The Generations Network

The Generations Network is an based in,  and the largest   company in the world. They run a growing network of genealogy and -related websites.

In addition to their main sites, The Generations Network runs FamilyHistory.com, which contains some basic free information, but is mostly a portal to Ancestry.com. They also publish Ancestry Magazine and formerly published Genealogical Computing before the magazine ceased publication in 2006. They have a presence in the under the name MyFamily.com, Ltd., whose offices are located in, ,  and an office in ,.

History
In 1996, invested in Ancestry, a print publishing company founded in 1983, later purchasing the company outright from founder. (not the Microsoft co-founder) and began running Ancestry independently from Infobases in July 1997, and began creating one of the largest online subscription-based genealogy database services. The company changed its name to "MyFamily.com" in November 1999 since its mission included both genealogy and connecting families to each other.

The MyFamily.com website launched in December 1998 (with free sites beginning in March 1999 ), obtaining 1 million registered users within its first 140 days. The company raised more than $90 million in venture capital from investors including, , , , , , , and. According to Paul Allen (quoting a November 2002 article in the ), the sales for 2002 were about $62 million, and those for 2003 were $99 million.

In March 2004, the company opened a new in Provo due to outgrowing their old call center in. The new call center can accommodate approximately 700 agents at one time. was acquired in September 2005, and sold a year later in August 2006.. The Ancestry.ca website was opened on,. In March 2006, MyFamily opened a new office in as part of the MyFamily business unit. Encounter Technologies was acquired in April 2006

The company changed its name to "The Generations Network" on,. While the company formerly offered access to Ancestry.com free at any LDS, that service was terminated on due to the inability to reach a mutually-agreeable licensing agreement between TGN and the.

Ancestry.com
Ancestry.com is a genealogy research website with over 5 billion records online and more being added almost daily. The majority of records are from the, though a growing number of records are being added for other countries such as , the , and various an countries. Some of these records are free for anyone to access, but the majority are accessible only by paid subscription.

On, , Ancestry.com completed the and  of all of the   from  through.

Subscriptions are automatically renewed unless you cancel (via the web or a phone call), a policy explained in their. As commonly happens with the terms of service on many Internet sites, most members do not pay attention to or read them and are therefore surprised when their subscriptions automatically renew. The automatic renewal system has caused some controversy, as documented on the sites.

Ancestry.com was nominated for a 2007 in the "Best Online Consumer Information Service" category. The site was also used recently to show that ancestors of were owned by relatives of the late.

Non-U.S. sites
Ancestry.com operates multiple non-U.S.-centric sites which give access to records specific to various other countries. Ancestry.ca allows for access to only those records from Canada. This allows those accessing the site to avoid search results containing records from elsewhere in the world. The online records include more than 150 million searchable names, as well as the first fully indexed 1911 Census of Canada.

Ancestry.com.au allows for access to only those records from the United Kingdom, and, thereby avoiding search results containing records from elsewhere in the world. The site was opened sometime in August 2006.

Ancestry.co.uk allows for access to only those records from the United Kingdom and, thereby avoiding search results containing records from elsewhere in the world. The Ancestry.co.uk site received almost 4 million visitors in February 2006, up from about 2.2 million in July 2005. Some credit for this increase in genealogical interest is given to recent shows such as .

Ancestry.de was launched in 2006 and Ancestry.it was launched in mid-2007, each offering census records, immigration lists, and other records.

Family Heritage Project
This site is set up so that users can order a customized book containing census images, photos and other information regarding a family. The book is leather-bound and contains information up to four generations of a family. . As of December 2006, the book is no longer available for order. 

Family Tree Maker
Advertised as "the #1-selling family tree software on the market." As with other, Family Tree Maker allows you to keep track of all of the information you collect as you are researching, and then create reports, charts, and books containing that information. The software was developed by Banner Blue, then purchased by Broderbund. It passed through the hands of The Learning Company, Mattel, and others before coming under its current ownership. At present, it is offered for users of 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista only, with no plans to release it on any other platforms. Most features of Family Tree Maker 2005, 2006, and 16 function with, but "certain features (like exporting a view, book, or tree to PDF)" require an update. Even with the update, one must run as an administratior if one wishes to preview a book.

Family Tree Maker Version 16 was nominated for a 2007 in the "Best Consumer Productivity Solution" category. 

Genealogy.com
A genealogy research website with some records not found on Ancestry.com, though the total number of records available is smaller. Genealogy.com was acquired from s by MyFamily.com in 2003. 

LongLostPeople.com
This site allows you to search for living people in the. 

MyFamily.com
An Internet website which allows anyone to create a family or group website (e.g., a class reunion site, a club site) within a matter of minutes. A basic template for the site can be manipulated to turn on or off various modules for the main page, but the customization is limited. This may change in the future as they are currently running a public beta of a new version of the site (titled "MyFamily.com 2.0 beta"). 

RootsWeb.com
A free genealogy community which makes excellent use of online forums and mailing lists to help people research their family history. RootsWeb was founded in by Dr. Brian Leverich and Karen Isaacson as the Roots Surname List, and quickly grew from there. It is the oldest free community genealogy research site. RootsWeb was acquired by MyFamily.com in June 2000. Users can also upload a of their information for others to view. 

Controversy
There are some who disapprove of the policies and business practices of The Generations Network and the sites it operates. Some sites, e.g. BadBusinessBureau.com, catalog these stories. Ancestry.com and affiliates sell perpetual subscriptions that only end when they are cancelled, sometimes allowing them to collect from long deceased subscribers.

Because the company is based in Utah, some mistakenly believe that it is run by (or "s"). However, according to the company's Public Relations Senior Manager, Peggy Hayes (as of January 2006), the company is privately held and the LDS Church has no stake in it. This also due to the fact that Mormons initially had a unique use for Ancestry.com, using it to find ancestors for .