Has anyone else used ancestry.com to track their lineage? I find that it is absolutely amazing...?

Question

I recently started talking to my mom's side of the family again. (We have only spoken a few times in the last 20 years, since my mom's funeral actually). So, I saw an advert for this site and I starting putting in all the info, then I asked my Gram and she has a chart with 12 generations already mapped out that she is going to mail me. How do you chart your family tree? Do you use a book to record everything? I am really excited!

Answer 1

Yes, ancestry is absolutely brilliant. I have found all the censuses and been able to track down elusive ancestors on this site. You do have to pay a fee to use it properly, but it's worth every penny.
I do highly recommend it to anyone interested in genealogy.

Answer 2

Okay, let me warn you. Don't take as absolute fact everything you see in family trees on any website, free or paid. That includes Ancestry.Com. The information is user submitted and documentation is not required. Most of the info is not documented or if so, poorly documented.
Use the information as CLUES as to where to get the documentation. Even when you see the same information repeatedLY on the same people by many different submitters, a lot of people copy without verifying. Also if they have Family Tree Maker and a subscription to Genealogy.Com, they can merge other peoples' files into their file on Family Tree Maker. Then they upload the merged file into Ancestry.Com, Rootsweb, FamilySearch.org, Genealogy.Com. Too many people are too anxious in getting as many names as possible in their database There are errors in family trees on the internet. You usually can email the submitter and ask them for the documentation, if they have it.

Also their One World Tree should have been trashed a long time ago. What Ancestry.Com has done is they have taken liberties with the information people have submitted to Ancestry World Tree and brought it forward. Often times there are different info on many people and they will show it with all the differences. However, I have seen twice where they have actually combined 2 people into 1.

Even if you have a published book on a family history, always look for the documentation to back up what the author has. If a person doesn't have documentation, then what they have is questionable.

You need records to back up everything, birth, marriage and death certificates, wills, deeds, copy of cemetery iniscriptions. Information from old family bibles.

What I like about Ancestry.Com are the records. They seem to be getting more all the time. Still once you see the record there, you should order them from the source.

Answer 3

Yes, I have used www.ancestry.com. Of course, it is user-submitted, so not verified. There are so many errors; some of the records claim the child was born before the parents (?) and several of them claim an ancestor was born in New York back about 1580 or so!
So, no matter what the source, consider it with a grain of salt. The most important part of any of those records is the source. For you, that will be whatever files you find. Check to see what their sources are. Many quote famous genealogists or books, such as "Martin's Genealogy" (well-researched), Mayflower Descendant (books as well as periodicals), Burke's Genealogy (Father and Son; each wrote several books); Ancestry of Richard Plantagenet and Cecily deNeville by Ernst Friedrich Kraentzler, 1978.
Find some reference books in genealogy such as "Genealogy 101" and look for recommended books/websites.
Charts are only useful if you can go back only a few generations; if you can go back 30 - 40 generations (or more) charts are NOT feasible.
What I did is to type everything (still working on it!) into a word document; I use #1 for my Dad, #2 for his Dad, #3 for his Mom, and so one. In another file, I do the same for my Mom.
For each ancestor, I list as much info as I can get; names, dates/places of birth/baptism/wedding/death...Including any and all notes, references, etc., occupations, and so on.
By doing this, I can find any name by using the CTRL F.
None of the available commercial genealogy programs work well for more than a dozen or so generations; none of them like "doubles" (as when a woman marries more than once, having children who become ancestors by each husband; by an ancestor having more than one child who in turn became an ancestor; etc., etc.)
Give it a try.

Answer 4

just to give some alternative thoughts... I have over 25 yrs experience and am NOT subbed to ancestry. I think that it helps to know that it is an option, and they do NOT HAVE many sources. At the same time, they have some EXCELLENT things, that I admittedly have (on very limited occasions) asked here for a courtesy lookup. Particularly for census records.. I got all the primary ones for my research, before there was any online service.
I have sat here in the last month, thinking it might be worth while. and find that I can use Heritage quest from home now, via gateway from my local library.
I am an absolute believer in pros/cons. Some of the best researchers I have ever known, did not even use a computer for years.

Answer 5

I don't use a book. I use a free web site http://tribalpages.com/ but if you are already paying Ancestry you should use their family tree software to put a tree up on the site. you can hide it from the general public. Then give direct links to your ppl. I send the link then people send me info to add to the site. with 12 generations I'm sure many of your family members would enjoy the work that your grandmother and you have done. Start looking up everyone with ancestry's search tools they have up to the 1930 census. The 1940 census doesn't come out till April 2012. with 12 generations of census, birth, death, marriage and war records it looks like you have your work cut out for you. I wish I had the head start of someone keeping so much info as you do. Good Luck with your new Hobie.

Answer 6

I have used it and five or six hundred other sites to trace my family tree. Ancestry is the only one I subscribe to; the census images alone are worth it, for me. There are 400,000 free genealogy sites. I use a dozen of them every day.

I don't chart my tree per se. I use a genealogy program named Roots Magic. There are a dozen genealogy programs on the market in the USA. Family Tree Maker is the market leader. The Mormons have one they let people download for free, Personal Ancestor File (PAF). I think you can buy any of them in the UK or Canada as well.

RM and FTM are the Ford and Chevrolet of genealogy programs. They have about the same features. In RM you collect data, check data, then, once it is entered, print
1) Pedigree Charts
2) Descendants of {person} reports
3) Ancestors of {person} reports.

You can export everything you have onto a read-only CD. Then your cousins can see everything you have found. They can't add to it, but all they need is a computer to see their tree. FTM will allow you to do the same things, or most of them.

RM has custom reports; so, for instance, I can list all of my nephew's ancestors who fought for the South in the Civil War. If anyone ever asks him if he or anyone in his family ever advocated the overthrow of the US Government by force, he can give names and regiments. I can list all of my niece Elizabeth's ancestors who were also named Elizabeth, just for fun.

At least 80% of the genealogical data on the Internet is true. Finding out which parts is half the fun of genealogy.

Answer 7

I use the site all the time and I love it. I also found my distant relatives from the site. It will take you through the process of making your family tree by following the directions on the site. I just print everything I want to keep to have it on paper.

Answer 8

It is an exciting thing t do. I have a number of relatives who have travelled to Ireland to do research on our family. I can trace our family on my father's side back to the 1860's. My mother's side is even better. We can trace our lineage to the French Revolution. I have gone to Ancestry.com-but it was too expensive for me. I depend on family members who have enough money to travel to actual birth places. Good luck with this.

Answer 9

Ancestry.com is amazing. I found out too, that census takers in years past did not have good handwriting, and those interpreting made mistakes, too. I found many ancestors whose Danish names had been misspelled badly. They will accept your corrections and add them to alternative spellings.

It is exciting, and I get goosebumps every time I discover someone in the family that is new to me.

Answer 10

cool iam gonna go 2 that web right now