Page 2 of 2 FirstFirst 12
Results 11 to 17 of 17

Thread: Ancestory.com

  1. #11
    Senior Member catherine's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Vermont
    Posts
    14,635
    Quote Originally Posted by Tybee View Post
    I've used it for about 5 years now, and highly recommend it. There is no way I could have done all this myself. I also did the DnA, and they connect with cousins if you like. I have a lot of cousins I did not know about, and they match you to your ancestors, which is really nice because you can prove descent from ancestors and check that you have the right ancestors. I have also started tree for my husband and my son, and that is fascinating. Yes, I have spent many hours on it, but it's kind of addictive, like Sodoku only with people instead of numbers.
    +1

    Yeah, you can do it yourself, but why would you? You can still fill in the gaps by yourself, but Ancestry gives you SUCH a huge head start. I also did the DNA.. not expecting any surprises, and I didn't get any, but it was fun validation. It's a great hobby for under $30 a month. The tools they give you are great. I learned a lot about my ancestors here and abroad.
    "Do any human beings ever realize life while they live it--every, every minute?" Emily Webb, Our Town
    www.silententry.wordpress.com

  2. #12
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Posts
    508
    Oh My the fun I have had today with this! a

  3. #13
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Posts
    508
    SO when I could not sleep as usual, I was thinking about history and the searching I have done. Gosh the stuff I have uncovered, marriages, children and babies that did not live so many. That is really sad. How many births some of the women had, OMG what a life. I have not gone far back yet maybe 1850. I swear it reads like the Grapes of Wrath in someways. I was having fun, then I started thinking leave the past alone.

    Where did/does what material possessions they all had go? I googled address to my grandmother's home in 1920 in Flint(most moved a lot I can see). Oh My, the neighborhood is at best on Zillow $2,500-$5,000 values. The two track drives are still in place. I thought of how proud they must have been when they bought it at one time. Now too many boarded windows in the area. I was going to look up as many as possible, not sure I want to now.

  4. #14
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2017
    Posts
    508
    Ok a few days into this. I can understand how this can be very habit forming, how it can become a study. I had fun without getting really deep into it.

    I love history, I love the early years of the USA, I love reading about just people and settlers, regular people, so one would think this would have been me all over. I got some what sad though. The poor Women, so many babies, so many died, the number of pregnancies was overwhelming to me. Marriages, many had a few as husband or wife died so young. The moves from East to wherever and the migration with all the similar others during each time.

    I then jumped to researching the different eras and woman's/Wife rights. Ugg that was just sad to me. I know Like I did not really know that, but now there were actual names to these eras.

    I knew life was hard in those eras, I just now understand how really hard it was. I remember we had a posting a while back about would you like to live in 1800 ( or such). What seemed like simple times, seems like survival now to me and Nope I would not want too. Gosh the death certificates were enough for me.

    SO I had fun I understand we are Mutts and that is enough for me!

  5. #15
    Junior Member heatmiser's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2018
    Location
    Western Washington
    Posts
    15
    Quote Originally Posted by BikingLady View Post
    Ok a few days into this. I can understand how this can be very habit forming, how it can become a study. I had fun without getting really deep into it.

    SO I had fun I understand we are Mutts and that is enough for me!

    I always remember Bill Murray's speech from the movie "Stripes", talking about how we Americans
    are "Mutts'. His character said : "We're AMERICANS; our ancestors were kicked out of
    every decent country on Earth". I think that's something to be proud of, somehow.

    A big part of what I get out of Ancestry is an understanding of the cultures of past times,
    beyond just my family, and how families coped with cultural or physical barriers.

    For instance women were legally chattels in some colonies
    (a shameful reflection on the culture) and in every instance I have
    seen, the husbands engineered their wills to give their widows control of the bulk of their estates;
    the widows in turns used "Deeds" to divide their estates, if the colony discouraged wills by
    females, and their sons never disputed those deeds. People were constantly finding end-runs around
    the institutionalized racial and sexual discrimination of the day.

  6. #16
    Yppej
    Guest
    I spent a couple of years intensely researching my ancestry and felt Ancestry.com was worth it, though not all information is legit. Some are people submitting what they think is true, ditto the LDS databases.

    I also visited libraries including NEHGS and corresponded with people. A couple of times I hired professional genealogists for small projects.

    In the US most vital records are at the county level and I bought a book listing all those contacts.

    A great free resource are census records which I looked at on microfiche or microfilm, it's been awhile so I don't remember which, at the local office of the National Archives.

    Those distant cousins are helpful if thry have also been bitten by the genealogy bug.

    This interest has lain dormant for many years, but recently my mother submitted a DNA test and we are awaiting results. I always focused on my dad's side due to language barriers and the destruction of records in wartime on hers.

  7. #17
    Senior Member Teacher Terry's Avatar
    Join Date
    Dec 2013
    Location
    Nevada
    Posts
    12,889
    Anymore long lost relatives can go straight to hell after my last experience.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •