FINDMYPAST ANNOUNCE LAUNCH OF TREE-TO-TREE HINTS

Leading family history website, Findmypast, has announced the launch of their new tree-to-tree hinting system. As of today, those with a family tree stored on Findmypast will start to receive hints sourced from other members’ trees.

Findmypast trees collectively contain the details of millions of individuals spanning hundreds of years. This valuable information can now be presented to users in form of tree hints. As researchers add new ancestors to their tree, Findmypast will automatically compare the relevant names and dates to all those stored on existing trees before suggesting potential matches.

Many people, often unknown to each other, share common ancestors within a few generations. By joining forces and connecting this knowledge, family historians can now benefit from research other members have done on common ancestors.

All tree-to-tree hints can be managed via the normal hint review screens used for Findmypast’s existing record hints. Shareable information from other trees currently includes:

• Facts and events, together with sources and attached records
• Timelines
• Notes

Initially, tree-to-tree hints will be generated when users actively change a person’s details (or those of a close relative) or open up the hints page for an ancestor’s profile. Between October and November, Findmypast will be running a process to generate tree-to-tree hints for all individuals stored in a tree.

Although a similar service is available on other online family tree providers, tree-to-tree hints are new to Findmypast and the company is keen to reassure users that privacy is of the upmost importance. Information on living individuals will remain strictly private and recipients of hints will not be able to edit or see the original tree.

Findmypast will not share the other member’s details but are actively working a community family tree that will allow exactly this kind of connection and collaboration. Development of the new community tree is still underway and further announcements will be made in the coming months.

With thanks to Findmypast