12 Replies to “7 Sites for Your Genealogy Toolbox”

1. Pingback: 5 Reasons I’m Letting My Ancestry.com Subscription Run Out* | Brandy Heineman

2. Thanks for the links to all of the wonderful PA / NY resources. I’m sure that I’ll stop back regularly to use these resources. And, thank you for the nice mention of A Hundred Years Ago. It’s wonderful to hear that you found the resource on finding weather information for selected locations useful.

   1. Thanks Sheryl! The weather resource is such a great find for filling in the specific little details of special days in the timeline.

3. Ancestry has made it too easy to create a family tree! There are disincentives for analysis, for instance, such as the ease of simply adopting the “hints.” I have found myself giving in to bad habits that I never would allow for myself back in the days of family group sheets and pedigree charts. An example of that is the ease of adopting someone else’s information to one’s own tree because it is easier to look for sources from a tree than directly from the search engine.

   Further, people are learning some unfortunate habits. For instance, when adding census information to one’s family tree, the name of the wife automatically comes up with the husband’s surname. I’ve even found myself falling into that trap. The default should be either no surname or something like “unknown.” If the maiden name is known or found later, it can be added. Using the married name creates all sorts of genealogical problems, especially in this day and age of so many multiple marriages.

   I have a love/hate relationship with Ancestry. My latest peeve is that I have an automatic, annual renewal, and when the bill came due, there was a very large increase in the one year, U.S. only subscription. While I had a warning that my subscription was up for renewal, I don’t remember anything about an increase in the annual fee. When I went into Ancestry to try to find the cost of my annual fee, I couldn’t find it anyplace.

   1. All good points, Virginia. When I use Ancestry, I tend to focus on the record collections more than the social tools (family trees and contacts, etc). Partly I want to have the fun of finding the details myself, and partly I don’t want to bias my expectations of what I will find by too closely examining others’ work.

      1. About 15 years ago, I managed to do all my dad’s family on Roots Web, with a bit of help from the nice
         folks at the LDS. A cousin of my dad’s went to Tennessee and did the legwork, which I then verified on the sources mentioned. I was on a high when I figured out how it all jelled, and I couldn’t begin to tell you about the joyous hours wondering what my 5 times grandfather was thinking when he stepped on our foreign soil Anyway, happy hunting, and you have a great site

4. I have been a member of Ancestry.com for 25 years. That was even before the annual fee started. They were nothing more than message boards and some vital records sources. The first subscription was $19.99 annual. Yes that’s right! The trees are no longer credible. Every time I see something like; someone’s father was 10 years old and his mother was 8 years old at the time of the birth – I just about “loose it”. And it gets even worse than that. Do anyone do any research anymore? I am so done with Ancestry.com and their fees. I am going back to letter writing and phone calls.
   Happy Hunting everyone.

   1. Hi Cathy. I got in to Genealogy about the same time as you, 25 years ago. I used Roots Web most often, and some very nice cousins I had in the area of my interest, and occasional visits to one of the online Mormon research centers. I remember getting one of Ancestry.com free few days deals to introduce this new resource. I was poor at the time, and that was the only reason I did my research on the free sites.
      No matter which way someone decides to utilize their research efforts, it really takes time and dedication, and more time and then even more time. The payoff is tremendous, the closeness I felt to my family, now I understand why they made some of the decisions they did. And in my case, I figured out why my (5*) Grandfather fought as a Tennessee Bridge Burners, though everyone who lived in the part of Tennessee fought for the south. Now I understand why I have always felt so strongly about that issue in particular as did my Father and Grandfather and so on.
      Good luck Cathy.

5. Doug,
   You are so right about the payoff. I remember the first positive reply I received from those many letters I wrote. So many came back as unknown person, place, date, etc and then that payoff came. It was an obit for my maternal grandmother. The people listed in it tied the whole family together for me. I felt like I struck gold. Yes, the research time is well worth it. One my father’s side, I found so many ministers, I now understand why my paternal grandfather wanted to preach so bad. He was a Salvation Army preacher, a traveling minister through out Missouri (in those days preachers went where they were needed)and he finally went to the Southern Illinois Methodist Conference to become ordained. He preached until he died- a very happy man, indeed.
   Best of luck to you and all responders here.
   Cathy

6. I am a member of Ancestry for many years now, even doing their DNA test. While I am mostly satisfied with their service, I do understand the frustration of some. I ALWAYS verify a fact by more than one source. I never just copy another tree, although I may use some of their info as a starting point. Also by taking the DNA test, I was able to unravel the mystery of my grandmothers birth father. I do agree with Doug and Cindy, people have gotten lazy with their research. So many hints on Ancestry are just that, hints or clues if you prefer, NOT set in stone facts. Knew about FamilySearch and GenWeb, but thanks to Brandy for turning me on to the other websites to try. Gonna keep looking til I find what happened to my maternal great-grandfather, which started me on this journey to begin with.

   1. I hope you find him, Janet, and I’m glad if some of these help you!

7. I remember with Ancestry when I could go to Ellis Island site for nothing. My grandparents all came from Europe. I knew all of them and 1 set of great grandparents who lived with one set of grandparents. They spoke 3 languages at their home, and we understood and spoke them. When I grew up and realized no one else really had grandparents who spoke French and Serbian,I was so surprised. Now Ancestry cost a fortune. As a gift my children got me the DNA test, and I must say, it was expensive, but right on. I appreciate the free things I come across and amazing writings here. I use to say, why is OUR information not free. But people have to make money,so I guess nothing really is free anymore. Great that I found this though it was 5 years ago,it was written when I clicked on this tonight. Thank You.

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