Anybody used Ancestry.com?

[David1961]

Wondering if anyone here has used Ancestry.com and if so, what your experiences were.

[savory]

A cousin using Genie for a few years. I review her efforts from time to time. I think she likes it

[Zona]

DH and I used it quite a bit the past two years, along with a couple of other sites. His primary motivation was because we were planning a long-ish trip to Scandinavia last year and he was interested in seeing some of the addresses where his great (and great-great) grandparents had lived before emigrating.

Little did we know, but he still has living relatives there. They contacted us through another site (heritage.com, I think) and we actually met them while on our trip. It was wonderful -- we got to meet three generations of cousins he didn't even know he had!they were so welcoming and happy to show us their country and culture. In fact, several new-found relatives are coming next year to visit, and we skype pretty regularly. We will likely go back to Scandinavia for a visit in 2019.

On the technical side, I should add that ancestry is very easy to use, but note that there's a feature where it suggest matches to other trees. Some of the other users aren't very diligent, so we found ourselves following the wrong thread a number of times before we realized that the proposed "matches" were sometimes showing us trees that we couldn't possibly belong to where the person had chosen our relative's record for their tree just by name alone. It is kind of thrilling/rewarding when you finally find the record you've been searching for. Certainly a hobby I plan to pursue more once I finally retire!

[Johanson]

I do and I was able to figure out how my Dad's Uncle George was related to my Great Grandfather. It turns out, my Dad's Uncle George was actually the grand nephew of my Great Grandfather. I also discovered that my Grandfather's mother was not the one that everyone thought she was. My Great Grandmother had died at the age of 26 and he later remarried. Actually, I discovered a ton of information about my ancestors including that my Dad's mother was a descendant of the Ellingboe family and that my dad grew up next to an Ellingboe and they didn't know they were related. They trace their ancestry back to the 1100's. ELLINGBOE FAMILY HISTORY AND GENEALOGY

I've also used DNA testing to find out that I'm 98% Scandinavian, <1% Irish, and <1% Western European.

[gerntz]

On it every day. Traced some ancestors back to mid-1400's. Yes, some trees are more guesses than anything, but it's your responsibility to determine what's right. Try to document everything, but can't do it for all. Why am I so interested? Who knows other than I enjoy history a lot.

[Souschef]

My DW got me the DNA package, so i spit in the tube and sent it back. About a month later, I got the results.
93% was what I expected, Eastern European, but I found out I was 2% Irish!!!

[Sunset]

Those Irish certainly get around...

[ABQ2015]

I joined Ancestry.com about 10 years and started by researching my maternal grandmother's line as it was an unusual name. I mostly went through the census records and was able to go back to the 1790 census. In the process, I found that this surname had their own forum with all sorts of family records and discussions between "cousins." They had researched back to about 1740 but then hit a wall and could not determine when our ancestor had arrived from Europe or their country of origin. They also did DNA testing but were unable to find any Europeans with similar DNA results with that surname. For me, the research became too time consuming with work so I am putting it on hold until retirement and have not been on Ancestry.com for 6 years.

I thought Ancestry.com was a good way to get started and a convenient way to view the census records and some other records. Also you can start a family tree and view family trees of others. But I also found lots of good info by just googling or in other genealogy websites. On my Danish side, I have found databases that seem to go back very far and indicate the city or town where they lived although I don't remember there being a street address. I would love to meet up with some of these cousins the way Zona described.

[Nemo2]

I don't know if it was Ancestry or a similar site, but DW's sister signed up a few years back, and the set-up allowed access to 'guests'.

Started off with the little info I had, until my sole remaining blood relative, a cousin ten years younger, who has lived her entire life in the same town in Kent, England, where she was born, (and therefore has been privy to lifetimes of family 'secrets'), said "Well you did know that our grandfather was left on the church steps, didn't you?"

Next!

(Along the same lines, it used to be said that, in Australia, an 'aristocrat' is someone who can trace his ancestry back to his father.)

[braumeister]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nemo2 (Along the same lines, it used to be said that, in Australia, an 'aristocrat' is someone who can trace his ancestry back to his father.)

Great line!

I've used Ancestry for a number of years and learned quite a lot. Their databases are superb, and I have a very good record going back over 200 years. Nothing exotic, just Germany on one side and Ireland on the other. All my ancestors were peasants, so nothing terribly interesting apart from the curiosity value.

I've also used the 23andme DNA testing, and found several previously unknown cousins, including a first cousin, through that.

It's a fun hobby, but you not only have to be careful about suggestions from other people's efforts, but also from official records. There are plenty of mistakes in old handwritten registers, and plenty of mistakes made by people transcribing them to put them online. Still, it can be fun if you like history.

[Nemo2]

Quote:

Originally Posted by braumeister There are plenty of mistakes in old handwritten registers, and plenty of mistakes made by people transcribing them to put them online. Still, it can be fun if you like history.

I knew little or nothing about my father's family; his parents were dead before I was born, and I never even knew their names.

Left home at 17; have often remarked that I never had "an adult conversation" with either of my parents, (of course there are many who say that, to this day, I've never had an adult conversation with anybody), and it wasn't until the mid 1990s, when my late wife & I (living in the BC Gulf Islands), were visited by one of my father's brothers' widows, (who was visiting friends in Anacortes, WA, and came over on the ferry), that I really had the slightest insight into his background.

Perhaps, one day, for amusement, I'll take the DNA test.

[UnrealizedPotential]

Quote:

Originally Posted by David1961 Wondering if anyone here has used Ancestry.com and if so, what your experiences were.

The best thing to do is go to your nearest Family history center. Ancestry.com is free to use there. Ancestry.com is awesome. At the FHC there is always an experienced researcher to help you look up census records or any other records they might have.

[FiveDriver]

My cousin did research and was able to trace our Paternal Grandfather's side all the way back to 1655. The clan lived in the same little town in the Avellino province around Naples for centuries, until Grandfather and his brother came over around 1902. Cousin had a copy of the ship's manifest that showed the passenger list and the destination.....Cool.

I would like to trace my Mother's side next. She was born in Scotland and did not come over here until after WWII. She never spoke too much about her town (Dumbartonshire, on the banks of the River Clyde), but when she did talk about it.....she said the war years were tough.

[Zona]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ABQ2015 On my Danish side, I have found databases that seem to go back very far and indicate the city or town where they lived although I don't remember there being a street address.

Churches in the Scandinavian countries used to do household examinations, listing every family member and every movement in and out of a parish, so the records are excellent, aren't they? We had to learn to read a little Danish, Swedish, etc to figure them out, but they were very helpful. Not all of the records had addresses, especially when relatives lived in the countryside. But records within Copenhagen and Stockholm had addresses, I think. The archives in Copenhagen allow foreigners to get temporary access cards and use their facilities, which are excellent and staffed with helpful people.

Funny story -- many of the buildings we were looking for are long gone. In Copenhagen we went to one address only to find that the small building had been torn down & replaced by a massive store. A week later, we were in the Danish national museum. They had a section showing how each segment of the population lived, with furniture and pieces of buildings (walls, staircases, interior decor arranged as it would have been at the time). Sure enough, when we got to the section showing how the lowest classes lived -- there was an example taken directly from the exact building we'd been looking for the week before. A small explanation on the wall said that the building had been torn down but they preserved one apartment as a snapshot of history. That side of DH's family came from humble beginnings and I could see why they would move to the new world in search of better opportunities.

[Blue Collar Guy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by UnrealizedPotential The best thing to do is go to your nearest Family history center. Ancestry.com is free to use there. Ancestry.com is awesome. At the FHC there is always an experienced researcher to help you look up census records or any other records they might have.

Wow, i never knew of such a thing. Thanks a ton.

[kcowan]

My cousin traced our family tree on my father's side back 4 generations, all Mason's named John in Glasgow. On Mom's side, they had escaped London when her rich German father was killed in the war, and his parents came after the 3 kids. Changed their names fromShaefer to Slate. But no luck with ancestry because they did not share any details of him.

[Blue Collar Guy]

I just read an article about 3 identical triplets(http://www.ninjajournalist.com/enter...85889c08e4.jpg). Their results were off as to heritage, the article concluded it should be used for entertainment purposes. Id like to further add my own observations. Once you submit a DNA sample to these places, with a court order the authorities can get it. Im sure everyone in here is squeaky clean, , but if your 2nd cousin is doing stick ups and he left some DNA, "they" can come visit you and want to get some information(http://www.ancestry.com/cs/legal/lawenforcement). Im just putting it out there.

[Amethyst]

Is that sponsored by the LDS church? If so, can "gentiles" use it? I've used their free Family Search site for years - a wonderful public service.

Quote:

Originally Posted by UnrealizedPotential The best thing to do is go to your nearest Family history center. Ancestry.com is free to use there. Ancestry.com is awesome. At the FHC there is always an experienced researcher to help you look up census records or any other records they might have.

[tfudtuckerpucker]

Yep

Family History Centers

[misanman]

It's also available free for use at our local public library. Not sure how widespread this is but it would be worth checking.