Ancestry.com...worth it?

[O'Callaghan]

Don't know much about ancestry.com, but I have used familysearch.org, which is the well-known Mormon site.

Even using free resources, the problem with using data that others have researched is knowing how accurate it is, or isn't. My mother has done a lot of genealogical research on her side of the family, and the Irish clan name comes from her father. She has traced it back definitely to at least the same Irish county (Cork) that the O'Callaghan clan came from, although not quite back to the clanlands around the River Blackwater, and even found where to place blame for a change to a variant of the name (the Royal Navy were responsible for that). I found a possible branch of the same family in the Mormon database, and have corresponded with one of them, but whether we are truly kin is hard to say, although the info they posted would extend my mother's work back further, to the 18th rather than 19th century.

Most genealogy that goes back very far depends on family trees compiled by others, however obtained, and in the case of famous people it may be even harder to believe than for us ordinary folks, as they tend to have a priori ideas about who they want to be in their family tree! For example, there is a branch of Callahans in County Waterford (to the immediate East of County Cork) who have British titles of nobility and are intermarried with the British royal family, who claim their family tree goes back to the progenitor of the clan, and it may do, as perhaps even ours does (despite ours mostly being common sailors), but much of their family tree has nothing to back it up, AFAIK.

As for the Mormons, I won't make this a discussion of religion, but their interest in genealogy appears to stem from the quaint practice of posthumously baptising the dead. I assume no actual water is involved! Seems harmless enough, although I know it offends some people that they do this.

[Father Bill]

As for the Mormons, I won't make this a discussion of religion, but their interest in genealogy appears to stem from the quaint practice of posthumously baptising the dead. I assume no actual water is involved! Seems harmless enough, although I know it offends some people that they do this.

For clarification: I believe yes, it does involve water and candidates are baptized by proxy if I have my information correct.

Father Bill+

[TheMcManus]

Don't know much about ancestry.com, but I have used familysearch.org, which is the well-known Mormon site.

Even using free resources, the problem with using data that others have researched is knowing how accurate it is, or isn't. My mother has done a lot of genealogical research on her side of the family, and the Irish clan name comes from her father. She has traced it back definitely to at least the same Irish county (Cork) that the O'Callaghan clan came from, although not quite back to the clanlands around the River Blackwater, and even found where to place blame for a change to a variant of the name (the Royal Navy were responsible for that). I found a possible branch of the same family in the Mormon database, and have corresponded with one of them, but whether we are truly kin is hard to say, although the info they posted would extend my mother's work back further, to the 18th rather than 19th century.

Most genealogy that goes back very far depends on family trees compiled by others, however obtained, and in the case of famous people it may be even harder to believe than for us ordinary folks, as they tend to have a priori ideas about who they want to be in their family tree! For example, there is a branch of Callahans in County Waterford (to the immediate East of County Cork) who have British titles of nobility and are intermarried with the British royal family, who claim their family tree goes back to the progenitor of the clan, and it may do, as perhaps even ours does (despite ours mostly being common sailors), but much of their family tree has nothing to back it up, AFAIK.

As for the Mormons, I won't make this a discussion of religion, but their interest in genealogy appears to stem from the quaint practice of posthumously baptising the dead. I assume no actual water is involved! Seems harmless enough, although I know it offends some people that they do this.

They also spent a lot time and energy cooking up false genealogies of American Indians in an effort to try to prove that they were Jews or Levantine Semites or some such non sense.

[room2ndfloor]

Lydia[/B] was the name passed along to many, many girls.

In my family, too, there is a Lydia in every generation. The name honors Lydia, who was the first European Christian, baptized by St. Paul near today's town of Philippi in northern Greece. She was a merchant, trading in the costly purple dye extracted from cochineal shells.

I was baptized at the same location as Lydia, at St. Panteleimon's Church in Philippi.

Many families have traditional names. Among Scots, the names James, Robert, and Alexander are popular because of historical importance.

[WoodyGA]

For clarification: I believe yes, it does involve water and candidates are baptized by proxy if I have my information correct.

Father Bill+

You are correct! Just for further info, I grew up Mormon and was a proxy for baptism for the dead once when I was a teenager. It does indeed involve water. It does NOT involve digging anyone up, as mentioned elsewhere in this thread--how would that even work? LOL. Frequently, but not always, one is baptized for one's own ancestors, which is where the genealogy comes in.

As for Ancestry.com, I currently have a basic paid account, and have been really happy with it. As others have said, here, you really do have to do the work, but Ancestry.com will help a lot by linking you with other trees. You can usually spot good "hints" as they call them, because many times you'll get multiple records that replicate relationships and dates similarly (but not exactly). I tend to trust those when I see multiple trees with similar data. If the hints are all exactly the same, I do worry that it's just many people copying each other's trees.

I joined to see if I could flesh out my paternal side which is likely Scottish, but have had no luck -- we're a weird, relatively small family. I did get lots of links on other branches, and hit one of those that is pretty suspect -- one family branch on my mother's side supposedly goes all the way back to Robert the Bruce! So that one is more than suspect until I can document it. In fact, I didn't even add it to my tree, but made note for later.

Since I had no luck so far with traditional genealogy on my Dad's side, I decided to do a Y-DNA test for my paternal line. I went with Family Tree DNA, which has many projects where you can match your DNA with others (with varying levels of privacy) and hopefully break through the road blocks. My family already has a DNA Surname project there, which was the main reason I chose their service. I'm eagerly awaiting my results to see where it leads, and if I'm matched with potential family members also descended from Scotland.

--Woody

[GunnrGruffydd]

I use Ancestry.com

Like anything else it's a tool and you need to work smart with it.

You don't need to keep paying though, there is an option to backup your tree to a GED file and there are plenty of free viewers for that type of file out there.

I also cross refer things with familysearch site and also use this https://www.freebmd.org.uk/search

good luck

[joylittle123]

Yes I do the same thing subscribe to ancestry during the winter months and between March & April I drop it again as you said Ancestry.com is pricey.

[jsimon208]

HI everyone. I know this thread has been dead for almost a year but I wanted to throw out some useful ideas that might help you get further in your searches and record verifications.

The first is to jump on the DNA bandwagon. I've met some people that are worried their DNA might not back up their paper genealogy. Well, that's nonsense. If you're following your paper trail you've got records to show immigration and births/deaths. The Ancestry.com DNA or 23andMe might not line up entirely but that isn't the useful part of it. It will show you matches of people in other family trees as well as your own that allow you to verify or rethink a certain line. The heritage aspect of Ancestry.com is in developement and gets better each year and you'll get revisions.

The second tip is still with the DNA tools. This one is GEDmatch.com! This little known tool allows you to download your raw dna data from whichever service you used and then upload it to the GEDmatch servers which are academic projects going on around the world. The wonderful part is that it is free! There is a huge learning curve but there are plenty of instructional videos on Youtube and blogs from professional genealogists on how to use this wonderful too.

With GEDmatch I was able to download both my raw DNA data and my ancestry.com's gedcom data and upload it to Gedmatch servers. It will help you line up more accurately (and more quickly) with other GEDcoms based on DNA. You'll get thousands of hits and they are automatically sorted by level of closeness along with contact details that are provided. I've met some cool family members that were 2nd cousins I had never even hard of before and we've worked together and found out trees intersect in various parts with other DNA matches.

I hope this short blurb has helped you.

[LKM]

I have found the same issues with ancestry.com and familysearch.org once you go back further then actual historical records. People want to push the family tree further back then it can be verified, and therefore you will find incorrect information. I have found people born several years (normally under 10 years, yet one on familysearch.org was around 400 years) after the death of the listed father, people born when a parent was under 10 years old, people with the same name listed as the same person (such as Anthony Morris son of Thomas Morris in a part of the UK when there were three men from different families in the whose fathers purchased land in the county that were born within 5 years of each other that fit this description), and other misleading information such as the claim that everyone with the same last name is descended from the same person (although this is the case with some names, it is not the case with most names). Most of the inaccurate information can be thrown out with basic logic, yet there are a few that have taken far longer to prove do not fit on my family tree.

If your family made a claim of arms that is on the books, that is one place that you can go for more reliable information then either of those web sites. Some of those claims of arms were fabricated, yet there are normally multiple sources from different branches of the family that can back each other up if it was not.

I have considered the DNA testing, yet the cost seems to more then the information that it would provide at the moment. I understand how family tree DNA and heredity work, and hope the price will go down after the initial R&D is payed off. I suspect my Y-DNA to be a subclade of R1b L21 as other family members have had this and the mtDNA could be anything.

[ItchyTick]

It was definitely worth it for me. Most of what I knew about my Scottish ancestry was in the form of oral history from my grandparents.

One of my Scottish ancestors who came to the US in the 1700s, married a French Quebec woman, who was one of the original French families on the continent and part of the aristocracy. I was able to get all of the documentation from Quebec databases. Following her European genealogy I was able to determine my ancestry (documented) literally going back one thousand years, which includes Scottish royalty as her ancestors married Scottish royalty. Even some Viking in there.

I was able to follow two other Scottish ancestry grandparents genealogy back to Scotland and Ulster Plantation to about 1700 or slightly prior.

Ancestry DNA was also quite interesting.

Just my two cents.

In contrast, my wife's Italian ancestry was an absolute dead end.