The origins of Filae
Filae.com is one of France's leading and oldest genealogy websites. Founded in 1992 by Toussaint Roze[1] under the name Infoduc, the company has developed some of France's leading online tools and services, including WinGenealogic, NotreFamille.com, Prénoms.com, Genealogie.com and Filae.com.
Since 2016[2], it has been publishing France's leading source of digitized, transcribed, and indexed genealogical archives on Filae.com. Filae.com offers a complete genealogical platform enabling users to create or import their family tree, and to carry out nominative searches giving direct access to digitized official archives. The site is also available in English.
Since then, Stéphane Bern[3] has been the brand's ambassador in an advertising campaign broadcast on the main French TV channels.
In 2021, Filae joined MyHeritage.com[4], Europe's leading genealogy platform. Since then, Filae has been accelerating its development in the French market and developing numerous synergies with its parent company.
Filae.com, a French story
The company was founded in 1992 by Toussaint Roze, then aged 15[5]. At the time, it published the first French-language genealogy software for Windows: Win Genealogic[6].
In 2000, spurred on by the Internet revolution, the company diversified its activities by developing 3 sites: notrefamille.com, a social network for families to share family trees, cadeaux.com, a shopping site specializing in personalized gifts, and genealogie.com, a portal to genealogical databases.
Building on its success, the company floated on the Euronext Growth market in 2007[7] to finance the development of its new activities. In the genealogy space, the company has made a name for itself through its numerous innovations in the service of helping people discover their family history, which is a passion widely shared by French people[8]. In particular, it has acquired the Powerged, SWIC[9] and Archimaine[10] companies to pursue its development in the genealogy market and offer an ever-expanding range of services: printing family trees, distributing genealogical databases built up by genealogical associations, and digitizing collections of heritage archives of great genealogical interest.
In 2009, Filae (then called genealogie.com) launched a major digitization plan[11]. The French press reported on the company's outstanding achievements in digitizing and indexing original and exclusive genealogical collections[12], such as the complete Bulletin des Lois[13], or the lists of French WW1 prisoners of war[14] published in the Gazette des Ardennes as well as lists of French WW2 prisoners of war[15].
Building on these initial successes, and the momentum generated by the "Grand emprunt"[16] loan launched by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the company unveiled an ambitious project in 2010: to digitize the entire French archive of parish and civil status registers. At the same time, the company signed its first historic partnerships with the Direction de l'information légale et administrative (DILA), part of the Prime Minister's office, for the digitization of the Journal officiel[17], and with pioneering French départements[18] Vendée, Rhône, Savoie, Yvelines, Seine-et-Marne[19], Loir-et-Cher and Indre-et-Loire for the reuse of public data from digitized archives held by French départements[20].
On the back of these progress, Filae sold its notrefamille.com business to Bayard Presse[21] to Bayard presse and its cadeaux.com business to Interflora[22], in order to focus on its genealogy business.
Since 2015, the decisive legislative advances in the reuse of public information and open data ratified in France by the Valter and Lemaire laws have enabled society to change scale by generalizing the opening up of public archives[23].
That's why, in December 2016, the company took a significant step[24] not only by changing the name of its genealogie.com website to Filae.com, but also by making more than 250 million original birth, marriage, and death records of our ancestors who lived in France in the 19th century accessible for the first time in France.
This new service, which enables genealogists and the general public to consult the entirety of their genealogical archives via a single site and a simple surname query, has been acclaimed by genealogists and the general public alike. Since then, Filae has continued to enrich its range of digitized data with new typologies, such as the 1906 French census published in 2017, and the 1872 French census unveiled in 2018. Such advances prompted the famous French genealogist Jean-Louis Beaucarnot to say, "Filae, c'est magique" ("Filae is magic")[25]. At the same time, that same year, Filae acquired a unique collection of archives covering the gaps in the civil records of Paris, destroyed in 1871 during the Commune: the Fonds Andriveau[26], named after the famous Parisian law firm that was behind the creation of this unique collection[27].
From 2019 to 2021, the Filae team continued its campaign to index 18th-century parish registers and enrich its collections of civil registers, censuses, and historical archives.
In 2021, Filae was acquired[28] by MyHeritage, the European leader in online genealogy, founded by Gilad Japhet[29]. Commenting on the deal, Filae founder Toussaint Roze said: "MyHeritage's financial and technological support will enable us to develop Filae's services and data more rapidly and efficiently. Filae's exclusive collections will be more accessible to all French descendants, wherever they are in the world, thanks to MyHeritage's leading position in many countries. This merger will not result in any changes to the functionalities of either service, and Filae will continue to develop its unique program of partnerships with cultural institutions and genealogical associations.
Since the acquisition, Filae has intensified its data publication by putting the complete French censuses for the years 1911, 1921 and 1931 online, as well as the 1926 Paris census[30] and the 1936 census for Paris, and, from 2023, by creating a new historical collection based on 20th-century tables of successions and absences, which are crucial archives for tracing deaths and discovering possible successions.
As of 2023, Toussaint Roze continues to preside over the development of the company he founded in 1992 when he was 15 years old.
Filae, a site at the service of genealogists
In addition to its collections of historical archives, Filae offers an online interface for creating and managing family trees. Filae.com features a highly intuitive interface and modern design. Its ambition is to make discovering one's family history easy, by providing anyone who is interested in learning about their ancestors with easy access to digitized archives. These online services feature a host of functions:
- Automatic calculation of suggestions: When users enter new details or import a family tree, they instantly receive suggestions for digitized archives and official sources that they can add as references. Suggestions can also include missing events or individuals, enriching the tree and enabling users to advance their research. This functionality is based on powerful models that enable Filae to compare the information in the tree with the site's collections in real time to find matches.
- Import and merge wizards that enable users to extract and import information directly from the documents they discover, without having to re-enter everything.
- Print options (lists, tables), in pdf or excel format, and export options that enable researchers to share their work with friends and family.
- Fine-tuned management of family tree privacy settings.
- Multiple tree views for easy navigation.
- A unique GeoSearch mapping system for genealogical events listed in a tree or appearing in search results.
Filae supports the international GEDCOM standard for both import and export.
In the offer reserved for its Premium members, Filae provides access to billions of genealogical records and hundreds of millions of digitized historical archives in 10 major categories:
- Civil status
- Family trees
- Census, Voters
- Military records
- Decorations, Titles, Pensions
- Embarkations, Passports, Passengers
- Orders and Decrees
- Genealogies
- Directories, Almanacs, Coats of arms
- Historical archives
These collections are continually enriched with new data sources, most of which are digitized.
Finally, Filae brings together a large community of genealogists thanks to its communications on social networks, notably Facebook and X (ex Twitter), as well as a YouTube channel that combines tutorials and educational content, notably the "L'œil de l'expert" section launched with the cooperation of renowned French genealogist Pierre-Valéry Archassal. Filae has also developed relationships and numerous partnerships with the majority of French genealogy associations. Filae maintains a presence at major genealogical gatherings in France and abroad[31].
References
- ↑ https://www.lexpress.fr/economie/high-tech/portrait-d-entreprenaute-toussaint-roze-notre-famille-com_1363927.html
- ↑ https://www.filae.com/ressources/communique-lancement-de-filae-com/
- ↑ <div class='Fennec-embed-wrp Fennec-embed-name-youtube' data-src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/FZvspnzzWr0'><iframe width='100%' height='' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/FZvspnzzWr0'></iframe></div>
- ↑ https://fr.timesofisrael.com/genealogie-lisraelien-myheritage-rachete-le-francais-filae/
- ↑ https://www.sicavonline.fr/index.cfm?action=m_actu&ida=469623-toussaint-roze-notrefamille-com-l-entreprise-des-15-ans
- ↑ https://www.ecommercemag.fr/E-commerce/Article/Patron-des-patronymes-41939-1.htm
- ↑ https://www.lesechos.fr/2007/03/toussaint-roze-notrefamillecom-nous-avons-une-forte-culture-du-profit-550224
- ↑ https://www.caminteresse.fr/sante/les-francais-et-la-genealogie-une-longue-histoire-damour-11149711/
- ↑ https://www.journaldunet.com/ebusiness/le-net/1022353-notrefamille-com-en-passe-d-acquerir-un-specialiste-de-la-genealogie/
- ↑ https://www.ouest-france.fr/pays-de-la-loire/laval-53000/notrefamillecom-bien-implante-localement-2560437
- ↑ https://www.news-eco.com/communique/genealogie-com-lance-son-grand-plan-de-numerisation-et-dindexation/
- ↑ https://www.lesechos.fr/2015/08/genealogiecom-numerise-des-pans-de-lhistoire-de-france-252399
- ↑ https://www.senioractu.com/Vos-aieux-ont-ils-marque-le-19eme-siecle-Genealogie-com-rend-accessible-l-ancetre-du-Journal-Officiel_a12522.html
- ↑ https://geneinfos.typepad.fr/geneinfos/2010/11/les-prisonniers-de-la-grande-guerre-en-ligne-sur-genealogiecom.html
- ↑ https://www.leparisien.fr/societe/retrouver-ses-ancetres-aujourd-hui-c-est-facile-23-04-2008-3298456552.php
- ↑ https://www.abcbourse.com/marches/notrefamillecom-candidat-au-grand-emprunt_177555
- ↑ https://www.archimag.com/demat-cloud/2015/06/09/genealogie-com-num%C3%A9rise-journal-officiel
- ↑ https://actu.fr/ile-de-france/meaux_77284/genealogie-com-vous-connecte-a-vos-ancetres_8377361.html
- ↑ https://www.leparisien.fr/seine-et-marne-77/dammarie-les-lys-77190/les-archives-departementales-s-ouvrent-a-genealogie-com-14-07-2015-4943965.php
- ↑ https://www.lefigaro.fr/lifestyle/2015/04/29/30001-20150429ARTFIG00046-genealogie-partir-mieux-arme-a-la-recherche-de-ses-ancetres.php
- ↑ https://themedialeader.fr/notrefamille-com-cede-son-activite-media-au-groupe-bayard-presse/
- ↑ https://www.journaldunet.com/ebusiness/commerce/1165963-le-groupe-interflora-rachete-cadeaux-com-pour-5-4-millions-d-euros/
- ↑ https://siafdroit.hypotheses.org/659
- ↑ https://www.rfgenealogie.com/infos/filae-revolutionne-la-genealogie-sur-internet
- ↑ <div class='Fennec-embed-wrp Fennec-embed-name-youtube' data-src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/yU-NbfwIAW8'><iframe width='100%' height='' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/yU-NbfwIAW8'></iframe></div>
- ↑ https://www.francetvinfo.fr/culture/patrimoine/histoire/paris-retrouve-la-memoire-grace-a-un-million-d-039-archives-numerisees-et-accessibles-a-tous_3386249.html
- ↑ https://www.leparisien.fr/societe/genealogie-filae-met-en-ligne-les-archives-des-parisiens-detruites-en-1870-14-03-2018-7607673.php
- ↑ https://www.rfgenealogie.com/infos/myheritage-acquiert-filae-apres-avoir-signe-un-accord-avec-geneanet
- ↑ https://www.rfgenealogie.com/dossiers/gilad-japhet-myheritage-l-ambition-de-devenir-numero-un
- ↑ https://www.rfgenealogie.com/infos/paris-recense-paris-indexe
- ↑ <div class='Fennec-embed-wrp Fennec-embed-name-youtube' data-src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/RuoNJ-uYdFU'><iframe width='100%' height='' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/RuoNJ-uYdFU'></iframe></div>