Using Ancestry to climb a brick wall

I had a reader recently ask me where to find accurate GEDCOM files that they could copy and import into their family tree. The obvious answer is nowhere. Unless you do the work yourself, it is hard to truly believe anything you find or are given. However, I responded somewhat along these lines...

It can be tough to find reliable GEDCOM files on the Internet. However, I would suggest that you use a large site such as Ancestry.com. A lot of people do not trust the information at Ancestry.com because no one double-checks anything that is posted by its users. All of the data there has to be taken with a grain of salt. However, I find that the volume of data at Ancestry.com allows you to compare the research of a lot of people and decide which parts you think are correct. I use what other people have found (or claim to have found) to help direct my next research step. I always go back and verify what they claim but it saves me a lot of time, keeps me from starting with zero.

Assuming that you are not a member of Ancestry.com, I would suggest that you sign up for a free trial and try to copy as much info as you can during that free period. If you find all that you need, cancel the membership and do not pay anything. (I have been a paying member for around eight years now and I still find their service valuable.) Copy what you can, going back later to see what you came up with, sort out what you think is garbage, keep what you think is good and go from there. It will at least give you a nice head start on documenting things for yourself.

For example, if I needed to know the father of Bobby Jo Malone who died in Mecklenburg County in 1790 (a totally fictitious example), I could do a search on Ancestry and see what others have found. I might find ten trees with Bobby Jo and maybe three claim to have his parents. I could see what notes those files contain and what sources they cite. One might have a transcribed will of Bobby Jo's father, naming Bobby Jo as his son, in a county I never thought of checking! I could then turn around, go to the archives, and get a copy of the will for myself. I may have never found that document otherwise since I would have never checked that particular county.

I have extended many of my own family lines using this technique and would recommend it to anyone, especially if you are facing a brick wall. (Your brick wall might be common knowledge to someone else).

You can click on the link below if you would like to start a free trial at Ancestry.com. I think this link will give you fourteen days for free...

Ancestry.com Free Trial

New Family Search Pilot Site

I wanted to let everyone know about an update to the main LDS genealogy site. They have started a pilot program for their new search feature which includes scans of census records, vital records and much more. This looks to be a great site in the making. You should check it out and I will let you know when it gets integrated as the new search function for the site.

I would compare this to Ancestry.com in a lot of ways, albeit a very scaled down version.

You can visit the site by clicking here: FamilySearch Record Search Pilot

Ancestry.com DNA Testing

I do not think I ever mentioned that Ancestry.com now offers DNA testing. This isn't anything terribly new but I wanted to point out that you do not have to buy your test from them to use their matching services. All I had to do was manually enter the results that I got from Family Tree DNA and I can use all of the Ancestry features. I assume you have to have some type of Ancestry.com membership to use this feature. I mean, you obviously have to have an account in which to enter the information.


I was able to see a nice write-up about my haplogroup, I1a, and you can also see all of the other members that match your DNA to some degree. You can even specify the number of generations of separation between yourself and the results that are shows. I am showing up to 70 generations in the example below but it can range from 70 down to 2. My DNA test was not very refined, I think only 12 markers, so I do not have many close results.


Ancestry also appears to have a new surname group project section where you can compare results with others of the same last name. I have not tried this yet but I may in the near future.

You can click here to check out Ancestry.com DNA testing

What's up with Rootsweb and Ancestry?

For anyone not in the know, the USGenWeb Project is hosted at Rootsweb. A few years back, Ancestry (now The Generations Network) was nice enough to donate all of the server space for the project. This has been the case for years and Ancestry has received pretty much nothing in return.

In the old days, Rootsweb used to ask for private donations and I used to be a donor. I was a volunteer for a few counties in Virginia so I felt obligated to provide some financial support, around $50 per year. When Ancestry stepped in, it was a big sigh of relief because Rootsweb no longer needed money out of our pockets.

The relationship between Rootsweb and Ancestry became more intertwined over the years. Rootsweb became known as “an Ancestry.com community.” Rootsweb became a marketable brand for Ancestry.

A few months ago, Ancestry sprung a surprise on the volunteers at Rootsweb and the USGenWeb Project. Ancestry was going to put a banner at the top of every page hosted on Rootsweb, an advertisement for their company. A large number of Rootsweb volunteers went crazy, furious that Ancestry had the audacity to turn their genealogy project into a profit center. The USGenWeb Project always stated its mission as being “non-commercial and fully committed to free genealogy access for everyone.” These principles seemed to clash...or did they?

I currently volunteer for two counties in Virginia. I have honestly neglected the sites for awhile because I am tired of all the controversy that has been brewing. Volunteers are moving their sites off Ancestry's servers so a lot of the old links do not work anymore. How does that help freely spread genealogy when you cannot find it? This is a huge mess and I am honestly getting tired of being a part of it. I think I am going to probably give up my two sites but I have not decided yet.

Through all of this I have not moved my sites nor would I in the future, if I keep them. The Ancestry banner is quite small, very similar to the Blogger banner you see at the very top of this page. Google owns Blogger. Blogger gives free web space for people to host their blog. It is therefore their right to get at least a small ad out of it. The ads are unobtrusive and most people do not pay any attention to them. I do not see what all the fuss is about.

I am getting a little off track but the point is that the USGenWeb project is at risk of falling apart, simply over a one-half inch banner at the top of every page. The banner says “Hosted at Rootsweb...an Ancestry.com Community.” It does not sell products or blatantly push a subscription service. It is a token gesture to give Ancestry more exposure in a tough market. If you look at Google trends, genealogy searches are falling off more each year. You cannot fault Ancestry for trying to expand their market reach in these trying times.

I would estimate that Ancestry spends tens of thousands of dollars per year to pay for all of the server space and bandwidth that Rootsweb has enjoyed for years. Instead of understanding that someone has to pay for all that space, people get all upset and scream that genealogy should be free for everyone. The last time I checked, it still was free. Ancestry is not directly selling anything with the banner and no subscription is required. I doubt they even get a large amount of traffic off the banners. People will become blind to them in a short mount of time. I wish some of the volunteers at the USGenWeb Project would stop looking a gift horse in the mouth and be happy that they have the support of a large, financial backer.

In closing, let me say that I appreciate the volunteers at Rootsweb and the USGenWeb Project. I also realize that lots of volunteers are fine with Ancestry's banners and that they are grateful for the support. The problem is that they, like myself, are passive about the conversion and are not raising a lot of eyebrows.

The controversy just does not make sense to me. It would be like my softball team going out and finding a sponsor to buy our uniforms and telling them that we will not print their name on our shirts. That is absurd. You always give credit to your sponsors. Why would that courtesy not apply to genealogy and Ancestry's hosting of Rootsweb? The idea behind sponsorship is exposure and that is what Ancestry wants and rightful deserves.

Family Tree Maker 2008 Beta Version Review

Family Tree Maker has a new version, FTM 2008, coming out in August 2007 and you can download a BETA version here: http://beta.familytreemaker.com/

This is a very large file and you should be reminded that this is a BETA test so there may be problems with it. This free, BETA version expires on August 24, 2007 so it is only a sample of what you will have to purchase. No word on the final price but hopefully an upgrade discount will be available for current customers. That has been the practice for past releases.

I have downloaded the BETA and did not like it at first. I am still on the fence but there are some items that are nice. The user interface is clean and modern and looks a little like The Master Genealogist - TMG. If you look closely, Wholly Genes Software, maker of TMG, provided the GenBridge file import technology. Perhaps the companies are working together on this one.

The screens are laid out so that everything you want to know about one individual is pretty much on that screen, at one time. However, I find it difficult to navigate between families and to see the bigger picture. They have added a place-name map integration feature using Microsoft’s Virtual Earth. This is neat but I believe requires an active Internet connection. A lot of the features of this version require active Internet connections.

FTM 2008 handles media, i.e. photos, scans, sound and video files, much better than past versions. It also has stronger source citations but does not quite import from your old file perfectly. There is a problem where the old “source medium” field is entered now as a note and included when the source is printed. That is an annoyance and will require you to go back and manually delete that note from each source.

One of the coolest parts of the program is that it makes suggestions about possible connections with data on Ancestry’s pay web site. Although the matches are not spot-on, it is nice to have possible connections pointed out to you. The main downside is that you have to pay for the service separately.

My biggest gripe with FTM 2008 is the report function. As of right now, most of the reports are stock and cannot be changed much to really fit your needs. Also missing are the genealogy reports (register, NGS quarterly and ahnentafel). If those reports do not show up in the final version, I will not be very happy as the functionality of the program will be severely hampered. The books section is also unavailable at this time but at least has a placeholder that reads “coming soon.”

Ancestry will also offer a printing service at some point.

Overall, I am impressed with the effort on this one but I think there will be several release versions before this one is solidified. Users need to send the company feedback and let them know what is missing and what is not working. I will write another review when the final version is released. Hopefully some of the BETA flaws will be worked out by then.

Free Genealogy is Not Always Worth It

It seems to me that some people get offended at the thought of paying for genealogy. Why is it that a researcher should not be able to make a living while helping you out at the same time? As far as I can see, genealogists should not be treated different than any other professional in respect to their charges. This is America, a free economy, and prices are determined by supply and demand. With genealogy being one of the top hobbies in the country, the demand is higher than ever. If you collected stamps, you would not expect the post office to give them to you for free. Why should you expect genealogists to give away their services?

If people could not make a living with genealogy, records would be so scarce that few people would have access to them. The government's WPA (Works Progress Administration) hired people back in the 1930s to copy and preserve historic documents, they became paid genealogists in effect. Think about on-line resources, ancestry.com, genealogy.com, they would be out of the game if they did not charge for their services. The odds of you having access to complete indexes for all of the US census records would be nil without their efforts. The Social Security Death Index would not be as accessible to most people if profit-based companies did not propagate it as they did a few years ago. I think some of you are being too hard, looking a gift horse in the mouth.

A lot of people think that all genealogy resources should be shared, like the USGenWeb Project. Well guess what, Rootsweb was taken over basically by Ancestry a few years back. Its funding comes from a profit company! Nothing is free. Everything costs someone money. If no one paid for genealogy, no one would take the time to walk cemeteries and transcribe tombstones or sift through thousands of old marriage bonds to write a book. I think we need to support people who dedicate their lives, 9 to 5 each day, to make genealogy resources more accessible for us all.

Pretend that you live in California and your ancestors came across the country from Virginia. How much time and money would you spend going to each courthouse in each place that they lived, all the way back to Virginia? You would spend hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars in that pursuit. On the other hand, imagine paying $19.95 for a book of marriage records from a specific county or paying $250 to have a research track down a generation or two. There is no comparison in cost, you save time and money with the professional.

We should praise professional, for-profit researchers and give them a break. Their work is more thorough and more accurate than any free resource you will ever find. Any Tom, Dick or Harry and can make up anything, put it on-line and call it fact. As far as I am concerned, the old adage is true, you get what you pay for.