FamilySearch Family Tree shows up in MyHeritage Record Matches

In some cases, when I am helping patrons at the Brigham Young University Family History Library  (BYU) to get started with their family history, I am finding that the fastest and most impressive way for them to get started is by entering some basic family data into MyHeritage.com. Usually, by the time the patron has entered some basic information about parents and grandparents, MyHeritage.com has started suggesting Record Matches. This particular process went into overdrive starting last evening when Record Matches for FamilySearch.org's Family Tree started appearing.

Because I am helping at the BYU Family History Library in Provo, Utah, nearly all the people we are helping turn out to be members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) but from what I have seen and what I know is on FamilySearch Family Tree, I am certain that the addition of the search to MyHeritage.com of the Family Tree will immediately start benefiting those who are not members of the Church also.

The event last evening was a group of Young Women from the Church who were learning about FamilySearch Family Tree for the first time. One of the leaders was having some difficulty with finding information in the Family Tree because her family had recently immigrated from Switzerland. I suggested she start a family tree on MyHeritage.com and in a matter of a few minutes, she was getting Record Matches and building a family tree from sources supplied by the program. Then, suddenly, a Record Detective match appeared for a link to the FamilySearch Family Tree. She confirmed that the information in the Family Tree was correct and was able to move that information over for her grandfather. The additional information from the Family Tree program helped to kick-start the acquisition of even more sources from MyHeritage.com. Almost immediately, the Record Matches started appearing faster than she could review them. She was astonished at the rapidity of the program in building a family tree. Unfortunately, we had just gotten started when we ran out of time.

I tried another search in MyHeritage.com just as I was writing this post. I looked up my Grandfather, Leroy Parkinson Tanner. I already had a number of sources attached, but found new suggestions from the Record Match feature of MyHeritage.com waiting for me. When I confirmed a U.S. Census record, I waited for a few seconds and then 38 additional matches appeared in the Record Detective results. Here is a screenshot showing the Record Detective:

I have found that the MyHeritage.com family tree has to be "primed" a little to get started. Depending on the area of the world where the ancestors live, the user may need to add a little more information from his or her own records before the automatic search kicks in. But once it does, the results can start to be impressive. I am certain that some people will not have this kind of response from the program. Their ancestors may fall outside the huge collection of records on MyHeritage.com, but I can say that nearly all the people I have helped recently have not found that to be the case. Remember, to examine the suggested records carefully to make sure they are the same person as the one in your family tree.

When I looked today, I did not see any Record Matches with the FamilySearch.org Family Tree as yet, but it looks like they will be forthcoming shortly given my experience last evening.