Ancestry.com membership worth the money?

Question

We are considering a paid membership to ancestry.com (the worldwide membership, not the USA only version). We would be researching family in Hungary, Greece and Italy. Would also use it to try to find information about our family after they arrived in the USA.

We are wondering if it is really worth the money. We really would like to see actual documents and link things to our family tree, which is already on ancestry.com (as a free user).

I'd like to know if you think it is really worth the money, as it isn't cheap... Also, if we get the membership, can we cancel it after a month or so? If we do cancel it, will it delete the family tree we've been working so hard on???

Membership Costs
Monthly $29.95

Answer 1

If you get the annual subscription it will charge you for the whole year after your 14 day free trial is up, but if you go for monthly subscriptions as and when you need them it won't be problem.
Your tree won't be deleted after your subscription runs out, but I'm pretty sure you won't be able to access the records you link to your tree when you're not paid up. The way I'm going to get around this is saving each record as an image for the person, though i know it's going to be time consuming downloading then uploading each image.
Also, if you're worried about losing your tree, go to 'manage my tree' and download the gedcom (family tree file) so you have it backed up on your computer.
For me ancestry's definitely worth it.

Answer 2

Hi. I had a membership with Ancestry.com before they changed the way their membership is structured. Two years ago, I signed up for a one year membership and it cost me about $125. for the year. And yes, that first year was worth the money. I was able to resolved a lot of the questions I had and was able to find census records to support my findings. I even found some unexpected things along the way. I decided to cancel the membership instead of renewing it. But then they reduced the cost over the phone and offered other options at a low cost. So I was pulled into a second year. Before that year was up they let me know that their membership format was going to change. So I did not renew. That's when it went to a month to month basis. I honestly cannot tell you whether it's worth the money or not now. On Rootsweb, their is a mailing list called "Gen-Newbie". There are lots of people who do have memberships and can tell you how they feel about their memberships; they can also assist you in your research, if you like. When I lost my membership, I did lose all of the research I had recorded within the ancestry.com site. However, I also copied the stuff for my own personal records. SO all wasn't lost. Good luck to you and I hope you find what you're looking for.

Answer 3

In general, there isn't much on Ancestry that you can't find for free at a library or archives. BUT, they are kind enough to package it altogether and save you many trips.

There's also a secret to Ancestry.com. Most library systems have a public use subscription to either Ancestry or Heritage Quest. Both can be used for free at your local library and many libraries even allow you to access them from home through a portal on their website using your library card as your user id.

Now comes the tricky part. You're not going to get much use from Ancestry for the three countries you've mentioned. Greek genealogy is very easy just using the Ellis Island website to get the hometown, then writing to the town to get information on the family. It's easier yet if you have a Greek Orthodox priest willing to write to the churches in the area to get sacramental records for you.

Researching in Hungary requires serious patience. What is Hungary today is only a fraction of what Hungary was 100 years ago. I honestly suggest you do that research from the official library in your state (there's one in each state's capital and it's a mini version of the Library of Congress). You need a whole bunch of documents that will never make their way onto the internet. It will also help if you get the Declaration of Intent and the Naturalization Petition for each Hungarian before you go. These you can only get from the National Archives regional center for the state where your ancestors lived when they were naturalized...see http://www.archives.gov

Italy is not a good country to research on the internet in general, nor is Spain. And they're difficult for the same reason...the Catholic Church was charged with maintaining records in those countries pre-WWI. So if you want records, you have to get them from the parishes that hold them. It's not a hard process, but it is tedious. You need the name of the town where the immigrant was born, then you have to work backwards from there. Again, the Ellis Island records will be a great help (and they're free at http://www.ellisisland.org ), as will the Declaration of Intent and Naturalization Petition from the National Archives.

If you only need it for the modern generations, take the free trial and see how much you can find. Then cancel it. You can also keep it for as many months as you need, then cancel it. But if your family has only been in the US since the 1890s or turn of the 20th century (which is does appear from the countries listed), I don't imagine it's going to be a big help for you after the first month.

Answer 4

I have the ancestry.com/.co.uk global collection membership and it's superb, I love it. I pay the monthly subscription like you are planning to, I would say go for it. You have access to every document registered with both sites, and I often do downloads for people on yahoo genealogy, I just love to help,. I get my practice by doing other peoples research for them or at least helping them out, you wont regret it ..honestly.

Answer 5

Many of those who are active and serious researchers here, are very loyal, and consider it worth the money. In ALL honesty, I don't use it, but that's partly my budget. I have (on a few occasions) asked for courtesy lookups, that have been helpful.
My approach is that there are thousands of resources online, and your best results come from using the widest possible number, and not limiting yourself to the "best" site.. or even any online source at all. I think ancestry has very valid selling points, so that can include it, even if fee based.
By the way.. you can download a free genealogy program from the LDS church, called PAF (see www.familysearch.org). I do strongly suggest that your tree belongs to you, and it is to your benefit to store it on your own hard drive. I have never put my files online... that does not prevent me from sharing what I have via other means, such as email. You won't lose anything that way.

Answer 6

I think that all depends on the mebership you have and what infomation you are looking for. i have a standard membership and while i have reccieved some good infomation there is alot i need that i can;t access because i didnt get the ""deluxe"' package.I'm not sure if you cancel the membership if it would delete your tree. I do know you can pay for it in 3 months installments.

Answer 7

Yes. It is amazing... and you can also work on your tree directly and add info as it comes to you. I use my membership to research my own genealogy, and also the families my children married into.
I love it! (

Answer 8

Well, my grandma goes on there and she enjoys it. I haven't actually been on there but I guess its worth it.

Answer 9

yeah, i think its worth it

Answer 10

ive never heard of it im sorry