The Generations Network, Inc., Launches Swedish-Language Ancestry.se

The following announcement was written by The Generations Network, Inc.:

PROVO, Utah, Sept. 11 -- The Generations Network, Inc., this week unveiled Ancestry.se -- a new family history Web site focused on Sweden. At launch, the Swedish-language site offers access to more than 37 million names of historical Swedish parish and emigration records, all of which are available for U.S. subscribers on Ancestry.com.

In 2007 alone, The Generations Network has introduced four international sites, bringing the tally of Ancestry sites to eight. The Ancestry suite of sites now includes Ancestry.com in the United States, Ancestry.co.uk in the United Kingdom, Ancestry.ca in Canada, Ancestry.com.au in Australia, Ancestry.de in Germany, Ancestry.it in Italy, Ancestry.fr in France and Ancestry.se in Sweden. As with other sister-sites, Ancestry.se offers Swedish-language tree building tools and lets users tap into the world-wide Ancestry community -- the largest global community of individuals searching for their family roots -- as well as an ever-expanding collection of local historical records.

"Sweden's Ancestry.se site increases the strength of our global family history network to help people discover their roots as well as family living all over the world," said Tim Sullivan, CEO of The Generations Network. "When you combine the fact that Sweden is one of the most Internet friendly nations with the strong ancestral cultural connections that exist between the United States and Scandinavia, we believe there will be enormous opportunity for unprecedented family history collaboration."

For almost 4 million Americans of Swedish descent, the new Swedish records also make Ancestry.com an ideal location to discover their roots. Included in these records are more than 1.7 million names in Swedish emigration records, online for the first time. These various emigration records were created in Sweden and cover the major exodus between 1846 and 1930, when about 20 percent of the Swedish population immigrated to North America.

Users will also find more than 36 million names in Swedish parish records on Ancestry.com. The records, covering more than four centuries of historical data from 81 parishes in the county of Varmland, provide interesting details such as names, dates and places of birth, and marriage and death information.

"Around the world we see a rising interest in tracing one's roots. We look forward to providing user-friendly Ancestry tools and comprehensive record collections to the people of Sweden and of Scandinavian descent," said Josh Hanna, Senior Vice President, Europe and Australia, The Generations Network. "We plan to expand our Swedish collection beyond parish and emigration records. As we've done throughout Europe and North America, we will work closely with various Swedish archives to bring as many available records online as possible."

About The Generations Network, Inc. The Generations Network is the leading online network connecting families across distance and time. The Generation Network's tools, content and community empower individuals to find people most important to them --and discover and share their unique family stories. The Generations Network family of websites includes MyFamily.com, Ancestry.com, Genealogy.com, RootsWeb.com, Ancestry.co.uk, Ancestry.ca, Ancestry.com.au, Ancestry.de, Ancestry.it, Ancestry.fr and Ancestry.se. The Generations Network also publishes Family Tree Maker(R), the No. 1 selling family tree software, Ancestry Magazine and more than 50 book titles and numerous databases on CD-ROM. For more information on The Generations Network visit http://www.thegenerationsnetwork.com. In total, The Generations Network properties receive 10.4 million unique visitors worldwide and over 450 million page views a month ((C) comScore Media Metrix, March 2007).</p>

Comments

[Terri Smith-Weller]

I'm interested in others' reaction to this announcement. My initial reaction was surprise that Ancestry would do this since this market already has several very nice online resources. I know I don't see any advantage to using Ancestry's records for my Swedish genealogy work. Plus, the Swedes are typically quite facile in English.

[Marian Vanderven]

? I know I don't see any advantage to using Ancestry's records for my Swedish genealogy work. Plus, the Swedes are typically quite facile in English.

There is no advantage for the Swedes, but there is for Ancestry; they will work hard to trick all of them in uploading the family trees.....

[Bob]

If I understand correctly, the purpose of Dick Eastman's newsletter is to make new genealogical announcements (mostly commercial). I wish all of you anti-Ancestry people would calm down.

Experienced genealogists know how valuable Ancestry's indexes are. GenLines, for example, lacks an index, which void Ancestry will likely fill. This is a significant announcement.

[Ryan]

Not quite sure why there would be surprise. Eventually Ancestry will expand to every country. The advantage is to have a more extensive collection. I agree with Bob.

[Jan Koret]

Bob the Ancestry.com marketing rep said:
> f I understand correctly, the purpose of Dick Eastman's newsletter is to make new genealogical announcements (mostly commercial).
Yes, he carries your press releases. No, we don't have refrain from commenting upon them.

> I wish all of you anti-Ancestry people would calm down.
Bob, I wish all you Ancestry marketing reps would calm down.

> Experienced genealogists know how valuable Ancestry's indexes are.
Thank you Bob for trying to suggest that those who have a problem with Ancestry.com's complete lack of ethics must be not so experienced genealogist. Disingenuous, and insulting.

> This is a significant announcement.
Bobby, your marketing excrement gives you away.