28 March 2009

More on the Ancestry/LMA database release

Chris Paton on his always informative Scottish Genealogy News and Events blog has an item coming out of the official launch event for the new London historical records series from Ancestry.

Apparently Ancestry senior vice-president Josh Hanna claims that when the Ancestry/LMA collaboration is complete in late 2010 one in two Britons will find a connection.

I was surprised it isn't much larger, but it depends what constitutes "a connection."

Adding to the confusion is the following from background material sent by Ancestry "In order to estimate the percentage of the population with London roots in four major countries (Australia, Canada, U.S. and the UK), more than 9,000 people who had researched their family history were surveyed using Zoomerang International. The percentages of people who found London ancestors (more than three generations back) in each country was as follows: Australia (70.8%), UK (60%), U.S. (55.6%) and Canada (59.6%). "

"Do you have London ancestors more than three generations back?" seems like an unlikely question to ask. Why the restriction? What about cousins? I've asked Ancestry for clarification on the question.

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