GRanDMA refers to the Genealogical Registry and Database of Mennonite Ancestry. It is the database that is searched with GRanDMA OnLine.

Just to be clear, GRanDMA is the database. GRanDMA OnLine is the web app that provides tools for searching GRanDMA.

GRanDMA contains genealogical information on individuals, most of whose ancestral lines can be traced to Mennonite and Hutterite communities in Prussia (now Poland) and South Russia (now Ukraine). It is the product of collecting and merging data from thousands of family histories, church records, obituaries, government records and other contributions.

Records of individuals include dates and places and are linked by relationship to parents and to children. With genealogical software, these linkages lead to ancestry charts and descendants' charts and from there to data mining for all sorts of reports.

The data are made available by paid subscription, viewable either through online software or using standard genealogical software. (Online access is free on the campuses of Bethel College (KS) and Fresno Pacific University and at the Mennonite Historical Society of BC. Other Mennonite libraries, museums, and archives can be added by request.)

The GRanDMA database was first developed under the leadership of Alan F. Peters, by the California Mennonite Historical Society (CMHS), starting with Alan's own extensive records. You can learn more about these beginnings and development in "Some History of the GRANDMA Database" which was excerpted from a document prepared by Alan.

GRanDMA continues to expand through the addition of new information submitted by both regular users contributing family information and skilled researchers who translate and research original documents. The data are reviewed and entered into the database with the oversight of the GRanDMA Committee.

Learn who these volunteers are on the Volunteer Page.

For more information about GRanDMA, visit the GRanDMA Frequently Asked Questions.