Ancestry.com

[ripper1]

I just joined Ancestry.com. Finding it hard to navigate. Seems like everything I look for has an additional fee. Anyone here use this site? Would be interesting to hear what others have to say. Thank you.

 

[Gumby]

I have been using Ancestry.com for several years now and have generally been happy with it. In fact, I have been working with it earlier this morning. There is definitely a learning curve involved in using the site and formulating your searches in a way that will give you the best chance of finding useful data. It helps to refine your search parameters as you gain each new nugget of information (like a maiden name) and rerun the search. And you probably should start with "all collections" and only narrow that if the number of hits is overwhelming. Other ways to cut down on too much information are to limit results by dates (say, "1700s" or "1720s" or "1721" depending on how certain you are about when something most likely occurred) or by type of record like "census results" or "birth marriage & death" or "military" etc. after your search runs. I would caution you to view any "family trees" results with a healthy skepticism. You can sometimes uncover a new fact or get ideas on how to refine your search by looking at them, but a lot of people are not good researchers and post unsupported crap as a family tree.

When I do a search, I always have my Google maps open in a separate tab, so that I can do a quick "idiot check" as to whether something is possible. For example, in England in the 1500s, wealthier people might have ridden horses, but most people walked wherever they went. Which means that a young lad in Truro, Cornwall is unlikely to have met and married a young lass in Durham. Both are in England, but they are over 400 miles apart. I don't even click on the results that are too far afield to be likely. Fortunately, the site rank orders the results by closest location and time, so if you get 10 pages of possible hits, the first couple pages are more likely where the useful information is to be found.

Sadly, you do need to pay extra to get access to most records outside the United States, but I have found that to be worth the cost. The one thing I have not paid extra for is the newspaper archive, because I'm at a point in my research that long predates newspapers.

 

[rk911]

Years ago I was, briefly, on Ancestry but like the OP I was turned off by the constant added costs. Plus I already know what I need to know about my extended family.

 

[braumeister]

Ancestry is an extremely useful site, but I think the best way to get the most bang for the buck is to subscribe to all the bells and whistles for a limited period ( semiannually or even monthly instead of a whole year). Then do your research assiduously during your membership. When the period is up, don't renew it unless you have a lot more specific investigation to do.
Personally, I keep lists of things I want to research, and every few years I'll rejoin for six months so I can learn what I want.

 

[Sunset]

I think most places do extra charges.
23andMe does.
Maybe the worst is MyHeritage

One surprise was to find

FamilySearch.org

Discover your family history. Explore the world’s largest collection of free family trees, genealogy records and resources.

www.familysearch.org

It has a great search and tree building ability (automatic) seems pretty accurate and since free is great addition to searching.

 

[target2019]

There's times during the year when the subscription is 50% off. You have to keep your ear to certain reddit subs to make sure you don't miss it. r/genealogy for example is one I highly recommend. There are also friendly peeps who are advanced researchers and will do lookups for you, send images of records and so on. I am on there with similar username.

There are also researchers who run zooms for free. They usually operate in cooperation with genealogical societies.

Up soon is RootsTech. That is a free and paid offering for workshops of interest.

 

[Purslane]

I used it for a while a few years back. I even found two new sisters. That was a crazy ride but worth it. I doubt more siblings will be popping up and the fees were getting to be annoying so now I only have access to the basic features.
I found a lot of cool things on findagrave.com because someone, somewhere in my family has done genealogy background work. And believe it or not, sometimes Wikipedia can fill in some blanks.

 

[camfused]

+1. I discovered a half-sister via an ancestry DNA test yielding unexpected results. I am thrilled!

 

[Winemaker]

Been using it for years. Yes, there are some added fees for records outside the US. Transcribing old European church records cost money, in my case, is valuable. Don't care that I might have an genetic aversion to cilantro, I enjoy it in food dishes, not valuable in my opinion.

 

[Texas Proud]

I think most places do extra charges.
23andMe does.
Maybe the worst is MyHeritage

One surprise was to find

FamilySearch.org

Discover your family history. Explore the world’s largest collection of free family trees, genealogy records and resources.

www.familysearch.org

It has a great search and tree building ability (automatic) seems pretty accurate and since free is great addition to searching.

Familysearch is the Mormans if I am not mistaken.... they have (or at least had) many libraries around the country you could visit for free also. My mom volunteered in on here for years... Lots of info..

 

[Koolau]

Been using it for years. Yes, there are some added fees for records outside the US. Transcribing old European church records cost money, in my case, is valuable. Don't care that I might have an genetic aversion to cilantro, I enjoy it in food dishes, not valuable in my opinion.

Interesting. I had no idea that anyone had a genetic aversion to cilantro. However, I absolutely hate cilantro. To me, it tastes like soap (don't ask me how I know what soap tastes like).

Thanks to Sunset for the free site. Found some interesting stuff already.

 

[jgrdarrash]

Libraries may have a full subscription to Ancestry. Ours does. I love genealogy. It's like being a detective but applied to your own family. Good luck

 

[braumeister]

Yes, I should have mentioned that you can often get into Ancestry through your local library.

Also, regarding familysearch.org, the Mormons are the big guns in genealogy. They have been amassing enormous amounts of information for many years.

I once wanted to find something in church records from a small town in Germany from the 17th century. I was able to identify what I wanted, and found it on a microfilm reel that they had in their vaults in Salt Lake City.
I went to the local LDS genealogy center, which was only about 20 miles from me, and requested it. A few weeks later, they let me know they had it, and I could go over there and review it on their microfilm readers.
Totally free of charge, they're happy to share their information. An incredible resource.

 

[ripper1]

Thanks everybody. Yeah, it takes a bit of getting used to

 

[Route246]

Ancestry is an extremely useful site, but I think the best way to get the most bang for the buck is to subscribe to all the bells and whistles for a limited period ( semiannually or even monthly instead of a whole year). Then do your research assiduously during your membership. When the period is up, don't renew it unless you have a lot more specific investigation to do.
Personally, I keep lists of things I want to research, and every few years I'll rejoin for six months so I can learn what I want.

I like that idea. I've been and expensive member for quite some time but I like the idea of 6 months at a time. It is quite expensive, in fact very expensive but the data has allowed me to assist many friends and family with gaining insight into their family.

 

[Koolau]

Yes, I should have mentioned that you can often get into Ancestry through your local library.

Also, regarding familysearch.org, the Mormons are the big guns in genealogy. They have been amassing enormous amounts of information for many years.

I once wanted to find something in church records from a small town in Germany from the 17th century. I was able to identify what I wanted, and found it on a microfilm reel that they had in their vaults in Salt Lake City.
I went to the local LDS genealogy center, which was only about 20 miles from me, and requested it. A few weeks later, they let me know they had it, and I could go over there and review it on their microfilm readers.
Totally free of charge, they're happy to share their information. An incredible resource.

I took some friends to the local LDS center where they found all kinds of info on their families. My family? Nada. I wonder why there would be such a difference.

 

[Gumby]

I do not question for one minute the dedication and good will of the people who work on the familysearch.com website. But they are not always accurate. Each of us really needs to look at the original documents and come to our own conclusions as to what information we can reasonably draw from them. I use the same professional skepticism I developed as a lawyer to analyze the information that I encounter when doing genealogical research.

 

[ncbill]

All I want to do is track down an estranged relative where I only have a SS number.

They were a life-long alcoholic who disappeared into adult protective services (APS) custody over a decade ago, and given their age I'm sure they've died by now.

But not where or when exactly that would have happened.

Any way to do that for free?

 

[rembrandt]

You probably need a PI. Not free.

 

[Gumby]

All I want to do is track down an estranged relative where I only have a SS number.

They were a life-long alcoholic who disappeared into adult protective services (APS) custody over a decade ago, and given their age I'm sure they've died by now.

But not where or when exactly that would have happened.

Any way to do that for free?

This might help: Can you provide a copy of a deceased person's Social Security number application for genealogical research?.

 

[Chris7]

We have used ancestry.com. My wife also has 123&Me. So far my family has turned out as expected. My wife ended up with a big surprise, so I paid the extra on Ancestry as they seemed to have better additional records.

cd : O)