Ancestry.com...worth it?

[iKiltIt]

Is it worth the money? Also, does it only really trace your ancestry in America unless you pay more to see foreign?

[bdkilted]

I've tried it twice during "free" trials. It never found anything on my family, except the information I put in it. Having said that, my wife signed up for it and found all kinds of links on her mother's family, but not on her father's which was what she was trying to find. The biggest problem I've seen with it, is it lets you create a family tree, and adding pictures, articles, ships manifest (many of which we provided), but if you don't keep paying for it, you lose your tree. Apparently it is on a proprietary format that can't be saved on your computer. So... even though she does very little with Ancestry anymore, we are still paying for it every year so she won't lose her tree.

[iKiltIt]

I've tried it twice during "free" trials. It never found anything on my family, except the information I put in it. Having said that, my wife signed up for it and found all kinds of links on her mother's family, but not on her father's which was what she was trying to find. The biggest problem I've seen with it, is it lets you create a family tree, and adding pictures, articles, ships manifest (many of which we provided), but if you don't keep paying for it, you lose your tree. Apparently it is on a proprietary format that can't be saved on your computer. So... even though she does very little with Ancestry anymore, we are still paying for it every year so she won't lose her tree.

I was kind of thinking the same. I signed up for the trial and it didn't find anything other than what I put there. I'm definitely not paying for it. It doesn't seem much worth it to me at all.

[Steve Ashton]

Ancestry.com is a tool. I gives you access to records and data. You must still do the work.

My wife was able to find records that we didn't even know or dream about. But the records must already exist and be uploaded. It is only as good as who has uploaded the records.
And of course not everything is on a computer or accessible.

The linking that the Ancestry.com does is your data to another member's data. If you both link to the same person or record it will tell you. We are still getting messages that someone else has linked to some of our data two years after we stopped the subscription.

[iKiltIt]

Ancestry.com is a tool. I gives you access to records and data. You must still do the work.

My wife was able to find records that we didn't even know or dream about. But the records must already exist and be uploaded. It is only as good as who has uploaded the records.
And of course not everything is on a computer or accessible.

The linking that the Ancestry.com does is your data to another member's data. If you both link to the same person or record it will tell you. We are still getting messages that someone else has linked to some of our data two years after we stopped the subscription.

Its so weird how they advertise that they can find your relatives but cant if someone hasn't already linked to it...My Grandmother has ours dated back to mid to late 1700's, I think. I remember seeing that book that she had made and my mother still has it and is sending it to me. I am so interested in exactly where I came from, but I'm afraid ill never really know. I do know that my fathers side came from the Angus area of Scotland and my Mothers side (the one with my grandmothers genealogy that Im getting) came from some parts of Scotland and Wales but again, I'm not sure exactly where with her side.

[slothead]

Is it worth the money? Also, does it only really trace your ancestry in America unless you pay more to see foreign?

It is my opinion that the cost is worth it, at least initially (and you can usually find a cheap starting price), and it is true that you won't get international searches without paying the extra price for that extra service.

If you hit the searches hard up front, it is likely you can find answers and contacts within your first 6 months and then you may be able to work outside Ancestry to get more data. I think the secret is to message folks a lot and watch for their responses. Only one in a dozen will be of help (if that), so it pays to do it a lot. There are a lot of false alarms in the searches, so you have to watch the details carefully.

My biggest disappointment is that the early US census records (1790, 1800, 1810, 1820) only included the householder's name and only listed the ages of others in the household.

[Liam]

Although I have not used our Calgary Public Library has a subscription and Library members can use it on the Library computers for free.

[Richrail]

I purchased a subscription for 3 months during the winter and researched like crazy. I found a bunch of information and even some pictures. But unless you are going to use it all the time I believe it is pricey. I then took all the information and in put it in to a family tree I created on www.myheritage.com for free.

[cessna152towser]

if you don't keep paying for it, you lose your tree. Apparently it is on a proprietary format that can't be saved on your computer. So... even though she does very little with Ancestry anymore, we are still paying for it every year so she won't lose her tree.

I paid for several years then when I decided not to renew they said they would keep my tree and I would still have access to it.
That was two or three years ago now and I can still access it.
Ancestry continue to send me lots of "hints" but of course when I click on them I am taken to a link inviting me to rejoin as a paid member. I think their attitude has changed. Maybe at the beginning you would have lost your tree but nowadays you don't seem to lose it as they need the bait to hopefully sign you up again as a paying member.

[Mike S]

Be careful relying on the information posted there. Privately submitted family histories are often ripe with errors and inaccuracies. Several such submissions managed to absolutely butcher branches of my family tree with their incompetence, and now it has sadly been disseminated by dozens of unsuspecting and less than diligent researches within their collateral family trees.