Press Releases

LONDON, Sep. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- MyFamily.com Inc., the leading network for connecting families, today announced the launch of the 1891 census online. Beginning today, the first images of original 1891 census returns are available online at http://www.Ancestry.co.uk, a new website designed specifically for people interested in researching their ancestry and family history in the United Kingdom.

In addition, MyFamily.com today announced the launch of an immense project to make available online, indexed, digitized images of census returns for England and Wales from 1841 through 1891. MyFamily.com has signed a license agreement with the Public Record Office (PRO) to publish these records online. The monumental task involves digitizing more than 7 million original census return images and indexing more than 130 million names.

"MyFamily.com is the global leader in family history information. It is our mission to connect and strengthen families by helping people worldwide discover, preserve, and share their family histories," said MyFamily.com President and CEO, Tom Stockham. "We want to make it possible for everyone to access information on their ancestors, and gain insight into the social and economic conditions that shaped their families. Publishing the census returns for England and Wales is a big step toward realizing our goal."

As a first step in this immense project, beginning 18 September 2002, 1891 census images and an index for the county of Oxfordshire will be available online at Ancestry.co.uk. Visitors will be able to browse through images of the original census returns and search an every-name index, containing information on more than 20,000 individuals living in Oxfordshire in 1891. All of the 1891 Census returns for England and Wales will soon be available electronically to users in the UK and worldwide. MyFamily.com will publish additional images weekly, bringing millions of images to the site throughout the coming months. Upon completion, the collection will be fully indexed, searchable by name, county, and parish with search results linking directly to images.

The census returns contain details of every person living in England and Wales at the time of each of the censuses. These records offer a wealth of information on individuals including occupation, place of birth, language spoken and whether they suffered from certain medical disabilities. The census returns for England and Wales were compiled using the same system of registration that was used for the registration of births, marriages and deaths. This means that there is a direct link between the two most important 19th-century sources for family historians.

"We welcome moves to put more of the UK's public records online to reach a wider audience worldwide," said Anne Kilminster, Head of Enterprises at the Public Record Office. "We wish MyFamily.com every success with this project."

Beyond the unveiling of the 1891 census online, Ancestry.co.uk debuts with millions of names extracted from sources such as immigration, parish, birth, marriage and death records from throughout the region, making it among the largest online record collections for the UK. Additional record collections available at http://www.Ancestry.co.uk include:
-- England and Wales Civil Registration Index -- A free database containing information on more than 30 million individuals. This database is the product of thousands of volunteers who are transcribing the indexes of the required registration of births, marriages, and deaths in England and Wales from 1837 through 1901.
-- United Kingdom and Ireland Parish and Probate Records -- Over 15 million baptism, marriage, probate, and burial names from historical parish registers in England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland from 1538 through 1837.
-- Pallot Marriage and Baptism Indexes -- An exclusive 4-million name collection identifies the Parish in which a marriage or baptism was celebrated, the names of the participants and the date of the event. An image of the original record is also available to view online.
-- Irish Immigrants: New York Port Arrivals Index -- An index of more than 600,000 individuals catalogues the immigration of the Irish during the Potato Famine of 1846-51 through passenger lists and other immigration documents.

Approximately half of the records are offered free to all site visitors. Unlimited access to the complete collection is available to subscribers for 69.95 euro as an annual subscription or 29.95 euro as a quarterly subscription. To begin your journey to the past, type in http://www.Ancestry.co.uk.

About MyFamily.com, Inc.
MyFamily.com, Inc. is among the largest online subscription businesses, with over 800,000 paid subscriptions and more that 7.5 million people using its Web resources every month. A next-generation media company, MyFamily is focused on connecting families with their histories and one another. The company provides both free and paid subscription services through its network of Internet properties, which include: Ancestry.com, the number one source for tracing family history online; RootsWeb.com, the oldest and largest genealogy community online; MyFamily.com, the foremost provider of private family websites; and Ancestry.co.uk, a leading online source for family history records from the United Kingdom. The company also publishes Ancestry magazine, Genealogical Computing magazine, Ancestry Family Tree software, over 50 book titles, and databases on CD-ROM.