new free resource: Family Tree Registry

[Family Tree Registry]

I have just opened a free genealogy website, which I hope will be a
useful new tool for genealogists and genealogical organizations and
institutions, owing to its advanced and unique features.

The Family Tree Registry, http://www.FamilyTreeRegistry.org, is a free
resource facilitating the exchange of genealogical information while
maintaining the privacy of its users and their family trees. The
Registry does not contain family trees. Instead, it functions as a
central repository of descriptive information about family trees
(including where to find them) and surnames appearing on them (but not
about individuals). In other words, you won't put your aunt Betty's
name online, but other genealogists will still be able to know whether
your family tree interests them, and, if so, they will be able to
contact you through the Registry, without seeing your email address (if
you choose to keep it private).

The Family Tree Registry also functions as a search engine, enabling
users to find family trees by specifying properties the trees or
surnames on the trees must possess. Properties such as
ethnicity/sub-ethnicity, religion/sub-religion, place, date last
modified, whether surnames or family trees contain nobility, whether
they have associated DNA (genetic) information, and more are
searchable. Surnames and places can also be specified and searched
according to their native spelling in non-Latin characters (Chinese,
Hebrew, Russian, etc.).

When logged in, searches you perform can be saved so that you can
easily retry them in the future, without having to respecify the search
parameters.

The Family Tree Registry is not limited in scope to family trees that
are available online. You can also register family trees that are
privately maintained offline, that are published in books, or that can
be found in repositories. For example, the Genealogical Society of X
can use the Registry to tell the world that it has a family tree
covering certain surnames, ethnicities, places, dates, etc., and that
it can be found at the Society's headquarters, without having to post
the contents of the tree online. Or, if in your genealogical research
you have encountered a rare out-of-print book that contains a family
tree, you can use the Registry to make other genealogists aware of that
tree's existence and location.

The Family Tree Registry will increase in usefulness with the number of
registered family trees, so I encourage you to register your trees and
spread the word about this new tool. You can also help by sending
ideas of ways to improve the site, such as additional
ethnicity/sub-ethnicity or religion/sub-religion categories, additional
properties you would like to be able to search by, or functionality you
would like to see. Since the site has just opened, please especially
tell me about any problems or difficulties you encounter.

Best regards,

Logan Kleinwaks
[email protected]
http://www.FamilyTreeRegistry.org