Have you ever used Ancestry dot com?

[maslex]

So I've been watching that new show "Who Do You Think You Are?" It's really interesting.

I'd love to learn more about my family on both sides. I know many people on my mom's side up to my great grandmother. But would love to know further back down the family line. I really don't know much about my father's side and think it would be interesting to do so.

So have you used ancestry dot com? How much was it, was it reliable? Give me your input!!!

 

[perdidobay]

I've used it for over a year now. I pay $30 a month for the worldwide access. I think it's about $20 just for US records. I've had much success finding info on several branches of my and my DH's family. It is something I enjoy, and it's much like a scavenger hunt to me. But it can get frustrating if you hit a "brick wall".

 

[stevenpensacola]

Check with your local library system.

We actually have a Genealogy Library in my town. You can use Ancestry.com for free there. They also offer several other types of genealogy web sites, as well as many different types of print records/microfiche,etc.

The best part is that they have volunteers to assist you in your search.

 

[jamstew]

I've been using it for years and love it, but you have to be careful about relying on it. Many people post undocumented information, and it's easy to get your records messed up.

 

[Geoff_M]

I've used it before and of the "pay" sites, I think it's the best. However, you can also get a lot of mileage out of a great free site FamilySearch.org. They also offer PAF which is a nice free family tree maker software package. Ancestry.com's free RootsWeb community is also good place to search published family trees and has good geographically specific message boards to ask "locals" to help with sticky family tree problems.

All sites take some getting used to and you need to play around to learn how to finesse the databases.

As previously noted, don't take everything you see in personally published family trees as gospel. Look for documentation and the existence of multiple independent sources to be sure. I've found information I know to be bogus about members of my family. One of the problems with the ease at which people can publish family trees is that it's really easy to also post bad information. And once out there, it's often picked up and duplicated. For example for a while I thought I have a direct connection to William the Conqueror, but I later learned that a connection of a father and daughter to the line was highly suspect and royalty researchers have found no hard evidence to support it. However, you'll find this connection repeated multiple times by lots of people in their family trees. If you find that several people are listed in several trees with the same spellings, same exact birth, marriage, and death details, then odds are the information has been cut-n-pasted from a common source.

 

[monkeyboy]

Yes and from now on I will be known as Lord Monkeyboy

 

[4nana]

Sending you good luck, as it's very interesting. I am researching DH's family on Ancestory.com and finding it very reliable with records we had thus far. Specially with some of their census records available in families actual hand writing. Our interested peaked when we had opportunity to travel to England 10 yrs ago for DH's retirement and begin to have fun researching. That coupled with attending a reunion, where family tree was presented, has peaked our curiosity even more.

Since, I have researched back to the 1650's on Ancestory.com, also been referred to other sites and even downloaded pictures of DH's great great great grandfather's family, home and business in England, etc. I am excited to continue our search and find photos of ship they arrived on in USA. I can't wait to start my side of family!
We're enjoying our golden years now and I think it will be wonderful to pass down to our children and grands.

 

[maslex]

I've used it for over a year now. I pay $30 a month for the worldwide access. I think it's about $20 just for US records. I've had much success finding info on several branches of my and my DH's family. It is something I enjoy, and it's much like a scavenger hunt to me. But it can get frustrating if you hit a "brick wall".

Is the $30 fee for a one time monthly payment or is it $30 every month you use it? How long does one need to use it for? Do you think you could get all the info your looking for within that first month? I don't mind paying a one time fee but I can't see myself using it for longer. What are your thoughts?

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

I got into this about five years ago when I put together a Family History Book as a Christmas gift for my family. At that time if you bought a Family Tree software from Best Buy you got a whole year membership included. Well, that was a great deal -- the software organized everything and it worked with Ancestry dot com very well. (I can't remember what software it was) I think I would have been lost with out the software program to help organize everything.

For me having Ancestry available from home was the only way to do it at first. I spent a lot of time on it at the beginning and I wouldn't want to run to the library every time I needed info. And, as a PP said there is a learning curve to the site. Now I check in at my library once in a while to see if any new info is out there.

But wow! The info is great! You are seeing actual census documents, war documents, draft cards, etc. Through the RootsWeb community I contacted a cousin very removed that had pictures of my great grandmother when she was young. It sounds hard to believe, but she (my GGM) was one of 13 kids and then they all had large families so the chances of someone searching their family roots gets better and better.

I really enjoyed the project. I spent a few months on it and found a lot of neat info. It also made me research the areas in Europe they lived and what the conditions were like to make them move. In addition it really makes you think and talk to the relatives who are still here -- it is amazing the info they have in their memories to share with you.

Enjoy!

 

[agnes!]

I like Ancestry.com. Like others have said, be careful taking what is posted as truth, check out sources, etc. The various family or interest-area (specific states or War of 1812, for instance) are great places to post "In Search Of" queries. I think Genforum & RootsWeb have them as well as Ancestry.com? (Some of the various sites I've used in the past have merged & I get them mixed up until I see the pages). I think that a lot of the geneaological community doesn't like Ancestry.Com and think the information should be free on the 'Net, like it used to be. Most of the information is from publicly available/free sources anyway...but it is hard to argue with the Ancestry.Com juggernaut.

*Hated* Footnote.com the last time I tried it. Their search engine was NOT intuitive at all and I'd get a lot of false positive results - what a waste of money & time. Don't bother.

Someone up-thread posted about brick-walls. I'm actually thinking of funding a named 'prize' to be awarded if someone can find verifiable background information on an ancestor of mine. I belong to my state's geneaological society and I'm thinking of posting the query/prize in their newsletter.

agnes!

 

[PrincessBelle39]

I've been researching the family history for about 10 years but only joined Ancestry.com in the last year. I wish I'd done it earlier. Its made things so much easier.

 

[HunnyPots]

You can try it for free for two weeks and you'll be amazed at the amount of info you can gather in that time. After the trial period, you can either subscribe or cancel. I pay the $20 for U.S. records but only pay during the months I know I will have the time to use it. Even when you're not subscribed, you still have access to your tree and the forums, etc. When I feel like playing with it again, I just pay my $20 and re-subscribe. Easy and lots of fun but I warn you, it's very addictive!

 

[Feralpeg]

Is the $30 fee for a one time monthly payment or is it $30 every month you use it? How long does one need to use it for? Do you think you could get all the info your looking for within that first month? I don't mind paying a one time fee but I can't see myself using it for longer. What are your thoughts?

I pay $29.95 per month or worldwide access. I've been at this for about two years now. I've traced my dad's side of the family back to the early 1300s and my mom's side back to the 800s. Incredible! Of course, how far you can go back is based on what your family members did for a living. If they were involved in any type of government or if they were nobility, there is a better chance of records existing.

My most exciting find was that my 13th great grandmother on my mom's side of the family was Mary Tudor (sister of Henry VIII). Fun!

I use Family Tree Maker. Since it is offered through Ancestry.com, it allows me to document everything offline but keeps it all in sync with Ancestry. If new updates come through from Ancestry, they automatically appear in my Family Tree Maker software. It's very easy to use and very flexible. I wanted a place to document everything so that, eventually, when I a done, I can drop my membership to Ancestry.com and keep a complete record of my findings.

 

[monorailsilver]

I just cancelled my 2 week free subscription (again).

I get stuck so I quit & don't want to pay anymore. I am stuck not to far back (100 years) & can't figure out which boat my grandmothers parents took from Italy (if they came from there) on one side & on my dad's side I can't figure out when some moved from Canada. Frustrating. I think if my kids were bigger & I could really concentrate then I'd like it more.

Oh & I have logged onto the CT state library (or something like that) & logged in my library card & got some of the census info for free.

 

[disney1990]

I think it is sad, the number of people, right here on the DIS board that did not return completely filled out Census forms this year. Imagine 72 years from now when those records are release for "researching" there are going to be lots of holes.

 

[C.Ann]

I've used it before and of the "pay" sites, I think it's the best. However, you can also get a lot of mileage out of a great free site FamilySearch.org. They also offer PAF which is a nice free family tree maker software package. Ancestry.com's free RootsWeb community is also good place to search published family trees and has good geographically specific message boards to ask "locals" to help with sticky family tree problems.

All sites take some getting used to and you need to play around to learn how to finesse the databases.

As previously noted, don't take everything you see in personally published family trees as gospel. Look for documentation and the existence of multiple independent sources to be sure. I've found information I know to be bogus about members of my family. One of the problems with the ease at which people can publish family trees is that it's really easy to also post bad information. And once out there, it's often picked up and duplicated. For example for a while I thought I have a direct connection to William the Conqueror, but I later learned that a connection of a father and daughter to the line was highly suspect and royalty researchers have found no hard evidence to support it. However, you'll find this connection repeated multiple times by lots of people in their family trees. If you find that several people are listed in several trees with the same spellings, same exact birth, marriage, and death details, then odds are the information has been cut-n-pasted from a common source.

When I have the time to start yet another project, I think this would be very interesting.. However, since I don't have an awful lot of information to begin with, I think I would be inclined to try the free sites first..

Thanks for sharing that info!

 

[disney1990]

What are some of the free sites out there?

 

[agnes!]

I have one ancestor who has the same name as another man from a neighboring state and his information gets co-mingled with the other person all the time. They're two different people! One was born in England and was transported here, the other was born in the colonies. One died in 1802, the other in 1820. One lived in his colonial arrival-state all his life, the other lived in two different states. Oh, and in my ancestor's extended-family, this name is repeated (along with about two or three other names) from generation to generation *and* also gets repeated within the same generation...so the researcher can be faced with the multiple related people (two, three...sometimes six) co-existing within the same timeframe and having the same name .

The best part (lol) is that the co-mingled mistakes get repeated over and over again all over the Internet...

agnes!

 

[jelloarms]

I did the free trial. For my family, it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, which is not that much. It only listed family members up to my great grandparents. It only gave birthdays, no photos or anything cool like that. I felt it was pretty crap.

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

I did the free trial. For my family, it didn't tell me anything I didn't already know, which is not that much. It only listed family members up to my great grandparents. It only gave birthdays, no photos or anything cool like that. I felt it was pretty crap.

Looking to use Ancestry.com (or the Roots portion) to give you all the answers (and photos) is like gambling in Las Vegas. It's all chance on who in your family line might have been interested in Family History and posted about it. For me I hit the jackpot for one branch of the family -- she had even paid for research in Ireland and had posted parts of my GGG grandmother's diary. For another branch -- there was ZIP posted on the Family Tree part.

But that can be where the fun is -- and where Ancestry.com can really help you. That's when you start digging in the census records and the WWI and WWII draft cards. It is pretty cool when you can see and print an actual document that your relatives signed back in 1917! It is almost like a treasure hunt! Each year of the Census records can give you different info, like sibling names, place of birth, where parents were born, occupation, education, etc. Those clues allow you to "find" their parents, etc. on earlier census forms and that is how you can get great grandparent's names, etc. Then, depending on where they landed, you can find info on them in the newspapers of the time or even books. I had some relatives that were among the first 20 years of a small city being incorporated -- so the weekly newspaper talked about the women's weekly teas, their charities, etc. And most small towns have put out paper back books on the early history of their town with photos, etc.

Good Luck!