The Generations Network

The Generations Network is an Internet company based in Provo, Utah and the largest for-profit genealogy company in the world. They run a growing network of genealogy and family-related websites.

In addition to their main sites, The Generations Network runs FamilyHistory.com, which contains some basic free information, but is mostly a portal to Ancestry.com. They also publish Ancestry Magazine and formerly published Genealogical Computing before the magazine ceased publication in 2006. They have a presence in the United Kingdom under the name MyFamily.com, Ltd., whose offices are located in Hammersmith, London, England and an office in Munich, Germany.

History
In 1996, Infobases invested in Ancestry, a print publishing company founded in 1983, later purchasing the company outright from founder John Sittner. Paul Allen (not the Microsoft co-founder) and Dan Taggart began running Ancestry independently from Infobases in July 1997, and began creating one of the largest online subscription-based genealogy database services. The company changed its name to "MyFamily.com" in November 1999 since its mission included both genealogy and connecting families to each other.

The MyFamily.com website launched in December 1998 (with free sites beginning in March 1999 ), obtaining 1 million registered users within its first 140 days. The company raised more than $90 million in venture capital from investors including Intel, CMGI, AOL, Kodak, Compaq, Sorenson, Esnet, Vspring and Tango Partners. According to Paul Allen (quoting a November 2002 article in the New York Times), the sales for 2002 were about $62 million, and those for 2003 were $99 million.

In March 2004, the company opened a new call center in Provo due to outgrowing their old call center in Orem. The new call center can accommodate approximately 700 agents at one time. Heritage Makers was acquired in September 2005, and sold a year later in August 2006.. The Ancestry.ca website was opened on January 24, 2006. In March 2006, MyFamily opened a new office in Bellevue, Washington as part of the MyFamily business unit. Encounter Technologies was acquired in April 2006

The company changed its name to "The Generations Network" on December 19, 2006. While the company formerly offered access to Ancestry.com free at any LDS Family History Center, that service was terminated on 2007-03-17 due to the inability to reach a mutually-agreeable licensing agreement between TGN and the LDS Church.

Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com is a subscription-based genealogy research website with over 5 billion records online and more being added almost daily. The majority of records are from the United States, though a growing number of records are being added for other countries such as Canada, the United Kingdom, and various European countries. Some of these records are free for anyone to access, but the majority are accessible only by paid subscription.

On June 22, 2006, Ancestry.com completed the indexing and scanning of all of the United States Federal Census records from 1790 through 1930.

Subscriptions are automatically renewed unless you cancel (via the web or a phone call), a policy explained in their Terms and Conditions. As commonly happens with the terms of service on many Internet sites, most members do not pay attention to or read them and are therefore surprised when their subscriptions automatically renew. The automatic renewal system has caused some controversy, as documented on the sites below.

Ancestry.com was nominated for a 2007 CODiE Award in the "Best Online Consumer Information Service" category. The site was also used recently to show that ancestors of Al Sharpton were owned by relatives of the late Senator Strom Thurmond.

Non-U.S. sites
Ancestry.com operates multiple non-U.S.-centric sites which give access to records specific to various other countries. Ancestry.ca allows for access to only those records from Canada. This allows those accessing the site to avoid search results containing records from elsewhere in the world. The online records include more than 150 million searchable names, as well as the first fully indexed 1911 Census of Canada.

Ancestry.com.au allows for access to only those records from the United Kingdom, Ireland and Australia, thereby avoiding search results containing records from elsewhere in the world. The site was opened sometime in August 2006.

Ancestry.co.uk allows for access to only those records from the United Kingdom and Ireland, thereby avoiding search results containing records from elsewhere in the world. The Ancestry.co.uk site received almost 4 million visitors in February 2006, up from about 2.2 million in July 2005. Some credit for this increase in genealogical interest is given to recent BBC shows such as Who Do You Think You Are?.

Ancestry.de was launched in 2006 and Ancestry.it was launched in mid-2007, each offering census records, immigration lists, and other records.

Family Heritage Project
This site is set up so that users can order a customized book containing census images, photos and other information regarding a family. The book is leather-bound and contains information up to four generations of a family. . As of December 2006, the book is no longer available for order. 

Family Tree Maker
Advertised as "the #1-selling family tree software on the market." As with other genealogy software, Family Tree Maker allows you to keep track of all of the information you collect as you are researching, and then create reports, charts, and books containing that information. The software was developed by Banner Blue, then purchased by Broderbund. It passed through the hands of The Learning Company, Mattel, and others before coming under its current ownership. At present, it is offered for users of Microsoft Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista only, with no plans to release it on any other platforms. Most features of Family Tree Maker 2005, 2006, and 16 function with Windows Vista, but "certain features (like exporting a view, book, or tree to PDF)" require an update. Even with the update, one must run as an administratior if one wishes to preview a book.

Family Tree Maker Version 16 was nominated for a 2007 CODiE Award in the "Best Consumer Productivity Solution" category. 

Genealogy.com
A genealogy research website with some records not found on Ancestry.com, though the total number of records available is smaller. Genealogy.com was acquired from A&E Networks by MyFamily.com in 2003. 

LongLostPeople.com
This site allows you to search public records for living people in the United States. 

MyFamily.com
An Internet website which allows anyone to create a family or group website (e.g., a class reunion site, a club site) within a matter of minutes. A basic template for the site can be manipulated to turn on or off various modules for the main page, but the customization is limited. This may change in the future as they are currently running a public beta of a new version of the site (titled "MyFamily.com 2.0 beta"). 

RootsWeb.com
A free genealogy community which makes excellent use of online forums and mailing lists to help people research their family history. RootsWeb was founded in 1993 by Dr. Brian Leverich and Karen Isaacson as the Roots Surname List, and quickly grew from there. It is the oldest free community genealogy research site. RootsWeb was acquired by MyFamily.com in June 2000. Users can also upload a GEDCOM of their information for others to view. 

Controversy
There are some who disapprove of the policies and business practices of The Generations Network and the sites it operates. Some sites, e.g. BadBusinessBureau.com, catalog these stories. Ancestry.com and affiliates sell perpetual subscriptions that only end when they are cancelled, sometimes allowing them to collect from long deceased subscribers.

Because the company is based in Utah, some mistakenly believe that it is run by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (or "Mormons"). However, according to the company's Public Relations Senior Manager, Peggy Hayes (as of January 2006), the company is privately held and the LDS Church has no stake in it. This also because Mormons initially had a unique use for Ancestry.com, using it to find ancestors for temple baptism.