topic Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com? in Community Chat

Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

qualitygal — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 08:50:11 GMT

I think it could be such fun. I like that show that the celebrities are on that has them going to different areas of any country sometimes, and looking through all those old papers. I love the old books these records are kept on, and really the whole thing!!!

Have you used this company or done your own ancestry search?

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

Nuttmeg — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 10:27:59 GMT

My sister has an account with this company. She has looked at our family tree. I would do some research before I joined. This company has a free 14 day trial. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancestry.com

I would not use my primary email address, because Ancestry has many "heirs".

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

songbird — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 10:40:26 GMT

Nope. Refuse to put money in the Mormon coffers.

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

CelticCrafter — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 11:01:35 GMT

If you're doing research, you pretty much have no choice but to use them.

Most all tips and hints lead you right back to them and if you want to see the documents it's going to cost you.

I get so frustrated.

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

Mustang Shar — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 11:23:30 GMT

I like using Ancestry, including their DNA tests. This has been my hobby for 35 years and now it's so much easier doing on line instead of the old snail mail. I recommend it

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

cosmic1 — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 11:51:28 GMT

I use it and love it. Compared to some of the other sites, family tree dna for example, it is much easier to use. I am also meeting cousins I never knew before and enjoying the exchange of pictures, stories and information. I also did the dna testing.

It has been a lot of fun and the rest of my family is benefitting from my research too. I wish my grandparents were still around because they would love this (plus fill in some of the blanks).

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

qualitygal — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 11:57:09 GMT

Good to know, thanks!!

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

Stray — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 13:36:33 GMT

It's great fun! I had the DNA done and got a great surprise and a friend of mine found a sister she didn't know existed....it opened a can of worms but she was happy to learn of her, meet her and keep in touch. Worth it

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

Moonchilde — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 14:27:43 GMT

I was glad I had my first DNA test done at Ancestry as it's the least expensive and the most "friendly" to helping you find relatives. I had already done my family research there, and found cousins and second cousins on both sides I didn't know I had.

It's true that it's "the" site to use for investigation and research if you're starting from scratch. You can go pretty far starting with not much information.

The downside is that it's expensive, and I don't like their billing practices - and once you stop paying them you lose access to your information. But while you are paying them, you can download the info to your computer through software (that you have to buy of course), or upload your DNA info to other sites, like GEDmatch (which I'm just finding out about), so you do have some options.

I stopped paying and am now "locked out" of the research area, though I still have access to my DNA info. I'm in the middle of DNA testing with both Family Tree and 23andme. When I get those results back (several more weeks) I might start paying again for a few months if I want to do any more digging.

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

deeva — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 15:14:44 GMT

My niece used Ancestry, the research turned up so much inaccurate information she cancelled her membership.

Plus Ancestry really pushes up selling.

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

depglass — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 16:59:59 GMT

My family came to a complete dead end when I did some research during a free trial period. I did do the DNA test for the heck of it and it pretty much confirmed what countries I am from.

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

LIndaMJ — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 17:08:06 GMT

I have had a subscription to Ancestry for the better part of 15 years. Because of this, I have found several cousins and we have shared information and pictures. And most important, because of the records on Ancestry, I found the document from the Navy required for my maternal grandfather to have a flag placed at his grave.

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

151949 — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 17:40:52 GMT

I love ancestry. In the summer when we are home in Pitts. my DH volunterrs for Find a grave.com to take pictures and add information to their site. Since find a grave and ancestry are connected we use both extensively. We have found the Mormon records to be the best, most accurate there are. I also spend a lot of time going through the Catholic diocese of Pittsburgh's site - they have extensive and very accurate records. Sadly, the church my Mom and her family - including me - grew up in had a terrible fire in 1969 that destroyed many generations of records there. Since the church had existed since before the revolutionary war. I wasn't able to find much info that was still available.

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

Moonchilde — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 19:03:06 GMT

While Ancestry gives you access to a very wide variety of sources, which is great, I want to add that I got all of my information, back to the 1500s on both sides, by using only the US Census and "hints" from other people's trees - you can add their information to your tree. IMO everyone should make their trees Public on the site - it's the best way to connect and share. I also posted in two surname forums and that's how I found unknown cousins. In both instances it too *years* for people to see & respond to my posts, so never give up hope. Of course, if you don't pay, you don't get all the site features.

I never minded paying when I was actively searching and accumulating data, but I think they should create a "maintenance" charge that is less $ than full site access - maybe only X searches per month or something. Now that my income is limited and I have most of the info I'm interested in, it isn't worth the monthly fee for me, month after month, when I might use it very sporadically.

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

151949 — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 19:36:42 GMT

My subscription to ancestry is almost up but I am going to keep it going through the summer. We usually do the genelogy stuff in the summer when we are in Pitts. so I will use it then and cancel in Oct or Nov.

We spend a tremendous amount of time trudging around cemetaries in the summers as people will write to my husband and ask him to go to cemetaries to look for someones grave and post it to find a grave for them. We don't mind as long as it is fairly local. It's great exercise because in Pitts. most of the cemetaries are on huge hillsides and we really get our exercise looking for these graves. I think back in the old days they put cemetaries in places it was too steep to build houses, and if you have ever been to Pitts. you would know they build houses on some pretty steep mountainsides there. My DH & I tease that in actual fact if they dug up the hillside to find the graves they would probably find all the bodies had slid to the bottom of the hill and are all stacked there, gravity being what it is. Seriously, we do find many markers have slid off their foundations so we will go to the office and tell them it needs reset in place.

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

Say Nay — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 20:00:23 GMT

DNA ancestry tracing through some of the websites is not very accurate. Google for more info.

I've used Ancestry but only the trial. It was useful.

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

Moonchilde — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 20:14:03 GMT

I think a lot of people have unrealistic expectations of what DNA testing will reveal about them - what can be determined and what can only be guessed at and estimated based on the database.

People often feel their results are inaccurate because they don't know the history of the region and that the definition of countries and their borders has changed over the years. Also, if one is going by family stories to "verify" the accuracy, those stories are very often flat out wrong. And certain ethnicities, like Native American, cannot be tested for specifically.

There is a lot to genetic testing, and IMO one should read the fine print and the website's explanations of what one can and shouldn't realistically expect, before paying for testing.

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

Mustang Shar — Fri, 29 Apr 2016 20:51:49 GMT

@deeva wrote:
My niece used Ancestry, the research turned up so much inaccurate information she cancelled her membership.
Plus Ancestry really pushes up selling.

@deeva

How did that happen? The only inaccuracies I have come across are other people's Public Trees with no documented sources. They all use World Tree, they killed off my G.Grandfather 17 years early. All used the same source, not one documentation but MINE, death cert and census proving he was alive.

Example, a cousin posted up wrong person as our G. Grandfather. No way was this man, ours. You can't document a marriage when it's clearly not him. Common sense and supporting documentation are all learning tools.

Cruise the Member Trees, but get the supporting documentation so you have proper evidence.

Ancestry has great documents and accurate

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

Irshgrl31201 — Sat, 30 Apr 2016 00:26:24 GMT

@songbird wrote:
Nope. Refuse to put money in the Mormon coffers.

Do you do any type of genealogy at all? If so who do you use because as far as I know the Mormons kind of corner the market in the genealogy world so it makes it difficult to do it without their help since they were so good at documentation. They have the single largest database of the human race.

Re: Has anyone used Ancestry dot com?

JustJazzmom — Sat, 30 Apr 2016 00:00:59 GMT

Yes we use it. A cousin of DH posted a tin type photo of our great grandparents and I have to say we all saw the family resemblance in living members today.