In a recent blogpost in FamilySearch, Jan Meyer listed what we can expect to see coming in 2019 to FamilySearch. Besides the over 300 million additional records and images available for our use, there are at least four items to be added this coming year.
Online Interactive Discovery Experiences. These have only been available at the life-sized kiosks in select FamilySearch venues but will be coming on FamilySearch online this year. The hope is to expand the use of these features to more patrons globally. These include:
- All About Me. This allows you to see the origin of your name or what events happened the year you were born. Not only can you find these things about yourself, you can also find them about your ancestors.
- Picture My Heritage. You can insert yourself digitally into traditional clothing related to your heritage. What would you look like wearing folk dress from Denmark or Germany? You will also be able to save those photos or share them with friends and family.
- Record My Story. Priceless stories and memories from you or your family members can be recorded on Record My Story and added to either FamilySearch.org or downloaded to another source.
Family Tree and Friends, Associates, and Neighbor (FAN) Relationships. Family Tree is going to give users the ability to record other relationships to their ancestors beyond immediate family members. This will help solve the problem of what to do with the other people living in their ancestor’s household, such as lodgers or servants. As part of this function there will also be more help throughout the site to make it easier to accomplish tasks without undue detours.
Update Find Capacity. This year promises to bring faster and better results for searches on FamilySearch Family Tree. The other exciting feature of this improved search is the ability for other search engines, such as Google, to present names and limited facts from the Family Tree to online search queries without the searcher being logged in to FamilySearch. Imagine the vast number of online searchers who will discover the resources available on FamilySearch!
Memories. Millions of people use the Memories section of FamilySearch to record, preserve, and share their family photos, historical documents, and stories. The improvements coming in 2019 will allow users to audio record remembrances related to a photo they have uploaded. They will also be able to organize items in albums according to their interests or needs.
FamilySearch offers users the opportunity for anyone to research family names regardless of religious affiliation. Records can be accessed for free online at FamilySearch.org or at any one of over 5,000 family history centers in 129 countries, including the Granite Family History Center.
[Source: “What’s Coming to FamilySearch in 2019,” Jan Meyer, 4 January 2019] –Liz Kennington