Free Stuff for Genealogy
We all know that genealogy can be an expensive hobby. A subscription to the best-known websites can cost hundreds of dollars a year. Today I’m going to write about Wikitree (https://www.wikitree.com/), a free, shared social-networking genealogy website that allows users individually to research and to contribute to their own personal family trees while building and collaborating on a singular worldwide family tree within the same system. Wikitree is free to join and to use, and the founder, Chris Whitten, has vowed to maintain free access to all parts of the website. There is no “elite” or “premium” membership that allows subscribers greater access to information.
The primary content of Wikitree consists of individual profiles – almost 30 million at last count – created and maintained by more than 900,000 users. The creation of a worldwide family tree within this system is managed by “profile managers” for individual profiles, with collaboration among all members who have met certain specified qualifications to participate in this collaborative process;.
In addition, Wikitree members collaborate on a wide range of projects, which focus on geographic areas, two dozen topical projects like Jewish Roots, Huguenot Migration, New Netherlands, Puritan Great Migration, and a variety of One-Name Studies and One-Place Studies. Beyond this, there are a number of Functional projects, focusing on things like DNA, Adoption, and mentoring.
The value of Wikitree lies in its accessibility. When you enter basic information on a search page, you are presented with a range of profiles that fit your criteria. You can see everything you need about these profiles without having to click on one. Then, when you find the profile you want, with one click you have access to all the information the website has about that individual. You can move between generations with one click, and read source material on the profile page. Here’s an example of what this looks like.
Here's a snip that shows you how Wikitree works. I searched for a name that I know has a lot of information – William Brewster, who was the spiritual leader of the Pilgrims who came to America on the Mayflower. Here’s what I got after I sorted the possible responses by birth date.
You can see that the last name on the list is the William Brewster I’m interested in; I know he was born in 1566 in Scrooby, but, even if I didn’t know that, he’s identified with the Mayflower Project. He’s my guy, so I click on him. Here’s what comes up:
This page gives me all the baseline information about William Brewster – his birth and death dates, his parents and siblings, his wife and children.
As I scroll down the page, this is the next entry I see. It outlines everything I’ll find below this on the profile page.
I can keep scrolling or I can click on one of the items in the outline if I want to jump to that information. If I just choose to keep scrolling, this is what I see next.
This profile has a detailed list of sources. It uses 31 footnotes to document the specific factual claims made in the profile. In addition, the profile managers have 20 additional sources (some primary and some secondary) that are useful to someone researching William Brewster.
This profile also features 14 images, which can be seen on the right side of the profile page.
I want to emphasize again how easy this website is to navigate. You don’t have to do a lot of clicking around to see the information you want. It’s all on the page in front of you. Not very many profiles are as complete as William Brewster, but many of the profiles contain a great deal of information. You should check it out.