Ancestry.com Rookie Beginner Questions and Help

alan polk

1st Lieutenant
Joined
Jun 11, 2012
My aunt wants to get on Ancestry.com. I’m not very tech savvy and she is certainly not.

Can folks here answer some basic questions before we get started?

Question 1: Even after the free trial ends and we begin to pay them, can you only pay to use it for a couple months more, cancel, then use it again later? Is this ever a problem with Ancestry.com? Do they allow it?

Question 2: I notice there is an option to get the $35.00 package. Is this worth it at all? What does that get us compared to the cheaper package? We would like to access newspapers, obits, military records, etc.

Thanks so much! And if anyone wishes to give any suggestions and advice in researching tactics to us rookies (in a kindergarten format or level) it would be appreciated.
 
My aunt wants to get on Ancestry.com. I’m not very tech savvy and she is certainly not.

Can folks here answer some basic questions before we get started?

Question 1: Even after the free trial ends and we begin to pay them, can you only pay to use it for a couple months more, cancel, then use it again later? Is this ever a problem with Ancestry.com? Do they allow it?

Question 2: I notice there is an option to get the $35.00 package. Is this worth it at all? What does that get us compared to the cheaper package? We would like to access newspapers, obits, military records, etc.

Thanks so much! And if anyone wishes to give any suggestions and advice in researching tactics to us rookies (in a kindergarten format or level) it would be appreciated.

1) You have several membership options as to length: by the month, six months, a year (last time I checked). The only thing to remember is that unless you cancel your membership you will automatically be billed for another period of the same membership when your time is up. So, if you don't want to re-up you need to make sure you use the cancel membership tool and don't miss the date. They are good about cancelling and you can always re-join any time. I used the monthly option a lot and that also works nicely if you need to take a break.

2) The $35 package is for international access whereas the cheapest one is only for U.S. records. Unless you are looking for records from other countries you don't need the $35 membership. I opted for that one for a month not long ago because I am researching some veterans who were Canadians but, frankly, I didn't find that I got that much out of it. Others might be able to advise you better but if you are only interested in folks in the U.S. you definitely don't need the $35 package.

Ancestry takes a little practice to negotiate well. If you need to ask questions I'm available via PM to chat. Also, be very careful about using other people's trees. They can be very useful but can also be full of junk, assembled from cut and paste of other people's junk. Also, I'd advise having some software on your home computing device where you can store and organize things independent of Ancestry.

Ancestry isn't the end-all but it's the best place to start as you can access all the basic stuff like census records, marriage records, death records, some military stuff, sometimes probate records, maybe land records, and a few other things. If you are really lucky you'll find a lost cousin.

Good luck. Hope that helps.
 
Last edited:
Wow!! That is great information @John Winn. I will take that very good advice to heart!! We will start tomorrow so I very well might take up your offer to communicate by PM if we get totally stuffed and confused.

I was thinking that maybe the 35 bucks would get us Newspaper.com and Fold 3 in addition. I’m glad you enlightened me otherwise!

Thanks so much, John!
 
Taking the DNA test along with your membership will help out a lot in eliminating
a lot of the guesswork when it comes to knowing if you are on the right track when
you are filling out your family tree. The Newspaper,com and Fold3.con subscriptions
are nice additions but the DNA test has really been useful in letting me know if some
of the information submitted by other members is right or wrong when it comes to
family tree connections. Who knows, you might discover soometing crazy and out in
left field like the fact that I am related to the Custer family as in George Armstong
Custer (I never saw that one coming!)
 
Wow!! That is great information @John Winn. I will take that very good advice to heart!! We will start tomorrow so I very well might take up your offer to communicate by PM if we get totally stuffed and confused.

I was thinking that maybe the 35 bucks would get us Newspaper.com and Fold 3 in addition. I’m glad you enlightened me otherwise!

Thanks so much, John!

You are most welcome. No, Fold3 and Newspapers.com require separate memberships. Both are worth it once you get to the point where you can identify those you are looking for and maybe have some information to narrow the search (e.g. state or city, dates). They both have monthly memberships so if you can wait and accumulate a list you can get a lot done in a month. Be aware, though, that Fold3 does not have all military records and Newspapers.com does not have all newspapers. If you are really serious you'll probably have to start looking for things at such places as libraries, genealogical and historical societies, the National Archives, and various state offices (e.g. death certificates). Usually there are fees so you need to decide if you are willing to pay to play. Welcome to the addiction !
 
Last edited:
You are most welcome. No, Fold3 and Newspapers.com require separate memberships. Both are worth it once you get to the point where you can identify those you are looking for and maybe have some information to narrow the search (e.g. state or city, dates). They both have monthly memberships so if you can wait and accumulate a list you can get a lot done in a month. Be aware, though, that Fold3 does not have all military records and Newspapers.com does not have all newspapers. If you are really serious you'll probably have to start looking for things at such places as libraries, genealogical and historical societies, the National Archives, and various state offices (e.g. death certificates). Usually there are fees so you need to decide if you are willing to pay to play. Welcome to the addiction !
Thanks again for great information @John Winn and @nc native ! So will we be able to search for any obituaries on Ancestory?
 
Ancestry has bought out the FindaGrave website which has plenty of cemetery and some
biographical information about lots of individuals. All of the information that FindaGrave
uses is not documented since it is submitted by contributors but enough of it is useful to be
of help in many cases. Ancestry does have obituaries from various newspapers but most
of those are from modern or more recent newspapers.
 
Thanks again for great information @John Winn and @nc native ! So will we be able to search for any obituaries on Ancestory?

Ancestry will not have obituaries. You'll need newspapers.com for that or you might luck out and find a local source. For instance, in Oregon there's two collections of historic newspapers that have been digitized and are available on line (but only for Oregon). I found a similar collection in Colorado. So, depending on where you are looking there might be additional sources to Newspapers.com. That's the sort of thing I was referencing when I said you'll probably need to branch out and look for library sources and such. Local genealogical and historical societies are also prime sources for obituaries. To get them you'll have to have a death date so that's why you need to do basic research first.
 
Also, be very careful about using other people's trees. They can be very useful but can also be full of junk, assembled from cut and paste of other people's junk.
I'll second this!
Far too many blindly enter information provided by Ancestry without checking it out. I have seen 'trees' where my gggrandmother, who died and is buried in Ohio in a grave I have seen is said to have died in China!
Use the documents- especially census, newspapers, death/birth certificates. But don't rely on anyone else's work.
 
p.s. - regarding obituaries.

Many libraries will do obituary searches of newspapers they have in their collections. There's always a fee but it's usually not too much. So, if newspapers.com doesn't work and you know where the person died you can find the local library and email the reference librarian and see if they will do the lookup. As I said, there might also be a local genealogical society and they usually will do lookups also (also for a fee).

When you do get a 'good' obituary (i.e. one with names and dates and biographical info) be aware that there are often errors so just use the info as a clue and check it all out independently. Misspellings of names and incorrect dates are quite common. I'm currently researching 46 CW veterans in the cemetery where I volunteer and two of those obituaries are almost totally fabricated. I'd not seen that before but I checked out all the claims and confirmed that they were not correct. I do wonder how that happened. Anyway, just make sure you develop the habit of confirming information in sources like obituaries (or biographies) as those are at best second-hand sources. The same is true of census records; might be right, might not.
 
I'll second this!
Far too many blindly enter information provided by Ancestry without checking it out. I have seen 'trees' where my gggrandmother, who died and is buried in Ohio in a grave I have seen is said to have died in China!
Use the documents- especially census, newspapers, death/birth certificates. But don't rely on anyone else's work.

This is exactly why I took the DNA test to back up my genealogical research! You see
all sorts of things in some of the trees that Ancestry.com members put online. Children
being born after the mother's date of death, people living to be one hundred and fifty
years old, you name it and I've seen it there.
 
Most things have already been covered well, will just add a couple more points

1. Ancestry owns fold3 and newspapers.com and they do offer an all-in-one membership for everything

https://www.ancestry.com/cs/us/allaccesseducation

It's not cheap but not a bad option if you want to go all in and use all three sites

2. Ancestry has digitized a huge amount of probate records starting a couple years ago. Many of these can already be found for free on familysearch though ancestry offers a couple things

a. Many of these records are indexed so can be searched... though not all of them, so manually going through the digitized paper indexes (or the records themselves for the ones that don't have any index) can still be a good idea

b. Some scattered ones that were missing on familysearch are on Ancestry (though it's mostly the same)

That probate digital archive is a treasure trove, and even if not everything is search-able it really is a great place to start. You can find those specifically by going to Search -> Card Catalog then under title put something like "Georgia probate"
 
Thanks for all the replies.

Is the following normal:

Our initial search was for my 3x grandmother, Emma Stewart Jones. We wanted to find out about her family but can’t find anything beyond her connection to my 3x grandfather, Jasper Jones.

We can’t find anything about her death or anything else about her,individually, before 1860 except marriage to my 3x grandfather in 1851. She states in the Mississippi Census (both 1860 and 1870) as being born in North Carolina (maybe in 1832). But there seems to be nothing anywhere showing an Emma Stewart (assuming her last name was Stewart). She died in either 1871 or 1873. Nothing on find a grave. Obituary. I don’t think many Mississippi newspapers have been digitized on Ancestry (don’t have Newspaper.com).

It appears my 3x grandfather, Jasper Jones, was a rather “prominent” planter in Holly Springs, Mississippi (if owning between 25-30 slaves was considered “prominent”). If so, one would think there would be some sort of paper trail on Emma.

Another thing I find interesting: I have a letter she wrote in 1864. She states in it that her step-son, (from my g’father’s 1st marriage), Lucius Hannibal Jones, joined the Confederacy and was wounded at the battle of Williamsburg in 1862, losing an arm and captured. I don’t have Fold 3, but the limited search on ancestry doesn’t show a Lucius Hannibal Jones.

Does anyone here have Fold 3? If so, could someone do a quick search for Lucius Hannibal Jones? Grandma Emma mentions in her letter that he joined the first company raised in Chulahoma, Mississippi (just outside Holly Springs) and sent to Virginia where he was wounded in the battle of Williamsburg and captured.

Anyway, thanks for reading. Any suggestions on how to better use Ancestry to find this stuff ( I have the cheap package)?
 
Thanks. Yeah, I have those. Eva is Emma’s daughter, as you noted in your post. Just weird how Emma vanishes.

Maybe she just dreamed tha Lucius went off to war!:hot:
 
Found him.

L H Jones.jpg
 
Back
Top