Has anybody used the paid version of Ancestry.com?

[Kimberle]

I am new to the search and have already hit a little wall. I've only been searching for a couple of days and on my father side have been able to go back to the early 1800's thanks to people that have already done the leg work. I'm having luck on my maternal grandfathers side too.

My maternal grandmother's side I've hit a wall. There was never much mention of her parents (my g grandparents) growing up. I've found her parents names from my grandmother's death records. But when I search my g grandmothers maiden name is spelled 2 different ways on census records. I assuming one was a typo but not sure which. There are no leads on her in ancestry.com. I have my g grandgathers name but there are no leads on him in ancestry. I think I know where they were buried. If I called the church would they be able to give me information?

Have you tried findagrave.com? It's pretty good. It is not complete. Most of my family is buried in 2 cemeteries. I have been there and KNOW certain graves are there, yet they don't show on findagrave.
Good luck!

 

[YoYoAurora]

I have a full subscription to Ancestry, which is my gift to my family each year. I don't do the month to month, as I'm on Ancestry doing research at least 4 to 5 days a week. I finally broke down and purchased the world subscription (bringing me to a full "gimme everything" subscription) when my husband's lines crossed the Atlantic. For me, with the amount of research I do, it's worth it to me.

As others have suggested, check with your local library to see if they have subscriptions to genealogy and historical document databases that you can use for free with your library membership. I pay for Ancestry so I can use it at home, but have access via my library card to many other paid subscription databases that I use in my research.

I also get lots of information from local historical and genealogical societies near where my ancestors lived, as well as checking county government websites for marriage and land records. Google is my best friend!

A few of my favorite free sites:
findagrave.com
familysearch.org
usgenweb.org
cyndislist.com

 

[Hidden_Mickey]

I've been interested in researching my family for a while, but never had time to do it. I think I may start to make time. How much time do you all spend on it? Do you ever find that the internet search turns cold, and you need to actually visit somewhere? A library near where the ancestor lived? And look at hard copies of books, etc.? Any luck with newspaper searches? I watch Who Do You Think You are, and they show people looking through newspapers... but, really, who has time to read or even scan through every page of every issue? They make it look really simple, IMHO. Part of my hesitation has been fear that I will hit a wall and be discouraged or disappointed.

 

[DeaverTex]

Brickwalling is the reason I've never gotten into genealogy. I could probably trace my mom's family, but I don't even know my dad's parents' first names, and he refuses to even discuss it because "it's a waste of time". Sheesh.

I'd kind of like to see where I come from, but I don't want to spend time/money on something that will just cause frustration.

 

[joviroxx]

Brickwalling is the reason I've never gotten into genealogy. I could probably trace my mom's family, but I don't even know my dad's parents' first names, and he refuses to even discuss it because "it's a waste of time". Sheesh.

I'd kind of like to see where I come from, but I don't want to spend time/money on something that will just cause frustration.

Would you happen to know your dad's birthdate and place? Finding his birth certificate or birth record is a great place to start. That will list his parents.

Brickwalling is tough but ancestry.com and familysearch.org can only take you so far. Eventually, you will need other resources.

A major part of my family ancestry is from Cuba. You can't find any of those records on ancestry.com . You can find border crossings and ship manifests, but that's about it.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Brickwalling is the reason I've never gotten into genealogy. I could probably trace my mom's family, but I don't even know my dad's parents' first names, and he refuses to even discuss it because "it's a waste of time". Sheesh.

I'd kind of like to see where I come from, but I don't want to spend time/money on something that will just cause frustration.

You can search your Dad and possibly find your grandparents. I actually found my Grandmother's family by searching her uncle...opened up a lot of info.

 

[heartsy77]

I have joined and then dropped out several times. My problem is my great grandfather was born in Nancy France around 1818. He came to the US around 1833 ( well before Ellis Island).

Here is the kicker he isn't even French he is German! I have even written to the French government, in Nancy, sent $ for postage, for a copy of his birth certificate, only to be told : I needed to come France! So I have gave up till I have the $$$ to go to France.

Does anybody know if I could find anything out if I bought the paid European option?

 

[lizabu]

I am new to the search and have already hit a little wall. I've only been searching for a couple of days and on my father side have been able to go back to the early 1800's thanks to people that have already done the leg work. I'm having luck on my maternal grandfathers side too.

My maternal grandmother's side I've hit a wall. There was never much mention of her parents (my g grandparents) growing up. I've found her parents names from my grandmother's death records. But when I search my g grandmothers maiden name is spelled 2 different ways on census records. I assuming one was a typo but not sure which. There are no leads on her in ancestry.com. I have my g grandgathers name but there are no leads on him in ancestry. I think I know where they were buried. If I called the church would they be able to give me information?

The spelling difference thing is really common. It happens for a number of different reasons. One is how the records are imported into ancestry.com. It's called something like the World Project and I've put in a number of volunteer hours and there are thousands of other people around the world who volunteer their time. It's a program you download and you choose what kind of records you want to do...military records for example. You get a pdf of the actual pages from for example a book military people sign to get their pay check and you're supposed to look at the page and copy what you see but in typed format in a special form they give you . The problem is in the olden days people wrote in these big loopy fancy letters and it can be hard to trascribe what you are seeing so sometimes spelling mistakes can be made.

The other reason names can be spelled different is it's translated from another language or the family spelled it different on purpose. Like for example my family was Kraft but changed it to Craft in America when things started going south with Germany the first time. Or we have the surname Dauthe in my family and they changed it to Dotte just to make it easier for people to pronounce.

The next reason is that not everyone knew how to read and write. When they did a census the person would give their name to the census taker and that person would write it down not always spelling it correctly.

I have joined and then dropped out several times. My problem is my great grandfather was born in Nancy France around 1818. He came to the US around 1833 ( well before Ellis Island).

Here is the kicker he isn't even French he is German! I have even written to the French government, in Nancy, sent $ for postage, for a copy of his birth certificate, only to be told : I needed to come France! So I have gave up till I have the $$$ to go to France.

Does anybody know if I could find anything out if I bought the paid European option?

I had the same problem because I couldn't get those overseas records. Once I did the world membership I could get everything. I also connected with a distant cousin in France who saw my connections to her tree and she emailed me and asked me how we got to Canada. It was pretty cool. Do the world membership for real. You will be able to go so much farther.