Anybody subscribe? If so, is a good resource. I've read many places on the web that it is the biggest and best database over others on the web. I'm thinking about subscribing though I'm not sure if they archive records from certain parts of Africa.

yep Its pretty darn good, but only South Africa is listed in there database for having records

Not good...I need East and West Africa.

Where would we be without the easy access to records that Ancestry offers?

in this day of inflated gas prices? We'd be broke from the road trips!!

i am excited to have 1 free year on ancestry, now if i could just get my children to go outside and play in the sunshine so i can hide in the computer room

I love Ancestry.com. I got it free for a year with my purchase of FTM. I don't believe that I would have gotten as far as I am without it. However, there are a lot of things that I have found on "free" sites that wasn't on Ancestry, such as a death certificate in MO that crumbled a brick wall for some long distance cousins of mine, Cemetery indexes in Cowley County, KS that I did find on USGenWeb. So yes it's good but could use a few improvements.

Donna

yeah while I think the subscription fee is totally worthwhile, never think its the "end all be all" of information!!

I love Ancestry.Com. I love that if you can pull search results up directly into FTM and merge the info. Its just so darn expensive. You have to watch them, too. They offered free family sites for a while, and we and several family members joined. You add all of your information, then they pull the rug out from under you, and start charging. You couldn't even get into your own site, and they had all of your information that they could give to other people at a price.

I will always think Rootsweb and Genweb are the best there is...and it's still free. Now tho both are owned and run by Ancestry. Once upone a time ancestry was pretty much a waste of money, but now they have added so many great databases....particularly all the census records and having them searchable is a gold mine...IF you can put yourself in the brain of the person who did the indexing and figure out how THEY saw your family's name. As far as the census I don't think they can be beat. It makes it possible to search the entire US for your elusive guy. If, again, you can figure out a dozen ways to spell the name and have the patience to try every one. Soundex is great...as long as you understand it pretty much goes by the consoenent and the order they appear in. For instance I looked for William Tolbert for years. Knowing that Talbert, Talbird and numerous other variations would be picked up. Could not find my guy for 20 years. FINALLY I thought--heck I'll do a page by page of the area I think he may be in...shall I even tell you how tedious that is? I found it....Praise Be on the second page..under Talbot......see no "R". SOundex would not pull it. Nor would it pull Tobbot...another variation. So be cautious about that when you use Ancestry.
I still don't find my folks on world trees and that sort of thing...but the military records, GA death records and census....can't beat it.
And if you watch real carefully..checking the site frequently you will get some good deals. As it has been pointed out...if you don't use family treemaker...that is the cheapest way to get access to ancestry for free. I was able to find a 2005 version down here at little dollar store place for $10 and as Branwyn said..it gave you a year free. Check those places that get the overruns or outdated software ..and see if they have FTM. Now that version 16 is out...the 2005 is really cheap. I found that one at Maxway...which is owned by Roses..if that helps.

Steph

Yeah, some of their mistakes are incredulous. But it isn't always the indexers. It's the people who were conducting the census. I can't believe how sloppy they were. So really you are fighting two fronts.

I do most of my research on Ancestry.co.uk I think it has most of what i'm looking for. (I do subscribe) I also joined Genes Reunited, which is very helpful for finding other people with the same names in their tree. This doesen't cost much to join, you can do a search for a particular name & it gives you a list of other members with the same details who you can then contact. I found the whole of my mother's side of the family on this site!
I also use Family search.org mostly to see if they have extra details that can't be found on Ancestry. They sometimes have maiden names for partners, which, as everyone knows you won't find in census returns.

Gill.

I've used ancestry.com for years. In the old days, if I wanted to save a census, I had to use my photoshop skills to patch together several screenshots to get a decent copy of a record. Nowadays, they've cleaned and brightened up most of those censuses and have made them downloadable. I have found SO many censuses that I've saved to my family library on my computer. They also have something called a shoebox, which I use for those "maybe" censuses.
I have the full blown membership and paid a lot for it. But its been worth every penny. I probably use the censuses more than anything else, but you can find lots of other things there.
I also have a membership to footnote.com which I paid $60 for. There is a LOT that has not yet been indexed. So, like with ancestry, you have to give it some time. Maybe 5 years. But I have still gotten my money's worth because their revolutionary war records are fantastic and I've been able to track down actual muster records for my ancestors. Their civil war stuff is good too.

If anyone goes to footnote.com and sees something they need printed that is subscription, let me know and I'll try to snag it for you. I don't mind.

Andrea

I know you can negotiate with Ancestry for a better price than the one they quote on the website.

Thanks for that offer on footnote.com. I know I saw some stuff awhile back that I was interested in, but needed a membership to access. I have been waiting til they had a little more to offer before I signed on with them. For some reason my family just seems to slide under most radars, except for census records.

Steph

I too have a subscription to Ancestry--drat their HIGH price, anyway.

However, without it, I would not have been able to find the many census records, birth/marriage/death records, and even a few city directory records that I have.

The problem I have with Ancestry is that of inaccuracy. In searching for family records, I have discovered more than one [read: many] transcription error on Ancestry's part. I don't know who transcribed those records--or at least the index for them--but they really DO many some doozies of mistakes. Granted, the old style handwriting does NOT always make it easy for transcribers to read, but if I can read it, they should be able to do so also.

Madehlinne

Ancestry is my friend, um, hee, hee!

Following the advice of another researcher I did a certain type of search, this evening, and turned up a 90 year old Death Certificate that answers many important questions.

Yippee!!!