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Find Undiscovered Treasures at Ancestry.com: Expert Tips

Find Undiscovered Treasures at Ancestry.com: Expert Tips

Ancestry.com is packed with all kinds of mostly-undiscovered genealogical treasures, and some of them you’ll never find from a search box.

Here, expert Nancy Hendrickson shares some favorite treasures, tips for finding those treasures, and helpful reminders for improving your genealogy research.

how to find records at ancestry

(We provide links for your convenience to the various online resources and some may be affiliate links for which we receive compensation at no additional expense to you. Thank you for your support.) 

Ancestry.com is a “genealogy giant:” one of the four biggest global records resources. Whether you subscribe or have free access through your local library or Family History Center, you should not miss exploring this website for your family history.

Ancestry is also a financial investment. If you’ve been using the site for quite a while, you may be wondering if you are really getting all you can out of it’s vast genealogical record collections and many research tools.

Nancy Hendrickson, the author of The Unofficial Guide to Ancestry.com and the Unofficial Ancestry.com Workbook: A How-To Manual for Tracing Your Family Tree on the #1 Genealogy Website knows the website inside and out. Today she’s sharing four great tips for taking your research to the next level. In addition, we’ve added in some examples and additional things to consider. So let’s get started using Ancestry more effectively.

nancy henrickson author of Ancestry.com workbook

Nancy Henrickson, author of the Unofficial Ancestry.com Workbook

4 Tips for Using Ancestry.com More Effectively

1. Verify what you learn.

Any single record can be wrong, incomplete, or misread by you or by the person how indexed it. Double check the assertions made in the record by looking for that same information in additional sources. Be careful to make sure your sources weren’t getting their information from the same person or place. Otherwise, they’ll naturally say the same thing!

Nobody wants to discover conflicting information, of course. But you do want to know if something is inaccurate before it leads you down a wrong research path.

The best thing about verifying facts in additional sources is that sometimes you find NEW or BETTER information such as:

  • parents’ names,
  • a middle name that proves key to someone’s identity,
  • or a burial place.

For example, let’s say you find an ancestor’s death date in the Social Security Death Index. While it’s a great source, don’t stop there!

Like any record, the SSDI is sometimes wrong and the information it contains is definitely limited. Use the Ancestry.com Card Catalog to see what records about death may be on the site for that time and place. You’ll find the Card Catalog under Search in the main menu. 

Ancestry Card Catalog

Ancestry Card Catalog

Use the filters on the left side to drill down to death records for the location you want. Remember that records collections have been created on a specific geographical level: try local, regional (such as state or province) as well as national levels.

Using the Card Catalog search filters

2. Don’t just repeat what other people’s trees say.

Seeing the same information over and over can provide a false sense of accuracy. Remember, just because seven different online trees name the same parents for one of your ancestors doesn’t mean those are the correct parents. Those Ancestry users may all be misquoting the same wrong source without actually verifying the information! 

You often come across likely matches in others’ trees when you review Ancestry’s automated “leaf” hints, or when you run a general search on a name. When you do, it’s simply an indication that the tree may be worth exploring. Here’s an example:

Exploring Ancestry Hints

Let’s take a closer look at this example.

The purple arrows: You can see that multiple pieces of very specific information are the same on your tree and another one.

The red arrow: You see sources attached to that person’s profile, such as the news article thumbnail image. (Note the difference with the record shown below, with just an empty profile image.) Yes, you will definitely want to review that news article!

The blue arrow: In addition to either of the above, you also see specific information that is unknown to you.

This tree profile looks promising enough you might naturally consider reviewing the tree hint and attaching it to yours. But then you wouldn’t be able to see the news article or other sources attached to that tree.

Instead, click the checkbox and then click the name of the tree to look at it and its attached sources:

Select the tree to review it more closely.

Then you’ll be able to check out the news article along with the other sources and records attached to this person’s profile. You won’t just see what that person thinks about your common ancestor – you’ll see evidence of why she thinks it.

3. Ancestry.com has more than indexed historical documents.

Nancy reminds us that “Ancestry.com is a fantastic resource for old maps, stories, photos, published county histories, and more. For example, looking at the old maps in their collections can reveal the true nature of an ancestor’s daily life, hardships, travels, and more. And your chance of finding early American ancestors is high in county histories: there were fewer people and early settlers were talked about, even if the family wasn’t wealthy or prominent.”

Here are some of Nancy’s favorite collections at Ancestry:

U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918

This collection includes nearly 7 million records extracted from about 1,200 county and land ownership maps from across the country. These are indexed by property owners’ names.

According to the collection description, “They also indicate township and county boundaries and can include photos of county officers, landholders, and some buildings and homes.”

Shenandoah Counties, Virginia - included in U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918

Example: Shenandoah Counties, Virginia – included in U.S., Indexed County Land Ownership Maps, 1860-1918

U.S., County and Regional Histories and Atlases, 1804-1984

This is a browse-only collection of “more than 2,200 volumes of county and regional histories from California, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

An Illustrated Historical Atlas of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, 1878 in the U.S., County and Regional Histories and Atlases, 1804-1984 collection

An Illustrated Historical Atlas of Manitowoc County, Wisconsin, 1878 in the U.S., County and Regional Histories and Atlases, 1804-1984 collection

In them you’ll find history, biographical sketches, maps, business notices, statistics and population numbers, pictures, descriptions of industry and business, stories of early settlement and pioneers, colleges and universities, military history, geography, and plenty of other details.”

Reminder: you can’t search this database by an ancestor’s name. Instead, look for places, and then start reading.

Historic Land Ownership and Reference Atlases, 1507-2000 

A collection of maps and atlases detailing land areas that comprise the present-day United States and Canada, as well as various other parts of the world. It contains a variety of maps and atlases created for different scopes and purposes, including land ownership atlases and bird’s-eye view maps.

Warrant Plan Records in the Historic Land Ownership and Reference Atlases, 1507-2000 Collection at Ancestry

Warrant Plan Records in the Historic Land Ownership and Reference Atlases, 1507-2000 Collection at Ancestry

Land ownership atlases usually show the names of contemporary owners or occupants of land and structures.

Some of the maps depict countries and wider geographical areas, while others depict counties, cities, towns, and smaller geographical areas.

4. Expand your search to the other Ancestry resources on the Web

Ancestry owns a lot of other web resources. Search these too! 

Nancy says, “They include Find A Grave, Fold3, and RootsWeb, one of the oldest online genealogy communities around. Don’t give up! Keep looking in other places for the information you want to find.”

Find A Grave

Search results from Ancestry.com do include Find A Grave entries. Many of these contain additional information about the deceased and links to their relatives. As always, be sure to confirm the information you find here.

Fold3

Fold3 is home to millions of U.S. military records. Ancestry.com subscribers can upgrade their subscription to include Fold3 access, or you can subscribe separately.

RootsWeb

RootsWeb is a free and long-lived family history web resource, now hosted by Ancestry.

“The primary purpose and function of RootsWeb.com is to connect people so that they can help each other and share genealogical research,” says the site. “Most resources on RootsWeb.com are designed to facilitate such connections.” You can use RootsWeb in a variety of ways: search it, contribute records, upload your family tree, post your family surnames on a board others can see, and more.

Ancestry has changed one of the ways RootsWeb users have traditionally connected: Mailing Lists. According to the website:

“Beginning March 2nd, 2020 the Mailing Lists functionality on RootsWeb will be discontinued. Users will no longer be able to send outgoing emails or accept incoming emails.  Additionally, administration tools will no longer be available to list administrators and mailing lists will be put into an archival state. Administrators may save the email addresses in their list prior to March 2nd. After that, mailing list archives will remain available and searchable on RootsWeb. As an alternative to RootsWeb Mailing Lists, Ancestry message boards are a great option to network with others in the genealogy community. Message boards are available for free with an Ancestry registered account.”

Learn More about Using Ancestry

Nancy Hendrickson’s Book

Nancy shares many more Ancestry tips and treasures in her Unofficial Ancestry.com Workbook. To get the most out of this book read the section on using the Ancestry.com Catalog. Nancy does 95% of her research in the catalog. The workbook is divided into topics, such as military records, so choose a chapter that fits your current goals. It’s also important to not just read the workbook, but also do the exercises. They teach you Nancy’s thought processes for how she finds specific answers or approaches certain types of problems. Then you can apply the same concepts to your own research. Don’t miss the chapter on social history. That’s where you’ll dig into everyday life. And finally, take advantage of the forms that are included. They will help you log your findings and analyze what you’ve learned.

Genealogy Gems Article

Browse-only collections at Ancestry and other genealogy websites are sometimes viewed as inaccessible, but they are actually a hidden treasure. Click here to read How to Find and Browse Unindexed Records at Ancestry – The Better Browsing Checklist. In this article you’ll learn how to access these browse-only collections at Ancestry and expand your family history research.

better browsing ancestry checklist

Read this article by Lisa Louise Cooke at Genealogy Gems

New Genealogy Records Online Include the Norway Census

New Genealogy Records Online Include the Norway Census

Genealogy Giants MyHeritage and Ancestry have both added 3 Norway Census collections to their databases, totaling millions of new records. If you have Norwegian origins, these census documents contain valuable details about your ancestors that have been largely unavailable online until now. Then head over to FamilySearch for a massive German records collection now available for free on their website. 

Norway Census Records

Both MyHeritage.com and Ancestry.com have recently released millions of new records from nationwide censuses conducted in Norway more than a century ago. It’s a treasure trove of information for anyone with Norwegian heritage. 

MyHeritage provided a press release that has great information about these Norwegian records:

“The collections provide robust coverage for Norway’s entire population during a span of two decades and include valuable family history information. While some former Norway censuses were conducted only in select trading centers, these records are more comprehensive. The 6.5 million new records document names, households, dates of birth, marital status, relationships, and residential conditions, making them vital for anyone wishing to explore their Norwegian origins. Their publication marks the first time that Norwegian record collections of such high quality and granularity are available online.

The 1891 and 1900 collections include digital images of the original census documents, while the 1910 collection is an index consisting of transcribed records provided by the National Archives of Norway. The 1900 census was conducted by means that were, at the time, innovative: punch cards, which were then sorted and counted using electric tabulating machines. Of the 2.3 million records in the 1900 collection, 1.9 million records now have digital images of the original documents associated with the census index. Images of the remaining records will likewise be connected to the index in the near future.

Norwegian privacy laws restrict public access to census data for 100 years. Consequently, the 1910 census is the most recent one available to the public. This collection stands out as the first census conducted following the dissolution of Norway’s union with Sweden in 1905. It is also the first Norway census to record full birth dates, rather than only birth years.”

MyHeritage Users: Click here to access the Norwegian Census Collection at MyHeritage.

Ancestry.com Users: Click below to access the Norwegian Census Collections via Ancestry.com:

German Records Online at FamilySearch

The all-free genealogy records site FamilySearch.org has added a huge records collection this week as well for Germany. The Bavaria, Middle Franconia, Brenner Collection of Genealogical Records, 1550-1900 includes over 2.5 million records. This alphabetical collection of family group sheets was compiled from records from 97 parishes in the area and was originally created by Tobias Brenner and others between 1918 and 1945. The records are written in pencil on pre-printed forms in Gothic German handwriting. 

Watch Finding German Villages 

with James M. Beidler

 

Learn more about the Genealogy Giants

“Which genealogy records membership website should I use?” It’s one of the most-asked questions in genealogy—and this quick reference guide answers it! The Genealogy Giants guide is the perfect tool to quickly and easily compare all of the most important features of the four biggest international genealogy records membership websites: Ancestry.com, FamilySearch.org, Findmypast.com and MyHeritage.com. Then consult it every time your research budget, needs or goals change. Tables, bulleted lists and graphics make this guide as easy to use as it is informative. Available in both print and digital download

Lacey Cooke

Lacey Cooke

Lacey has been working with Genealogy Gems since the company’s inception in 2007. Now, as the full-time manager of Genealogy Gems, she creates the free weekly newsletter, writes blogs, coordinates live events, and collaborates on new product development. No stranger to working with dead people, Lacey holds a degree in Forensic Anthropology, and is passionate about criminal justice and investigative techniques. She is the proud dog mom of Renly the corgi. 

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!

New Genealogy Records for Ireland & Scotland

New Genealogy Records for Ireland & Scotland

This Saint Patrick’s Day we’re highlighting new and updated genealogical collections for Ireland and Scotland! You’ll see new and updated records from Ancestry and Findmypast, with particular emphasis on newspaper additions including birth, marriage, and death notices. Plus Findmypast just released their new Irish newspaper archive of transcripts that were compiled by the celebrated Irish genealogist Rosemary ffolliott. 

Featured: Irish Records

Genealogy giant subscription website Ancestry.com has a new collection of Cork, Ireland, Marriage Licence Bonds Index, 1623-1750. “The original rolls from which the printed index was created are held in the National Archives of Ireland (formerly the Public Record Office of Ireland). A Marriage Licence Bond was entered into before a Bishop, prior to the granting of the Marriage Licence, with the purpose of ensuring that the impending Marriage was legally sound. Two solvent individuals (one of which was usually the bridegroom) entered into the bond for a stated sum.”

From this collection, you might discover your ancestor’s name, their spouse’s name, and the year and place they were married. 

Additionally, Ancestry has updated their collection for the Northern Ireland newspaper, The Belfast Newsletter (Birth, Marriage and Death Notices), 1738-1925. The Belfast News-Letter began publication in 1737 as the Belfast News-Letter and General Advertiser

This is a fascinating database because it chronicles almost two centuries of Irish history, including the Great Famine, the country’s own political upheavals, and World War I, when the paper printed long lists of death notices after actions such as the famed Ulster Division’s attack during the Battle of the Somme. Genealogically significant items researchers may find in the News-Letter’s pages include, amongst others:

  • death or memorial notices
  • notices from or about ships or passengers that arrived safely
  • people taking out game certificates
  • notices from trade groups or guilds
  • premiums paid
  • notices of executions
  • marriages
  • births
  • lists of sheriffs
  • announcements for ships that will be leaving

Irish Newspapers Update

Findmypast just released the Irish Newspaper Transcript Archive, Ffolliott Collection 1756-1850! Search this collection of Irish newspaper transcripts that were compiled by the celebrated Irish genealogist Rosemary Ffolliott. Discover if your Irish ancestors had their birth, marriage or death announcement printed in a newspaper. Each record includes a transcript and original image.

Additionally, Findmypast’s newspaper website, The British Newspaper Archive, has a new Irish newspaper and added additional pages to the following collections:

Scottish Records

Find your Scottish ancestors in Findmypast’s recent additions and updates to their genealogical records for Scotland. 

Dundee & Forfarshire (Angus) Hearth Tax 1691 – Use this collection to find out the number of hearths in your ancestor’s home, which can provide you with clues about the family’s wealth and status. In 1690, Parliament granted a tax of 14 shillings on hearths including kilns. Heads of households, landowners, and tenants were liable for the tax, only hospitals and the poor living on charity from the parish were exempt from the tax. 

People of Banffshire 1334-1851 – Explore more than 28,000 extracts that taken from original Kirk Session minutes. Responsible for parish business, and the morals of the parishioners, the Kirk Session was the lowest level of a church court and minutes typically contained a detailed account of the parish business.

Newspaper Death Reports – Uncover details surrounding your Scottish ancestor’s death amongst more than 72,000 death notices printed in Scottish newspapers between1807 and 1990. Discover more about your relative’s life, while searching these publications you may be able to find out the date of their death and the names of their parents or spouse.

Renfrewshire, Paisley Poll Tax 1695 – Search these Poll Tax records from 1695. Each record includes a transcript of the original record, the amount of information in each record varies, you may find a combination of your ancestor’s occupation and the name of their employer, spouse or parent.

About the Author: Lacey Cooke

About the Author: Lacey Cooke

Lacey has been working with Genealogy Gems since the company’s inception in 2007. Now, as the full-time manager of Genealogy Gems, she creates the free weekly newsletter, writes blogs, coordinates live events, and collaborates on new product development. No stranger to working with dead people, Lacey holds a degree in Forensic Anthropology, and is passionate about criminal justice and investigative techniques. She is the proud dog mom of Renly the corgi. 

Disclosure: This article contains affiliate links and Genealogy Gems will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on these links (at no additional cost to you). Thank you for supporting Genealogy Gems!

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