Scotland Online, the IT business owned by Dundee media dynasty DC Thomson, yesterday said it had acquired findmypast.com, a leading independent UK-based family history website.

The company said it had acquired the business Title Research Group as part of its plans to establish a world-class online network of family history resources, but it did not disclose the sale price.

The merger will see Scotland Online's current online genealogy service, ScotlandsPeople, amalgamating with findmypast.com to create an enlarged resource to serve millions of family history enthusiasts worldwide.

The company said the merger "will enable a wider audience to access the most complete suite of family history records available online in the UK".

Scotland Online recently won the tender for the 1911 England and Wales census records, which will be available during 2009.

Chris van der Kuyl, chief executive of Scotland Online, said: "We are delighted to welcome the findmypast team to Scotland Online and look forward to working very closely with them on building a wonderful family history resource.

"Family history enthusiasts the world over will benefit."

Findmypast.com established itself as an innovative genealogical service that has become one of the leading destination websites for family history researchers.

It was the first company in the world to put the complete birth, marriage and death indexes for England and Wales online, later adding its census and unique passenger-list records.