The popular Relatives at RootsTech global family connection experience is back, with the added ability for participants to chat with newly discovered relatives, connect with friends, and see if they are related to celebrity keynote Matthew Modine. The experiences are free and available now in advance of RootsTech 2022, the world’s largest family history event (3–5 March). Start your family discovery today!
Relatives at RootsTech 2022 enables online users to potentially discover and connect with hundreds of living relatives. It has been an extremely popular feature of the in-person RootsTech conference for several years. The Relatives and RootsTech experience went worldwide in 2021, when the RootsTech conference became a virtual event reaching hundreds of thousands of people. With the previous success of Relatives at RootsTech, FamilySearch engineers have been hard at work to make the celebration of fun family connections even better for 2022.
Join Relatives at RootsTech Now
How Does Relatives at RootsTech 2022 Work?
The Relatives at RootsTech 2022 experience matches RootsTech participants worldwide by comparing the names of their ancestors found in the FamilySearch Family Tree. When a common ancestor is found, participants are shown the names of living relatives and their relationship to those people. Participants with more ancestors in Family Tree are more likely to make more connections with their cousins. With more than one billion names in the FamilySearch Family Tree, many participants are likely to find hundreds, if not thousands, of living relations.
Todd Powell, product manager for mobile apps at FamilySearch, said the user demand at the 2021 event exceeded expectations and had to be throttled back. He added that the experience will now accommodate upwards of 10 million people simultaneously.
“It is a wonderful experience for people when they find, discover, and connect with others that they’re related to, especially for those that didn’t know they had relatives. There’s this amazing connection experience when that occurs,” said Powell.
The Relatives at RootsTech 2022 experience has added the ability for participants to chat with living relatives they discover! It also has browser-based participation in addition to smart phone apps.
How Do I Participate in Relatives at RootsTech?
To join the fun, go to FamilySearch.org/Connect. If you don’t have a FamilySearch account, create one for free.
More Ways to Connect at RootsTech 2022
RootsTech 2022 features two other fun connection experiences—Keynote Connection and Surname Connections.
RootsTech Keynote Connections
How cool would it be if one of your relatives was a keynote speaker at RootsTech 2022? That’s what Keynote Connections aims to find out! If your FamilySearch Family Tree is sufficiently robust (if not, start adding names to your tree!), FamilySearch match and hinting technology will help you find out if you’re related to celebrity keynote Matthew Modine. If you are, surprise your family and friends, and see your own family journey unfold on screen as you watch Matthew Modine share his story on the RootsTech 2022 mainstage.
RootsTech Surname Connections
Do you ever wonder if your ancestors and your best friends’ ancestors might have known each other? With RootsTech Surname Connections, you can discover the meanings of each other’s surnames and where your surnames are most likely to be found together worldwide. Maybe you were always destined to be friends!
When you visit Surname Connections, all you need to do is input your last name and your friend’s last name. FamilySearch will comb through mountains of records in mere seconds to deliver to you a possible story about the connection between your families. You can discover if your families have ever lived in similar localities, if your families are connected, and perhaps if you’re related, by trying the Relatives at RootsTech experience. Either way, Surname Connections will help you find out what you’ve known all along—that you were just meant to be friends.
Relatives at RootsTech and other connection experiences are available now in advance of RootsTech 2022, which will be held on 3–5 March 2022 at RootsTech.org. Participation is free. Get connected now.