One Great Family Genealogy Service Review

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One Great Family Star Rating

We had one last online genealogy service to review before we moved onto movie tickets. To wrap up this category, we reviewed, One Great Family, and we were pleasantly surprised with their intro page. Boasting an intuitive and professional website interface, One Great Family is a step above the rest with their unique family tree technology. See what we ran into below.

What’s New?

Automatically updates your family tree information with matching data from other users’ family trees
Virtually collaborate with users from 170 different countries

Star Reviews Favorite Feature:

Family Tree Connection - When you build your family tree, you’ll be connected to the existing world family tree that shows how you are connected to the rest of humanity. Not only do these links help you piece together the mysteries of your genealogy, but they also show how small the world really is.

One Great Family Features:

Free 7-day trial
Ability to access One Great Family’s database of more than 190 million entries
Email notification when your family tree is automatically updated
Printable genealogy forms
Genealogy Learning Center
Surname Index

Navigating the One Great Family website:

By far, we enjoyed browsing the One Great Family website more than any other genealogy service. It was so simple to find the information you needed without tons of text or unnecessary links. Under ‘Genealogy Tools’ you have access to most of their features, making it easy to find your roots. From the main page, you are given the option to enter your ancestor’s surname, and you’ll see the number of matches within the site’s database. You won’t be able to do much else unless you sign up for the trial or take out a full subscription to the service, but we must make mention how you aren’t inundated with overwhelming amounts of information. It’s easy to handle and find information on this site, which is great for a beginner.

Finding family on One Great Family:

One Great Family provides plenty of help to get you started. From the main page, you’ll be able to view a demo of how to use the service, which we loved. You’ll also see footage of how the giant Family Tree Connection works, which we found to be high-tech and innovative. If you need additional guidance, you can access several tutorials on how to use the various aspects of the web site so you can feel comfortable with the skills you need before you make a commitment or begin your tree.

Additionally, One Great Family provides free access to a Genealogy Learning Center which includes articles that can help you get started, including information on which documents may hold keys to your family tree mysteries.

We loved how your information is securely backed up on the service’s drive, so you don’t need to worry about losing a bit of your priceless past. When forming your family tree, you’re able to zoom in and out, research where others have left off, and receive constant updates.

Signing up with One Great Family:

Becoming a member provides you with numerous benefits and we highly recommend it. You'll be able to download the special software required to browse the genealogy information at the web site and to add your own data as well. Your membership also allows you to upload photographs, video footage, and bios of your ancestors that you can share with millions of other users. You'll also be able to search through millions of existing entries and to have your family tree updated automatically as new information is added to the "global family tree." This genealogy service was the most explorative in their features and recognition that family trees aren’t just personal history, but a shared past.

Pricing:

One Great Family provides only one level of membership, but you can choose to pay for your subscription monthly, quarterly, or annually. The regular, non-sale prices are listed below.

Monthly - $14.95 per month ($179.40 per year)
Quarterly - $29.95 every three months ($119.80 per year)
Annually - $74.95 per year ($6.25 per month or $18.74 per quarter)

Customer Support:

One Great Family only provides FAQ’s and customer support through an email form. Finding the FAQ’s can be difficult. You have to select “Contact” at the very bottom of the main page, then you’ll be taken to the contact form which also includes a link to the FAQ’s page. These questions and answers are organized into categories, such as Error Messages and Getting Started, which we were fond of.

Customer support by email is probably the easiest to use. After we submitted our question using the form, we received an automatic response almost immediately, promising an answer within 24 hours. As promised, we received an answer within the cited time frame. The answer was sufficient, although it sounded a bit impersonal. We would have appreciated a telephone support line, as this always helps when you need an immediate answer.

Upside:

Reasonable prices. Fast support by email. Unique “global family tree” service.

Downside:

No phone support. FAQ’s are hard to find on the site.

Summary:

We truly enjoyed the One Great Family online genealogy service and feel they have a lot to offer curious family tree aficionados. Ok, so even if you’d just like to know a little about your past, there is something for everyone here. We loved the Family Tree Connection feature, which brings all kinds of lineages worldwide together. We also loved the availability of printed genealogy forms, which is quite useful. Typical genealogy service features like surname indexes and ancestry learning tools are all included on this site. While a paid membership is mandatory to have full access to most records, there is a free 7-day trial to give them a test run. Pricing is decent and customer support was good, as well. We would have liked to see telephone support, though. Overall, we were very entertained by this site and all of their great features.

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