Ancestry.com, our parent company and the world’s largest online family history resource, has added its two-millionth subscriber.
The milestone was reached when Yvonne Ocheltree, from Tennessee, USA, signed up to solve a family mystery about the secret identity of her maternal great-grandfather who was born in Victorian England.
To mark this milestone Ancestry.com has given Ms Ocheltree a complimentary lifetime subscription to continue her research in a family history archive which now includes more than 10 billion historic records and images from more than 40 countries, dating back to 1270 AD.
Two-millionth subscriber, Yvonne Ocheltree said: “Ancestry.com is helping me unravel the secret knots of my family’s history and replace a mystery with a proactive possibility. In Victorian England, my great-grandmother gave birth to my grandmother out of wedlock when she was 25, and no one in my family ever heard her say who the father, my great-grandfather, was. That’s what I’m using Ancestry.com to research now.”
Ancestry.com is also offering a lifetime subscription to its longest-standing active member, Sharon Bowen of Wisconsin, USA, who has been a subscriber continuously since 1997.
Tim Sullivan, President and CEO of Ancestry.com said: “We are grateful to all our subscribers around the world for helping us reach this momentous milestone.
“When Ancestry.com began more than 15 years ago, our goal was to make family history research accessible and fun for everyone. Reaching two million active subscribers is just the latest step in the public’s growing interest in discovering more about themselves and preserving and sharing their family history on a global scale.”
Since launching 15 years ago, Ancestry.com has grown from 472 million text-only records to more than 10 billion online searchable documents and images, including prison logs, ship manifests, historic newspapers and a collection of almost 2.6 million convict records.
What have you discovered on Ancestry.com.au? Share your stories with us on Facebook.