I would NOT be at all surprised if they were all Mormon owned. The Mormon's have a great deal of interest in family history research, as the baptism of ancestors is a big part of their religion. I sometimes don't talk about my genealogy hobby just because I know that the general belief around here is that if you do it, you must be Mormon. I'm absolutely not Mormon, have no desire to be Mormon and I slam the door on those nice boys in suits all of the time. However, I have to give thanks to the LDS for making it so easy to research my family inexpensively from anywhere in the world. I've gone to their family history centers and researched in their facility for free. (ok, seriously I just had to go answer the door and found Mormons there!!!) I've never been bothered or "sold" religion while I've been there (though at my home its apparently a different story!). They have given me a lot of amazing resources to find my family, and for that I'm pretty thankful. I don't really care who owns Ancestry. They aren't that expensive, they will soon have all of the UK censuses online and searchable, and that is worth a couple of years of fees for me. At some point I'll be beyond what they can offer and I'll give up my subscription, but for now I don't mind paying for a service that saves me huge amounts of time, travel, and gives me a thrill every time I find someone I hadn't been able to find somewhere else. Mandy ----- Original Message ----- From: "Ayne" <aayne@yahoo.co.uk> To: <HUNGARY-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Friday, June 16, 2006 11:00 PM Subject: [HUNGARY-L] Ancestry.com and LDS? > That webpage has been available for quite a while. I've been aware of > these companies were all under one umbrella for some time, at least since > GenForum message boards were taken over by Geneology.com a few years ago. > To add to it, MyFamily.com is the latest of several recent owners of the > Family Tree Maker software. (see "About Us" from the website given by > Elizabeth) > > What I'm curious about: > I don't want to spread rumors, but get to the bottom of some speculation. > The owners of a well known genealogy shop and large world wide mail order > business told me recently that Ancestry.com is owned by LDS church in Salt > Lake City. I said nothing, only raised an eyebrow and the response I got > was, "oh come on, WHERE have you been?" which made me feel as if I was the > last on the block to find out. One of the volunteers at my local LDS > Family History Centre has also claimed this for some time. I know both > are in Utah, and a good chance that Ancestry.com was founded and owned by > Mormons, however is there truth to Ancestry.com actually being owned by > the church? > > Can anyone shed some truth to this please? (no more speculation please) > > Elizabeth V Cardinal <evc1369@comcast.net> wrote: > > > Elizabeth V. Cardinal > evc1369@comcast.net > > -----Original Message----- > From: Sent: Friday, June 16, 2006 11:25 PM > To: NYBROOKLYN-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [Bklyn] MyFamily.com > > A little research has turned up some interesting connections about the > various genealogy sites recently discussed. > > Direct copy from the site: > http://www.myfamilyinc.com/default.aspx?html=copyright > > MyFamily.com, Inc. Internet Services Copyright Policy > MyFamily.com, Inc. (we, us or our) owns and operates the World Wide > websites > MyFamily.com, Ancestry.com, Ancestry.co.uk, Genealogy.com, RootsWeb.com > and > Ancestry.ca. The design, content and graphics of those sites and all other > elements created by us, or by third parties as work for hire, or where the > copyright has been assigned to us or one of our subsidiaries, is subject > to > copyright protection with all rights reserved. > > Looks like they all come under the same heading... > > Pat > > > > --------------------------------- > All new Yahoo! Mail "The new Interface is stunning in its simplicity and > ease of use." - PC Magazine > >