I have dipped my toes into Ancestry.com! Woooo..........let me tell you, it's quickly addicting! I am a total NEWB, just started earlier today. I signed up for the 2 week free trial. For some reason I thought the free trial included international records, but no, just the U.S. My initial "interest" is in my biological father's side of the family, specifically that of his father and mother, who immigrated from Scotland when they were wee bairns.
Well, of course I didn't get too far, since I couldn't access any records from Scotland (yet.......Ha!). I was too impatient to try and read all the tutorials on learning to search and navigate and just decided to start entering info and see how far I got with them. I don't know too much info, because my parents divorced when I was 1 year old. I knew my grandparents names, my grandmas year of death and what was probably a derivative of my great-grandma's first name. I didn't find out a whole lot more. I did get my grandparents birth and death dates, but can't find anything on their marriage date, which I had hoped would lead me to my grandmother's maiden name and more family info. I did also find out my great-grandmother's "actual" first name. My mom had known it as "Anna" but the first record I found showed it as "Anniebelle", another as "Annie B." and yet another as "Annabelle". Hmmm. Dead end on getting to Scotland at that point!
So, I put in my mom's parents names, birth dates and death dates. Found all that, but again, no marriage records. I did know my grandma's parents names and WOW! It has taken off from there!! I am currently up to my 10x great grandparents - all the way back to born in 1577 Comptom, Devon, England. All this thanks to other people who have already created family trees with these relatives! So cool!.
I still have so much to learn. Like I just got more info on the 10x great grandfather - the other person's tree even had a picture of him! But, even though I linked the info the person had the picture did not transfer to my tree and now I don't know how to get back to that person's info that came in the "hint" leaf :(. Just before that all the ancestors were all in Ipswich, Massachusetts from the 1600's on. I just clicked on my 11x great grandfather info and other member trees have info and pics. I have to figure out how to save those pictures, that's for sure.
I guess the next thing will be to pay so I can try and get the Scotland side of my family info. I'll probably just pay for one month, if possible, instead of a year so I can first see how far I can get. Then I'll probably end up picking out some interesting ancestors and see what more I can find out about them.
Just found out my 11x great grandfather was named "Sir" Humphrey Gilbert. I googled him just for kicks. (I was trying to find out what the "Sir" title means) and found out he was pretty famous himself and half brother to Sir Walter Raleigh, known for popularizing tobacco in England in the 1500's.
ReplyDeleteI know you are still in the thrill of the easy hunt phase but be a bit wary of just using other people's trees to build yours. There is MUCH wrong information on public trees on Ancestry so take anything you lift off a tree with a grain of salt. I just encountered some myself today researching for my sister in-law's paternal family.
ReplyDeleteThe best one was an ancestor of mine who someone had being born 20 years AFTER her child....yep, let that one sink in. lolz
After you get some built, go back and double check all the information you can and it might be worth it to email the folks you have trees you use info. off of to get a sense if they are interested in accuracy or just wanting to show off that they are related to someone important.
Also names are tricky sometimes and they are only as accurate as the census taker who wrote it. And make sure to view the original documents if available since mistakes are also made by the transcriptionists who copy the records.
Remember that once you hit the 1700's spelling was NOT standardized either and sometimes the record makers couldn't spell some words too because literacy back then was not widespread.
And on death certificates the information reported second hand is only as good/accurate as the person who gave it and sometimes they didn't know something and just guessed.
And check out Find A Grave too for confirmation of information found or additional info not on Ancestry. I found 2 siblings of my sister in-law's great grandfather today who probably died in infancy on F.A.G. Not listed anywhere in records on Ancestry but buried with headstones with their parents.
LMK if I can help with anything. I'm always up for a challenge. ;-)
And have FUN!
Welcome to my world! 8-)
that's pretty much what I'm doing. Linking what I can find and then I'll go back over it more thoroughly
DeleteFound my first snag going back through some Chapernon's from the 11th and 12 century. Thomas Chapernon (my 19th great grandfather) had a father named Richard Chapernon.(1284-1316). The cute little green leaf, which is linked to several other's family trees, all shows Richard's father as another Richard Chapernon....but his timeline is 1260-1272. LIved only 12 years and all show he married in 1283 - 11 years after his death! and having his son Richard in 1284. Somethings not adding up so I feel like I'm at a stand still on that line.
DeleteThat is so cool! One of my kids is into genealogy and traced the spouse's family tree ...... turns out his family has a town and a university named after one particular ancestor in Texas, who was a prolific creator and inventor too. They also have a statue dedicated to another ancestor in France. Amazing what you can find out ..... good luck and keep us all posted :)
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely addicting! I wish I had more time (and more resources for my side) to do it. One of my husband's uncles did one of his lines until the 15th century. It's so cool!!
ReplyDeleteBeing a good Mormon I am supposed to want to do this and I don't. Shame on me!
ReplyDelete