options are also available internationally at no cost.
- Family Tree draws from FamilySearch's enormous and growing database to provide record hints and research help. Hints can link family members across generations.
- Family Tree Memories help foster deeper connections to ancestors, allowing users to preserve and share photos and histories.
FamilySearch works globally to gather and preserve historical records, making them accessible and easy to use for researchers around the world—regardless of Church membership. The Search option in FamilySearch Family Tree can locate informational items, including records, images, genealogies, books, and newspapers. The FamilySearch Catalog offers advanced search options, enabling users to explore information as general or as specific as they prefer. While some records may not be available on FamilySearch.org, FamilySearch has centers worldwide that offer additional viewing rights for many records.
Our hope is that, as you use FamilySearch Family Tree, we can create a well-sourced, easy-to-use, global, and publicly viewable record of our family histories. We encourage FamilySearch users and their family members to connect with both their deceased and living relatives. The FamilySearch Family Tree combines opportunities for collaboration and extensive record collections as tools to aid beginner and expert users in their search for family.
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