Ancestory.com ?

[Tink-n-MrIncredible]

Hi all! My father would like to look up his genealogy. Is Ancestry.com a good site and is it worth the money? I have not priced it yet, I was just wondering if it is worth the money. Does any one know of another site like this one, but one that does not charge a fee (something reliable)? Maybe someone has some other ideas, I am open to suggestions.

 

[Vijoge]

It's www.[I]ancestry[/I].com and whether or not it's worth the money depends on how much research you actually plan to do. It's not quite as simple as "looking up your genealogy" in most cases.

I've had an ancestry.com subscription for about 12 years or more. it's very worth it to me, for others-not so much. But I've done thousands of hours of research, so my per hour expenditure is quite low. Try www.rootsweb.com first-it's a free site.

 

[disneymarie]

Hi all! My father would like to look up his genealogy. Is Ancestory.com a good site and is it worth the money? I have not priced it yet, I was just wondering if it is worth the money. Does any one know of another site like this one, but one that does not charge a fee (something reliable)? Maybe someone has some other ideas, I am open to suggestions.

For a start I would use the Mormon Latter Day Saints web site which is free. There may be census on file free in the local he is checking. As in our county there is a genealogy web site that has church, cemetery, local census to 1930.

If he would like to send an email of a person, where they were born, lived, I could give him some ideas to the resources available in that area.
The ancestry.com may be nice after he knows what he wants to look for. Sometimes there are trees another family member has started.

I used Ancestry for about a year, it added to my tree, but most of what I had from there was census reports after I found the family. Like the great, great grandparents, I was able to find other children then my great grandfather. I have 900 from both side of my parents.

Another thing is the local court houses, if you want to find your parents marriage, birth before records were sent to the state, etc. I have been very frustrated on that end. Often the births or deaths were never recorded as far back as I was seeking.

There are a lot of free sources.
The one thought is if he wants to record it, I did buy the software to enter and create trees. It creates an index and then you can add to it instead of jotting notes.
The software can be bought online, I think I did buy mine at Ancestry.come years ago. Still working with the original one, I did not upgrade in 7 years.

 

[roadtripper]

If you have a library card, check out your local library--many subscribe to a site called heritagequest.com, which you can access for free from your home through your library's web site by inputting your library card number. HeritageQuest has census data from 1790-1930 (the most recent available), which is a great place to start--tons of information. Another freebie is www.ellisisland.org if you know of any ancestors who came in through there.
www.familysearch.org is also great. Mormons are HUGE into genealogy, and they share their info with everyone for free.

I have done the two week trial with ancestry, which is good if you remember to cancel--I think it's about 90/year, but a lot of their stuff can be gotten elsewhere for free. Have fun! I LOVE doing genealogy.

 

[mikki'smom]

I have used ancestry and found it very helpful but the best site I've ever used is free and has given me lots of input....try www.genforum.com ....goodluck....it is so much fun

 

[GenieCat]

... a lot of their stuff can be gotten elsewhere for free. Have fun! I LOVE doing genealogy.

Me too!

This may be way more than what you are looking for, but here are a few more free resources:

FamilyTree Magazine

Olive Tree

Rootsweb Beginners Guide

CyndisList

National Archives Genealogy

A couple of places to check for books which may already have been published on your branch of the family:

Family History Center microfilm catalog for your surname

Higginson Books

Google Books

As a word of caution, there is no such thing as a "Family Coat of Arms". Framed prints, mugs, T-Shirts, etc., can often be found at mall kiosks, and unfortunately, at the Epcot UK shops. http://genealogy.about.com/od/heraldry/qt/coats_of_arms.htm

Generic Family Histories are another common scam.

 

[SA53]

Sorry to hijack, but are these sites mostly American based? I am only one generation from Scotland/Wales/England so I was curious how any of the above sites connected the world?

TIA,

K in SA

 

[ancestry]

I am actually a professional genealogist. Most libraries offer a Ancestry.com for free to their patrons. Before purchasing Ancestry you can try it out at a library or historical society to see if you think it would be worthwhile.

 

[Tink-n-MrIncredible]

Thank you all very much for the replies. So far I have searched the Mormon site and found out some information. I look forward to searching the other sites as well.

 

[holycow]

Thanks for the resources everyone.

 

[Susan R]

I'm an amature geneaolgist and I find half the fun is doing the research One of the best tips I was ever given is to "interview" aka "talk" to the older relatives in your family. Record or take notes. It's a great way to get first hand info and to spend some time with people who are very important in our lives!

Susan

 

[Jeff_G]

Sorry to hijack, but are these sites mostly American based? I am only one generation from Scotland/Wales/England so I was curious how any of the above sites connected the world?

TIA,

K in SA

I know ancestry dot com does have records from other countries including Scotland/Wales/IOM/England. Its hit or miss if you will find anything for your family member. You can start a tree for free but to view most information you need to pay. They do have a 14 day trial.

I found the boat one side of my family came across from Scotland in which was cool. They had the ship manifest which matched up with my great, great, great, great grandfather / mother, their adult children, brothers and their wives, and everyone’s ages were correct.

We mapped one side of my family back to the 1600s after we contacted a relative overseas. It’s funny because at some point they all start having the same first name generation after generation for the male family member...

 

[JusbKoz]

I tried Ancestry.com with a free trial subscription. I don't remember how long it was for?maybe a month? but canceled when I just couldn't find anything. It was easy to cancel as long as you are with in your cancelation timeframe.
I am glad I tried the free trial offer to see if I liked it or not. I just couldn't locate any new information that I didn't already have.

 

[lisajl]

Sorry to hijack, but are these sites mostly American based? I am only one generation from Scotland/Wales/England so I was curious how any of the above sites connected the world?

TIA,

K in SA

Hi, I wish I could remember the name of the place I looked at earlier last year.
I went to the Who do you think you are website off BBC and it had a few links.
I will try to find it.
At any rate, my DH's family has only been here since the civil war.
We found relative in England through that site.
I will look it up for you.
Lisa

 

[kid-at-heart]

Hi all! My father would like to look up his genealogy. Is Ancestry.com a good site and is it worth the money? I have not priced it yet, I was just wondering if it is worth the money. Does any one know of another site like this one, but one that does not charge a fee (something reliable)? Maybe someone has some other ideas, I am open to suggestions.

I use Ancestry.com often. For me it is worth it. I started with almost no information about my family other than parents and grandparents' names and birthdays. From this small amount of knowledge I have found a wealth of information and have met many "new" cousins. I have had a membership at Ancestry for many years now and through Ancestry and other free sites have managed to find many generations of our family. As a bonus (or not depending on how you look at it), I now know most of my ancestors lived to be in their 90s and that heart disease runs in our family.

Like you, I started the research for my mother who wanted to know more about her biological father (who died before she was born). From my research, my mother now often talks with and has visited members of her biological father's family. She has also renewed contact with maternal cousins she had not seen in 70+ years. No greater present could I have given her in her elder years.

PM me if you want me to put into the Ancestry site a few names and birth dates for you. It is far easier to find deceased people than to find living people.

kate

 

[Melynny]

I use Ancestry almost weekly. I am by no means a pro lgeneologist, just working on the histories of our families. I have found that using Ancestry takes time and a lot of work. The searches usually get you close, but you have to really spend time with alternate spellings, different locations and all the fun detective work that goes along with it. It really is fun to do on cold, snowy evenings... and I have been doing a lot lately. I find that I work on our families for a few weeks, then take a break.. I find that it lets my mind work on what clues I have found, then I can go back and work on the next problem... It's really quite fun! Best of luck to you!

 

[RangerPooh]

We've used Ancestory.com in the past to research our family trees and have found it to be worth the money. One side of my dads family tree has been well documented so we knew it going back a few hundred years, but through ancestry we were able to go a few hundred more years! It's also neat to see the connections that others make as you can combine trees. We have also been contacted by relatives which is neat as we get to learn about their branches.

 

[Vijoge]

Sorry to hijack, but are these sites mostly American based? I am only one generation from Scotland/Wales/England so I was curious how any of the above sites connected the world?

TIA,

K in SA

Try http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

 

[disneybirds]

You might want to check out some blogs/newsletters for genealogy info as well. There is alot of info online.

Some to try:

http://blog.eogn.com/ Dick Eastman's
http://genealogytipoftheday.blogspot.com/ Tip of the Day
http://www.mountainpress.com/archives.html Discusses different sources

 

[thelittlemermaid]

I have had alot of fun looking up ancestors on Ancestory.com. I even got to where I had ancestors from Scotland. To make things even more interesting found out I am related to Scottish royalty {on my dad's side}, at least way back when, all the way back to Robert the Bruce {he's my 21 X Great Grandfather on one side and my 20 X Great Grandfather on another side. All still on my dad's side}. I know, confusing isn't it? Apparently I have a ancestor from Robert the Bruce's first wife and then another ancestor from his second wife. Then down the line my 14 X Great Grandfather from Robert the Bruce's first wife met my 14 X Great Grandmother from his second wife and then that's when the two lines mergered into one. Not sure if they knew about how or if they were related, but you know how things were way back then.

I really don't think I would have found out all of that from a free site.

Good luck everyone on their ancestory adventures!!!