Should I Subscribe to Ancestry World?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sarah Coles on August 31, 2009 at 10:28am

Hi,

I have been studying genealogy for many years and joined Ancestry.com in it's infancy. It's come a long way since the days of its beginning. I am a paid member for the US only like you are now and I had considered a World Membership but the cost seems quite high. I would like to research my husband's family further who were originally from Germany but most of my roots go back to colonial America. There is some Irish ancestry of interest back in the old country but I don't think I might find enough to make it worthwhile.

If I were you just starting out, I'd investigate all the US resources you have on Ancestry.com before considering it. Check immigration records on Ancestry to see if you can find information about him there. I am sure you are anxious to find out more about your husband's grandfather and sometimes you can find other sources for information that are free. I'd exhaust all those possibilities first before joining. It's too bad that Ancestry World Membership is so high. Maybe other members here will give you their opinion to help in your decision as to whether to join or not. This is just mine. It's a good question!

Permalink Reply by Louise Bernero on August 31, 2009 at 11:02am

Thank you Stephanie.....I appreciate your response....Louise

Permalink Reply by Sarah Coles on August 31, 2009 at 11:19am

You are most welcome. I'd be interested myself to see what others have to say about their experiences with the World Membership if they have one.

Permalink Reply by Carol Lee Wittneben on August 31, 2009 at 11:49am

I agree with Stephanie, I'd investigate all the US resources you have on US Ancestry before considering it. I have been with US Ancestry many years & think Ancestry World Membership is to high. I am becoming disappointed in all of the new additions to the World Membership. They have many mistakes that they do not correct in the US Membership. I have even been telling them about some for over 3 years. I also think that they also just have a lot of indexes which do not give you any information but a name which just tells you what you have all ready entered in the information field. I have found by searching on the Internet free additional information. An example of this is a marriage index you have the name & location but you can not tell if it is the correct person because they don't tell you who the spouse is. I have a NY site that gives you the spouse's name, location, date & certificate # for free. So I have sent for many certificates which cost a few dollars, but I would not be willing to do this with half the info not knowing if it is the correct person. I would like to know why I can find free information on other sites & all they have is an index. I keep joining because I am working on many different family trees, I have Family Tree Software & have all my different trees on Ancestry. I like that you can invite members from your family to see the tree.

Permalink Reply by Sarah Coles on August 31, 2009 at 2:09pm

Right on Carol!

I so agree with you about some information you get on Ancestry even though I don't have the World Membership, even some information turns out to be nothing much at all. I too use several other sources that are free. I am fortunate in that a lot of my family dates back to the colonies in Massachusetts and there is so much free information available. One I use a lot is HertiageQuest, PERSI through your local library on line. All you need is your library card number to get on line. It's a great time saver and I've downloaded whole books to research on a lot of people in my tree.

I am a stickler for sources, citations and hard evidence but there's information out there I don't trust either. I never copy individuals from someone else's tree on Ancestry. If they don't have sources chances are the information is erroneous. I look for facts to back everything up. One"source" I find full of errors is FamilySearch and I avoid World Wide Tree like the plague. So many people just copy erroneous information and it snowballs. Just yesterday I happen to check out suggested trees for an individual in my tree and in 10 cases they had the father married to a daughter and married to himself. Obviously, they mixed up the names and people just copied that junk. If you don't have correct information then your tree is worthless.

As you are an experienced user with Worldm I would think you'd have to have a pretty good idea of where your ancestors came from and possible relatives names before you even did a search. I know in my husband's case he has a very popular German name and I have little to go on other than they were from the Baden area. I know little of the country and how records were kept. I really don't think it's possible to trace that family back from the first immigrant who settle in Brooklyn, NY in the mid 1880's. You have made me definitely make up my mind that I won't bother with it other than some possible trial period That is interesting about that NY site you mention. Could you supply the web address to us here?

Oh, I just received my Family Tree Software 2010 today and installed it. I already have Legacy but what intrigued me was the fact with this new FTM you can download your whole Ancestry file from Ancestry.com including notes and photos. With Legacy you have to keep the photos on your computer and put them in separetly which takes time and uses up valuable space. Anyway, FTM worked fine and I downloaded one of my big master trees with no problems other than I need more RAM on my computer so it isn't so slow. It was great to see all my photos appear right in the new file I downloaded into FTM. So far; so good.

Glad to hear your thoughts on Ancestry World. There's lots of free stuff out there if you look long and hard enough. Another source I like is Google Books. I also was a member of NEGHS here in Boston but the annual fee along with Ancestry.com was a bit much. I think World is way too much as you say. Good information, thanks.

Permalink Reply by Carol Lee Wittneben on September 1, 2009 at 10:59am

http://www.italiangen.org/Default.htm this is the site I use for most marriage certificates although it is called the Italian Genealogical Group it is not just designated to Italian heritage my husband's family is not Italian, they have German, etc. The marriage certificate will give you both groom & bride. I have had some luck with death certificates buy trying to figure out approximate age & location. Click on database vital records, on the next page you will see No More Databases! but scroll down you will see To continue on to the databases click here.

I am also a stickler for sources, hard evidence. I have many people copy sources from my ancestry trees but they don't change there wrong info even though they now have the right info. They just collect & don't even bother to read. An example my father is an only child they found someone with the same last name & fathers name who had another son & connected him as my fathers brother. So they connected him to a different family. On my mothers side I feel, that they insist that my grandmothers name is not what I have entered by not changing there info. By the way my mother was named after by grandmother. They look at a census & take it as gospel. Even if the spelling is wrong. That's if have even read it. Also have had the father married to a daughter and married to himself.

My family dates back to the colonies in Massachusetts & Rhode Island. And everything you said in your reply to me are my exact sentiments.

Permalink Reply by Sarah Coles on September 1, 2009 at 1:20pm

Wow, thanks so much Carol for the link. Who would have thought I could find some German records on a seemingly Italian Gen Group! Thanks for the tip too on check down at the bottom of the page where it says, "No More Databases." That can fool you. I found a couple of neat things already in the marriage section for Kings, Brooklyn. Cool!

That's interesting what you had to say regarding incorrect information. I swear that some people just like to grow big trees and they can't see the forest for the trees, so to speak. Cenuses are not the be and end all of everything either. I'd trust a family bible record over that any day if you are lucky to have one and I don't. However, no matter what your sources are no information is perfect. You do have to study the information you derive from anywhere to determine if there is some factual truth to it.

Like you my family goes back to Colonial days in Massachusetts, Maine and NH and some Rhode Island people and I have tried my best to wade through The Great Migration Series. I did get a lot of information but you got to be a die hard genealogist to decifer stuff. It can be mind-boggling to wade through it all.

Thanks again for the link! I have it bookmarked.

Permalink Reply by Barbara Butler on September 18, 2009 at 9:10am

Thank you so much for this web site - I just found my great-grandmother's first marriage..
Barb

Permalink Reply by Lindy Chauvin Parrish on August 31, 2009 at 12:15pm

Hi, I am a relatively new newbie also. I got the full world edition right away; but I was thinking that your might want to do three months in the US first until you get used to it, then when you are raring to go, you can subscribe to the world edition for three months, and then when you have the documents you want, three months later go back down to the US edition. Just a suggestion.

Permalink Reply by Helen Edwards on August 31, 2009 at 1:33pm

I have been using Ancestry for about 4 years now. I have no choice but to use the World edition as only 1/4 of my family came through the US. My tree is now at over 60,000 individuals as I have researched all the collateral lines as well.

For me the cost is worth it every time I crash my way through another brick wall. When you compare their charges to those of a professional genealogist (and, yes I have hired some in the past), it is a real bargain.

Permalink Reply by Laura Heydt Sale on August 31, 2009 at 3:19pm

Hello,

I suggest you only use Ancestry World for a short time to see how you like it. I used it for one year and I could not read the documents that came up in languages other than English. (I kept it because I used it for other searches.) I tried going back to just the US view. There is no selection on the website for downgrading. I had to call them to downgrade back to the US view.

I agree with Stephanie, you need to be absolutely sure of the information you see. Just because it is there, doesn’t mean it is valid. Make sure you can document everything.

Permalink Reply by Louise Bernero on August 31, 2009 at 3:31pm

Thank you all.....I think I will wait. I will get as much as possble from the US edition. It did not take me long to come to the conclusion that I will not find everything online. I am very careful to source everything and get copies of the documents.........Thanks again for all your advice!

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