I'm back from vacation now, well, mostly vacation. In addition to our time at the beach, I fit in a couple of Legacy User Group meetings, a full-day conference with Tom Jones, and broadcasted a webinar. That might sound like work to some, but when you love what you do, as I do, every day is a vacation. Except for those that aren't. I digress.
Recently FamilySearch indexers participated in an amazing 24-hour event. They hoped to have an unprecedented 50,000 contributors in a 24 hour period. They beat that by a lot. On July 20 and 21, 66,511 volunteers participated. My wife and three oldest children participated as well. I am a big believer in FamilySearch Indexing. I try to do a little each morning. Then, if my day is completely unproductive, I know I've at least done one thing right that day. Anyways, here's the official announcement from FamilySearch.
FamilySearch volunteers are amazing! On July 20th and 21st, FamilySearch indexers and arbitrators from around the world joined together to set an international record for the greatest number of indexing participants in a single day! We hoped to have an unprecedented 50,000 contributors in a 24 hour period. FamilySearch volunteers excelled, surpassing that goal by 16,511! That’s right—66,511 participants in one day! Incredible! We are grateful for the patience and persistence of many volunteers who faced technical difficulties due to an overwhelming response.
These generous indexers and arbitrators made a true difference. Each record and each name indexed and arbitrated matters. It only takes one to open the door to linking generations of families together. Without question, thousands of lives will be changed as a result of this day’s effort.
While the focus for this challenge was on the total number of participants, a tremendous amount of indexing and arbitration work was accomplished as well. Here are the results for the number of records indexed and arbitrated.
Indexed: 4,682,746
Arbitrated: 941,932
Total Records Processed: 5.7 million
Our ancestors deserve to be remembered. You can be proud to be the one who made the difference for someone else who is looking for their ancestors. Because of you, they will know the joy of adding a new branch to their family tree. Thank you!
Did you participate in this historic event? Celebrate with us! Print and/or share this badge online to let your friends know you helped make history! Visit the badge page to download the badge.
We want to hear from you! Share your event day experience in a comment below or email us at fsindexing@familysearch.org.
And keep indexing! More names and stories-especially from obituaries-are ready to be indexed by you and discovered by researchers worldwide. One volunteer, one document, one name can make all the difference to someone looking for his or her family.
Get started at familysearch.org/indexing
Someone indexed a 2nd marriage record in 1925 for my great grandmother, that I didn’t know about! I had to hunt down the oldest living relative and she confirmed it was true! I’ve now got more to add to the family history …all because of a total stranger. My gratitude for all the hard work !!