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Find your family story.

5 Tips To Get You Unstuck On Ancestry.com

10/2/2013

23 Comments

 
5 Tips To Get You Unstuck On Ancestry.com via 4YourFamilyStory.com"You want me to go look again?"
You did it.

And it was that commercial's fault.

It teased you.

"Your story is here," it suggested.

"Find out who you are."

"Sign up. Right now."

So you did. And, sure, you found some stuff, but you still don't know who the hell you are. Or who your family is, what everyone's story is, and you've got leaves shaking at you all over the place.

You're stuck out on your great grandmother's branch staring at those shaky leaves. How many Mary Smith's can there be in this freakin' world, right? With a sister named Martha?

No worries. Here are 5 tips to get you un-stuck while working on your family history mysteries on Ancestry.com:

  1. Use your noggin'. While the shaky leaves are meant to be helpful, they're just automated hints. And some are completely wrong and some are completely right. And some are in between so you need to know what you're doing before accepting those hints as if they are the truth and nothing but. Sure, look at them, but don't take them as gospel. Evaluate those automated hints. If the shaky leaf suggests your great grandmother is George Smith who was 78 years old when she had her first child, something is amiss. Tell that leaf, "You don't own me. And you obviously don't know what you're talking about. Duh." So? Look at the automated hint given and evaluate it before adding it to your tree.  And then move on to the next clue.
  2. Get away from your tree to search. Absence makes the heart grow fonder and it also makes for a healthier family tree. Sure, go through those automated-hints-shaky-leaves. And then do some searches using the search function in your family tree. But then totally get out of your family tree and go to the Search tab. Enter some information manually -- like first name, surname, and place of death. See what comes up. Look at it. Evaluate it. Do another search with slightly different information. See what comes up. Look at that. Evaluate that. Rinse and repeat. {Do the hokey pokey. Shake it all about even.} Sometimes the information you've entered into your tree is wrong and it affects your search results. Or? There's too much information and it's confusing all those Ancestry.com elves inside trying to figure out what you're looking for. So? Do some searching outside of your Ancestry.com tree. {I'm just kidding about the elves. It's really algorithms trying to read your mind, but I'm allergic to math and elves seem friendlier, no?}
  3. Step back! Get away from that main search box on the Search Page. Give those elves a rest and tell them where what you're looking for just might be. Once you've narrowed your search down to a location, look in that location's records on Ancestry.com. Here, let me rock your world. Go to the Search Page, and scroll down. See that U.S. map? It's totally clickable. Click on the state you think your great grandmother was born in, perhaps lived in, or died in. Or did just about anything {that would have caused a document to be created or warrant a shout out in the newspaper or something}. Remember, when it comes to finding stuff about your family {and their many secrets}, it's usually organized by location. So? Stop sticking stuff in that main search page, hitting that enter button, and hoping for the best for the 1000th time. Stop the insanity and start searching for records based on location. {Location, location, location.}
  4. Guess what? Not everything you need to solve your family history mysteries is on Ancestry.com. In fact -- are you sitting down? Not everything you need to prove your Great Aunt Bernice ran away with that carny is even online. Shocking, I know. But there it is. So the next step after exhausting Ancestry.com elves and leaves is to look elsewhere online. And my number one place to go after Ancestry.com is FamilySearch.org which is another online database that has record indexes and record images. And the best part? Totally free. And? After registering for free, you can even see digitized records {like death certificates} and print them out {or save them to your hard drive or whatever}. And, over there, follow these steps again. Over and over. 'Cause it's funny that on their search page you have to scroll down for the map too. However, it's not clickable. You choose a country and then state from the menu on the left to start your location-based searching. So? Get off Ancestry.com and search elsewhere for elves to help you out. Oops. I mean search elsewhere for stuff to help you document your family history.
  5. So then you're probably thinking, "Where do I go after I exhaust those elves, I mean, those two places?" Don't worry. I've got you covered on my Research Resources Page where you'll find links to both free and subscription-based sites that have a range of indexes, records, and resources to help you solve your family history mysteries. {So? More elves to exhaust.}

~Caroline

If you found this article helpful, please share:

23 Comments
Jeanie Roberts link
10/4/2013 03:27:49 am

I would add: use other peoples tree very cautiously. Don't believe everything you read there, I made this mistake as a newbie and I bet almost every newbie does as well.

Reply
Caroline Pointer
10/5/2013 04:19:45 am

Thanks for your tip, Jeanie! Always be cautious with every research hint everywhere.

And thank you for reading! =)

~C

Reply
Karlene Duval link
12/3/2016 01:36:27 pm

I agree that you need to be careful in using information from another's tree. My beginning genealogy efforts I created a lot of mess by just jumping on others tress.

Reply
Debbie
1/25/2018 07:58:31 am

My search has hit a brick wall because my family is from Italy. Would you recommend best sight to research for Italian relatives?

Reply
Barbara Stride
10/4/2013 02:58:32 pm

You bet Jeanie, I most certainly made that costly mistake, so as Jenaie says be aware and do take care.

Reply
Caroline Pointer
10/5/2013 04:20:55 am

Barbara,

Hind site is *always* 20/20! Thank you so much for stopping by and reading! =)

~C

Reply
Jim Reidford link
10/4/2013 07:57:18 pm

Caroline

That is some of the best advice I have seen in a long time. I tend to use searches on Ancestry to give me clues, if the results are backed up by 'paperwork' that is great. If not at least it points me in another direction to find 'good' results.

Reply
Caroline Pointer
10/5/2013 04:23:36 am

Jim,

Thank you so much for your kind words! Clues, clues, clues -- they're everywhere. We just have to remember they're clues {or conclusions made by other people based on something we may or may not have seen} and not facts.

Thank you so much for stopping by, reading, and commenting. I appreciate it! =)

~C

Reply
Barbara Schmidt link
10/17/2013 04:37:00 am

I totally agree on accepting the hints. Be cautious when it comes to hints from other trees. I have seen some of my old mistakes coming back to haunt me. Other people had taken MY data without checking and years later I found out I had a mistake in my tree. So I cleaned it up in my tree, but those old wrong entries in the other people's trees are always coming back as shaking leaves.. a bit annoying, I have to say ;)
I wrote a blog about "to share or not to share" which you can find at schmidtbarbara.wordpress.org

Reply
Linda Carter
4/29/2014 11:47:41 am

This too has been my problem. I want to tell all those people who copied from me -- "Look! this is wrong! Take this down!"

Reply
Caroline
4/8/2015 06:52:51 am

Hi Linda,

If only it were that easy!

Thanks for reading!

~C

Caroline
4/8/2015 06:52:17 am

Hi Barbara,

Thanks for reading and sharing!

~C

Reply
NV_Amber
10/29/2013 05:59:22 am

Your so right. My oldest likes to tease me and asks 'how many tabs you have open today Mom'. Those leaves can really be a world apart from the truth.

Reply
Caroline
4/8/2015 06:53:44 am

Yes, those leaves can lead us down the wrong paths, for sure!

Thanks for stopping by!

~C

Reply
Fred Buss
1/1/2014 09:28:59 am

I like your comments on your hints thing even as a clown for many years> caught up me and I fell for it. I have so many mistakes now it gets to me some time. But I am a member of Roots and Family search also and there is a few mistakes there too.
no Good as a volunteer for a library in Sun City Florida soon to start.
But I do know how to get people started on a computer in the library.
Thanks for all the information.
Punch the clown check me out on Facebook under .
Frederick C Buss Jr if you can find time and see allthe Genealogy sites I check
thank again Caroline

Reply
Caroline
4/8/2015 06:55:20 am

Hi Fred,

If you're a clown, then I'm a clown. We all make mistakes when we start out anything. Genealogy is nothing different. But it's the learning from our mistakes that is the most important, I think!

Thanks for stopping by and reading!

~C

Reply
Kell_W
1/13/2014 02:02:28 am

May I add 2 things? 1. Google 2. The library that may hold your ancestors' obituaries.

I was getting nowhere (on Ancestry or FamilySearch) with my mother-in-law's family until I did a Google search and found they were from a very small, hard to find group of Hungarian Germans.

Obituaries on microfilm helped me find the parents of my gg-grandfather, as well as which county (in Ireland) he was from and when he became a citizen.

One last quick thing: To ensure you have the right person, start with the most uncommon name and go from there. 'John' and 'Mary' are a dime a dozen, and you could end up with the wrong family entirely.

Reply
Caroline
4/8/2015 06:56:49 am

Great tips! And, yes, use Google search and unique names. They can be time-savers and break open your research for you.

Thanks for stopping by and reading! And thank for sharing your tips!

~C

Reply
Jacqueline Dager
2/15/2015 04:45:35 am

Sitting in the middle of the latest New England blizzard I decided as a newbie that advice was needed just as more and more records open up before me. Thank you for your wise advice. I just wanted a signpost saying been there done this! So glad I foun this post?

Reply
Caroline
4/8/2015 06:58:42 am

Hi Jacqueline,

Thank you so much for your kind words! Yes, sometimes all we need is confirmation that we are on the right path and I'm glad you were able to get that from this post.

Good luck with your research!

And thanks for reading!

~C

Reply
Ochena link
4/7/2016 10:57:17 pm

"Discover How to Research & Create Your Own Unique Family Tree!"
Ever Wonder Who You May Be Related To? The Answers Just May Surprise You!
www.geneology4u.com

Jenny
6/15/2016 09:18:52 pm

Caroline, thank you so much for your helpful tips! They are tremendous! Sometimes I feel so lost with all the leafs and the billion kids with matching names, but different dates, etc.etc.

I had one question. When you have already reviewed a hint and it gives it to you again, what do you do with it? I think your options are to save it again, remove it, or ignore it. What is the proper way to get rid of that leaf without duplicating info, or other problems. Thanks so much!

Reply
Caroline
6/15/2016 10:08:17 pm

Hi Jenny,

Thank you so much for your kind words. I really appreciate them!

All you have to do is select "Ignore It" and the leaf will go away.

Thanks for stopping by and reading!

~C

Reply



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