topic Re: Ancestry.com in Community Chat

Ancestry.com

gidgetgh — Sat, 31 May 2014 20:22:43 GMT

I'm looking for a project this summer. I thought I might join ancestry.com and see what info I can find about my family. Has anyone done this? I know some basic information, but not tons and tons. Is it pretty easy?

Re: Ancestry.com

Snowpuppy — Sat, 31 May 2014 20:27:29 GMT

You can do a lot on your own without joining Ancestry.

Also try Family Search dot org. It's owned by LDS and I found the info far more accurate than Ancestry.

I have a friend who has a computer program that she uses to keep history. She is that involved and that detailed!

Re: Ancestry.com

gidgetgh — Sat, 31 May 2014 20:34:39 GMT

Snowpuppy- thanks for the info on family search. I hadn't heard of that site before.

Re: Ancestry.com

this is my nic — Sat, 31 May 2014 21:15:27 GMT

Fortunately, for our family a cousin did our genealogy. He used Ancestry.com as well as searching census records and visiting various courthouses. I was surprised at how much he discovered.

However, do not try their DNA analysis! My husband who is of Slovak descent and I who am both Irish and Italian descent sent in our specimens. The results showed my husband's ethnicity as every single country in eastern Europe. Mine was 89% British Isles and the remainder - elsewhere. Somehow my Italian genes didn't show up. BTW, my Dad was 100% Irish American and my Mom was 100% Italian American.

Save your money!

Re: Ancestry.com

Linders Back — Sat, 31 May 2014 21:22:09 GMT

ancestry is a wonderful source of information as you can connect with others who may be researching the same people you are which keeps you from reinventing the wheel.

Just realize that all that you see there may not be thoroughly documented and may be incorrect (same with family search.org). People can post just about anything. always go to original sources to verify what you see on either site: US Census Records, state death and marriage records, etc. Although they might also not be 100% correct (spelling errors abound), by combining what you find you in more than one place may get you to the right answers the right answers.

Start with asking relatives for everything they know as 1st hand info is always the best place to start and public records may not be available for privacy reasons (EX: 1940 US Census is the last one that is in the public domain so you won't find info on recent generations online). Get them to id people in family photos with their whole name not just "Oh, that's cousin Joe".

It is a wonderful hobby and can be very rewarding.

Re: Ancestry.com

Photo Donna — Sat, 31 May 2014 21:33:17 GMT

family search dot org is not reliable. I saw my father's line there -- put onto the site by a woman dying to connect up in any way she could -- a lot of inaccuracies.

Re: Ancestry.com

CelticCrafter — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 12:14:31 GMT

Snowpuppy, thanks for sharing the family search site.

I was able to find marriage information for my grandparents.

Other than finding my grandfather on census reports, it's the first bit of additional information I have been able to find for him.

Re: Ancestry.com

Free2be — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 17:51:34 GMT

Some Ancestry family trees on my family are rife with errors. Also someone borrowed my ancestors as theirs and I could see why she confused the identical names. I contacted her through Ancestry's email and gave her the correct data from the death certificate that I have. Years later, she hasn't changed anything on her tree. I guess I'll have to post a photo of the death certificate but it was clear she didn't care.

I think people get in a hurry and don't really care about details which messes up lots of other trees. One tree had my sisters death date and place of death wrong. I had to post a corrective comment and add that I was present when she passed. I still get irked about the sloppiness shown toward someone I love even though I know it isn't personal.

Re: Ancestry.com

Q_spirit — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 17:53:43 GMT

which web site is the one built from the Mormon church records? and too from ellis island? are those felt to be accurate family records?

Re: Ancestry.com

gazelle77 — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 17:56:34 GMT

Just be careful... all this information may NOT be confidential and into the wrong hands could be easy for identity theft. Just giving out your Mother's maiden name, and being that that is often asked by banks etc for security... might be giving out information to the wrong people. I choose not to use these sights as they just ask too many questions and I do not feel confident that they are REALLY SECURE SITES.

Re: Ancestry.com

judgejudith — Sun, 01 Jun 2014 19:24:30 GMT

I have bee doing genealogy since 1974 when I went to visit my great Aunt Clara in a small town in Kansas. I have belonged to Ancestry on and off throughout the years. You can stop and then renew your membership and go on. But, one very important thing to remember is you need to accept the info you get as "hints" not "absolute fact". You need to prove out each generation as you go. By that I mean...birth, death, marriage records. The further back you go, you will not be able to find all these records, you will need to compile evidence of census, land records, cemetery records, etc.

Genealogy is a great hobby and Ancestry does make it easier.

Edited for security info: You can make your trees private. Also, NO information on living people is displayed to the public. But like everything on the internet once it is on-line, it is always on-line.

Re: Ancestry.com

Linders Back — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 22:00:56 GMT

On 5/31/2014 di-mc said:
Fortunately, for our family a cousin did our genealogy. He used Ancestry.com as well as searching census records and visiting various courthouses. I was surprised at how much he discovered.

However, do not try their DNA analysis! My husband who is of Slovak descent and I who am both Irish and Italian descent sent in our specimens. The results showed my husband's ethnicity as every single country in eastern Europe. Mine was 89% British Isles and the remainder - elsewhere. Somehow my Italian genes didn't show up. BTW, my Dad was 100% Irish American and my Mom was 100% Italian American.

Save your money!

Before anyone can understand DNA evidence, they need to understand history and the fluidity of country borders and nomadic people. The ethnicity that shows up in one's DNA goes back way farther than most of our families recorded information and will show traces of ethnicity that might only be tiny bits, but my guess is someone of Slovak descent (In your husband's case) could have DNA from many Eastern European backgrounds.

I also am not sure what "100% Irish-American" means. How can someone be 100% Irish and American? And what would 100% American be anyway? I would venture to guess NO ONE is 100% any Ethnicity which is what makes this DNA testing so interesting.

I was always told I was Scotch/English but Scots were also Celts and Norse people (15th C Scotland is often referred to as Scandinavian Scotland) and even Basque. Same for Ireland. My English ancestry can be traced to Normandy and Flanders from the days of William the Conqueror so what exactly is English? We are all a mixed bag.

This is another tool to help people understand themselves. The data base they have is constantly expanding as more people do the test in additional to the original Beta-testers, so new information will be updating your results. Possibly not enough people of southern European/Italian background took the test originally.

I'm waiting for them to get more Native American information as all my Mother's ancestors were either here from the early 1600's or came from England and Wales in the late 1800's. Her results came back 96% British Isles and 4% unknown. As rumors of Native American ancestry have been floating around since the middle 1800's in the branch that lived in the Indian territory of Maine we were hoping for something definitive. It may still emerge.

I would not do the DNA test as the first step into a genealogy search but some may find it interesting.

Re: Ancestry.com

Love my grandkids — Mon, 02 Jun 2014 22:03:29 GMT

I don't trust the Mormon Church which owns and runs this site. Too many foul ups and I loathe how they tried baptizing dead Jews and got flack for that. No thanks.

Re: Ancestry.com

Snowpuppy — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 00:41:38 GMT

I'm not a fan of DNA testing for family history.

What safeguards do you have as to the disposal of your DNA once they have it? After all......it's YOU!

You can also use Find A Grave's website.

Re: Ancestry.com

Linders Back — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 01:12:47 GMT

On 6/2/2014 Love my grandkids said:
I don't trust the Mormon Church which owns and runs this site. Too many foul ups and I loathe how they tried baptizing dead Jews and got flack for that. No thanks.

ancestry.com is not the Mormon Church website, familysearch.org is. But the Mormons do have the largest genealogical database and can be very useful.

As for the baptisms, that is a problem. Once anyone joins the Mormon Church, they can have all their ancestors "baptized" and hence, they "become Mormons", too. I am not particularly happy about many of my ancestors being listed as Mormons when they were Puritans and Pilgrims and Atheists, but it isn't something I would lose sleep over. If there is an afterlife, they know they weren't Mormons and that's what counts.

Re: Ancestry.com

Linders Back — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 01:17:29 GMT

On 6/2/2014 Snowpuppy said:
I'm not a fan of DNA testing for family history.

What safeguards do you have as to the disposal of your DNA once they have it? After all......it's YOU!

You can also use Find A Grave's website.

LOVE Find-a-grave. It is a great resource and I have found ancestors there and have posted there.

So much info can be gleaned from cemetery records and it is a wonderful way to share info with people who can't get to the grave sites of their relatives.

I love the help feature where you can go and photograph graves or just gather information for people who can't physically visit the site of their ancestors graves.

Another wonderful interactive source. Connecting and sharing is such a rewarding part of this hobby.

Re: Ancestry.com

RubyinNE — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 01:18:28 GMT

Gidget, It sounds like a fun project. I'm off work for the summer, and am also looking for something, too. I think you can join for just one month at a time. I wouldn't take it too seriously, but who knows, you might find something interesting.

Re: Ancestry.com

colliemom4 — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 02:14:44 GMT

I didn't know the Mormons owned that site. Interesting.

Re: Ancestry.com

sylviahomeatlast — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 02:55:10 GMT

one of my sisters does family research--on her own not on a website

Re: Ancestry.com

hyacinth bucket1 — Tue, 03 Jun 2014 10:25:25 GMT

I use Ancestry.com on and off. It can be useful, but I have found that there is a lot of incorrect information posted. There are 5 family trees for my paternal family and the only accurate one is mine.

There are random person's there that believe themselves to be expert genealogists that post inaccurate rubbish. Many of the so called experts simply copy inaccurate information.

As for this comment:

I have to disagree. There is nothing wrong with the results. Just because a person is born in a country does not make them that nationality. I tested both on Ancestry and 23andme and the results are nearly identical. Just because your parents are "100%" something doesn't mean squat, DNA is science, anything else is BS.