Do the Mormons own Ancestry.com?

I heard the Mormons own Ancestry.com - that they're facinated by knowing, and cataloging info on every person they can. I want to join, but don't want to give any $ to such an anti-gay company, or organization. Anyone know the true story?

• Ancestry.com is a publicly traded company, meaning you can own a part of it.

  http://search.morningstar.com/sitesearch/search.aspx%3Fs%3Do%26q%3Dancestry.com

  A.%20Reader

• Ancestry.com was started by Mormons. Its purpose is twofold: to make money for the church and to entice people to share genealogical records that church members can use to proxy-baptize the dead.

• I was proxy baptized when alive. Fuck those mormons and their brand of crazy.

• Staffed by Mormons, they may have some non-Mormons associated with it, but it started as a bunch of Mormon scammers. I was an early member back when they had no data (their business model is that their users provide all their data at no cost to them) and when I cancelled they refused to process it. They made excuses for month after month until finally I got B of A to threaten them if they ever charged me again. It pains me to see them ruling the airwaves and spawning prime-time shows now, because I know what kind of scamming scum they really are.

• It's safe to assume anything genealogy-related is Mormon.

• Can you find out if someone in their family has been baptized by proxy and why do they do it? What's the deal and why do they care?

• They have some weird doctrinal belief that if you baptize someone, even after death, they are retroactively granted entry into the Mormon afterlife. So, lots of Mormons have their non-Mormon ancestors baptized as Mormons. They also got into a big PR disaster when it came to light in the mid-90s that they'd been doing it to Holocaust victims. They promised to stop, but since the only promises that a Mormon is actually bound to honor is one to another Mormon, they didn't.

  The Voice of the Night

• Religion is so stupid, how do people get sucked into it? Feeble.

• Although part of the Mormon religion is unsettling (or just fucking crazy), the Mormons did start much of the database for family research that exists in this country today, and their stated reason was that family history was important. (Of course there's all that posthumous baptism bullshit.) One of the parent companies that is now Ancestry was started by two LDS students, indeed. But it's become a much broader company since. PS, "Who Do You Think You Are", Ancestry's show that was on NBC, just got cancelled.

• R8--because it offers solace in life's darkest moments. It can be used for good (the abolitionist movement) or for evil (the Inquisition, Muslim extremism, etc.) Religion has always been, and will always be, a part of the human experience.

• R9 I liked that show. Disappointed it's being cancelled. I knew something was up about a month ago when the show was no longer listed in TVGuide.com even though new episodes were airing. Paula Deen will be on the final episode this Friday. Genealogy is a big thing for mormons. On an episode of Hoarders a mother took a family history portfolio from her daughter when the cleaning crew discovered it and it created a big fight because the daughter wanted it.

• wow, i had no idea. damn, i hate them.

• Familysearch.org is the one that is owned by the Mormons

  https://familysearch.org/

• R11 PBS picked up the show though it is called something else. Celebrities, same host etc

• I think GenWeb is the least infected with Mormon crap.

• Familysearch is indeed owned by the LDS church. Ancestry is fundamentally a competitor. Familysearch is free, and has some overlapping sets of records with Ancestry. Sometimes one or the other do better or worse jobs in indexing them, however it's clear that, with rare exceptions they are competitors. (One exxception revolves around the 1880 census, for which LDS did the original index but Ancestry posted the images. So you could get the information for free but had to subscribe to Ancestry to see the original census pages.) Serious genealogists (and I consider myself one) are finally accepting that there can be an incredible amount of actual source material on line. For a long time about all you could get on line was undocumented family trees that were of errors and continually repeating invented and fradulent information. Increasingly, material only available many miles away or on microfilm ordered on loan (yes, sometimes from the Mormons) is now available on line. This is not without cost, of course, particularly if good indexes, which must be compiled by humans, are desired. So, we accept that an Ancestry subscription is required and the FamilySearch is a real resource. For what you pay it is not a bad deal. And since it is the biggest game in town, it also is more likely to put you in contact with distant cousins, if that interests you. (Not me, particularly.) But there can be a collaborative spirit around research that is a good thing. And Ancestry offers a pretty decent menu of options to prevent people that you don't want to connect with from being able to harrass you, and ways to post a certain amount of your information without posting it all. One soon learns to be caustious as there are a few people who want to just copy all your research and then post it as their own without any credit, or take working hypotheses and claim they are true. You get the idea. Most of the Mormons I've run into in doing research have been a little naive, pretty trusting, and very hardworking. Clearly I have major issues with the church around many things. Using their data isn't one of them. And genealogists as a whole are perfectly happy to tap into these resources without subscribing to any of the LDS faith. One of these days the head of the church will announce a revelation that gay people are also creatd in God's image or are gods waiting to happen or whatever, and the masses will blindly follow along. I too will miss Who Do You Think You Are. A nice way to wrap up my week. And a little different perspective than Skip Gates' Sunday night series. I suspect it cost more to produce than the one on PBS. More travel to Europe, etc. The research angle was better done on it, however, than Skip Gates' show, which tends to emphasize social issues and historical context, with a theme for each show. Skip Gates, who I think must be a big ole homo, had Wanda Sykes on his show last week. And he's not afraid of telling the world who she is (nor is she, of course.) I've prattled on for far too long, DL friends....

• [quote]I've prattled on for far too long, DL friends.... Meh, we're used to it. lol, j/k! Actually, since your post was quite informative and not focussed solely on yourself, it's perfect!

• [quote]They have some weird doctrinal belief that if you baptize someone, even after death, they are retroactively granted entry into the Mormon afterlife. Adolph Hitler was posthumously baptized in 1992. He's eligible for the Mormon afterlife now.

• [quote]I knew something was up about a month ago when the show was no longer listed in TVGuide.com even though new episodes were airing. Get a load of Ms. Nancy Drew!

• r13, what part of r5's post did you not get? Pretty much every genealogy company is run by Mormons. Ancestry.com is based in Provo, Utah. It's a fucking Mormon company.

• Only Jews start Internet companies (Google, Facebook, Paypal, eBay, Craigslist and Digg)

• The thing I object to most is the desecration of old documents around the world by Mormons. They quietly go the churches and cathedrals looking for birth/death records and leave with the actual page that they want, ripped from the book. Fuckers.

• Professional archivist here. I can tell you that the best genealogists out there are Mormons. It wouldn't surprise me if the LDS church had a huge financial stake in Ancestry.com. I use Ancestry all the time in researching new collections--you have to be careful with what you use, though; remember, most of the content is uploaded by volunteers and hobbyists. That said, if the records you are using are census records, military records or county records, what you're looking at is most likely accurate.

• "Mormons" have @ the second largest Family History Website -- FamilySearch.org It is second to Ancestry. It is totally free and gets about 8,ooo,ooo hits a day. Why would they spend all that money if they owned Ancestry?? FamilySearch is great and gets better everyday. They add original record images from all over the world every day. All this is free with no advertising. Try out their WIKI to guide you through finding your ancestors.

• Because Mormons are trying to control all of genealogy R24. Duh.

• A friend of mine does a lot of genealogical research and has been told several times by public officials that a lot of the pages of public records were stolen by Mormon "researchers". They come in to "look" and tear out pages and disappear.

• They do the same with all books which do not compliment them. They used to go around to public libraries with a list of books to remove.

• 23andMe is pricey but they give you a list of people who share your DNA and what your lIkely relationship is. I got 760 names.

• So WHAT if they baptize you after death? Do you actually believe they are sending you to Mormon Heaven? I did genealogy research on a number of lines for about 10 years and their information, web sites, and microfilm are tremendous sources. You can't believe everything, you have to evaluate what you find. Even official records sometimes have errors. And yes, there ARE people who use your research and claim it and repeat your possibilities as facts. It didn't bother me too much, because I had the fun of finding the information and THEY are the ones being cheats.

  anonymous

• [quote]I was proxy baptized when alive. Fuck those mormons and their brand of crazy. Deets, please!

• It's damn expensive, I never joined because of the price.

• "Who Do You Think You Are" was interesting. My family is distantly related to Rob Lowe through his East line.

• [quote]It's damn expensive, I never joined because of the price. It's FREE to create an account and build a family tree. You pay to have access to all the records an to other people's trees. But...the record searches do work and give you a list of results that are only partially blocked out. You can then find most of the records on familysearch for free.

• It's pretty incredible the number of ignorant posters on this site that know nothing about the Mormons but seem to know everything there is. I've never heard as much bigoted, stereotype comments about a people as most of you posting on this site. How many of you have seen a Mormon tearing out a page of a church or civil record? How would you even know they're Mormon? You're idiots. Baptizing someone after their dead is related to Mormon doctrine that baptism is an ordinance done on earth and is necessary to join the church. It does not make them a Mormon. Mormons believe people still have their free will in the next life and can reject the baptism just like you can here. If you took a little bit of time to research the truth instead of going off of other idiots that have no regard for the truth but cling so dearly to the hearsay that they'd probably lose their sense of security if they actually were faced with the truth.

• r34 is Mormon and lost apparently.

• [quote]They do the same with all books which do not compliment them. They used to go around to public libraries with a list of books to remove. Other groups do it too -- for a while, the study on the USS Liberty sinking was the book most stolen from libraries.

• Most public library web sites have good genealogy research databases you can use for free. All you need to do is get a library card number (which is free at your library) in order to use their databases.

• FYI- Ancestry.com is NOT owned by the LDS Church, as they have their own company likened to Anecstry.com. Secondly, it's not all run by Mormons... on the contrary. The CEO is the former CEO of Match.com, the General Counsel and CFO come from Omnimedia (Martha Stewarts Empire). They have majority of the workforce living in Park City and commuting to Utah County. It's a progressive, diverse and intelligent workforce.

  NotaMollyMormon

• The Mormon's have a building next to the church that is used for genealogical research. I went in and they are very nice and helpful. I'm in Michigan so not certain how they have it setup elsewhere.

• How many of you out there really "know" anything about Mormons, Jews, Catholics, Lutherans, Muslims, Baptists, Buddhists, etc.? You seem to take the word of any idiot on the internet to be the gospel. Try really researching something once in a while, like at a real library instead of some stupid internet venting network. If it doesn't affect you then why comment on it at all? If you don't want to know about your family background then fine don't research your family background. But because someone...anyone else might want to know about their faiy and its background why do you need to condemn the entire group...no matter who they might be? So many of you who resppond to these types of sites with negative, gossipy comments are the type that are ripe for "gentlemen" like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Hussein, and any other maniac who can increase hated and bigotry to justify their means. Lets hear it for the "good guys" two cheers for freedom of speech! Our founding fathers would be rolling over in their graves if they could see how that one statement, "Freedom of Speech" has been so defiled.

  anonymous

• [quote]They have some weird doctrinal belief that if you baptize someone, even after death Unlike wine magically turning into the blood of Jesus Christ.

• [quote]Only Jews start Internet companies (Google, Facebook, Paypal, eBay, Craigslist and Digg) lol, you may want to do your homework first, hon.

• Did some famil tree research for my mom asd a xmas present last year, joined Ancestry.com and it was very very useful. I did not buy a memebership, but even the basic free sxtuff enabled me to find an incredible amount of family history...,so much it became overwhelming trying to pick just a few main branches to trace back. Best find was my grandmothers' family founded York, Maine ( her family name btw)back in the earl;y 1600's, left England in 1636. One ancestor was the Standard bearer ( and alleged boyfriend) of William The Conqueror back in 1066. Most amazingly I am a direct descendant of Charlemagne, Holy Roman Emporer in 800 AD. Presented this gift to my mom in a printed encapsulation , proudly told her of our royal lineage. Her only question was "Who's Charline Mang?"

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• I certainly know more about the Mormons than you do R40. It is the Mormons who are the closest thing in the U.S. to the followers of Hitler and Stalin. And they have had a baneful influence of genealogy since they have low standards. I've yet to meet a Mormons whose family tree was not full of people for whom they have no real evidence.

• Hi! Responding to this thread that was linked on exmormon.org. Visit if you have any questions about Mormonism and posters who are now Ex-Mormons or questioning are happy to answer anything you want to know. For Ancestry.com, I used to work for them when they had a call center in Provo, UT under MyFamily.com. It is not a Mormon owned company, but it has some ties to it, especially since Mos are really into the genealogy thing. I worked in the account saves department, meaning I had to talk people out of canceling their accounts. It was pretty bad at times, especially since this company practices automatic renewals and didn't send reminder emails or call when the subscription was about to renew. This also happened with free trials, so people were pretty pissed when they called in and found their accounts where charged $200 dollars for something they didn't even really want, and on top of it, bank fees if there wasn't enough to cover the charge.

  Itzpapalotl