My Most Used Ancestry.com Tricks (SOME YOU MAY NOT KNOW ABOUT)

[@AncestryAimee]

Let me know your favorite tricks! ☕Send me some suport for the price of a coffee: www.patreon.com/aimeecross 📧 Join my email list ancestryaimee.com/get_emails

[@zhubajie6940]

Always check the pictures. Even my mom's high school picture was wrong. She was the one next to the one shown. :D

[@AncestryAimee]

That’s hilarious! Thanks for the reminder! I can’t say it enough… always look at the image of any record!!!

[@catzenhouse]

In my senior h.s. yearbook they switched my name with the person next to me. So Ancestry has continued the mistake despite my asking them to correct it. (Also other mislabeled names and info in You Tube from the yearbooks.) It has happened with several other people I know as well. And Ancestry continues to ignore the problem.

[@BrendaGarcia-vi8og]

I'm new here. And it is overwhelming! Thank you for the tips that is going to help me a great deal. And it seems like everybody had at least 12 kids! And siblings!

[@AncestryAimee]

Haha! True! Glad this is helping. 😃

[@DaveForrest]

I use the same technique you showed for adding a parent then merging with duplicate. Must make sure you merge with the correct duplicate. I have many instances where cousins in my tree have the same forename and surname and even born around the same time. So, before I merge, I temporarily prefix the forename with an x, then merge, then delete the x. eg, in the case you showed, I'd change the name of the target person to xElmer Quam. In fact, I do that for any time I might need to merge two people where it's a common name in my tree.

[@AncestryAimee]

That’s a great suggestion! I’ve marked the extension, place where you would put senior or junior sometimes when I have that situation. Thanks for mentioning that!

[@knockshinnoch1950]

Me too! It can get really confusing at times- especially where several kids in the same family shared the same name- infant mortality was of course high and our ancestors were great at recycling names when the next kid of the same sex came along!

[@gerry8558]

great idea! t5hank you

[@kimberlynalda]

Wow. I'm just getting started so I will admit a little overwhelm from this video but I can tell that you REALLY know what you're talking about and I'm sure that you are tremendously helpful to your clients!

[@AncestryAimee]

Thank you! I’m doing a video that’s more basic you might like next week. Check it out!

[@Thicks27]

Same!!

[@judystevens3149]

When was Robert Collins married to Lizzie Mayes?

[@tedblack2288]

I have been using Ancestry extensively for over a decade. My family tree has grown to more than 30,000 people. I had already discovered most of your tricks, but did learn a few refinements. Thanks.

[@AncestryAimee]

Glad there was something in there that benefited you after all your experience!

[@emilyrivera8952]

And mine was reduced by I don't know how many. My sister took a DNA test which I thought we had the same father turns out we do not 😮😢😮😮

[@AncestryAimee]

@emilyrivera8952 I’m so sorry. That’s a tough one and happens more frequently than you might guess.

[@faustbos]

I like your search of census for a name in a particular area. I've done similar things with street names. Having an Italian last name, you can almost be sure they would be spelled wrong. I have managed to find the streets in the census where I know the ancestor lived (based on phone directories). You do have to do a fair amount of eye balling, but it is effective. Also, as a general rule, I also look up and down the street to see if I recognise names. I learned that my dad's girlfriend when he was kid lived across the street from him. I actually knew her, as she and my dad spent her last 30 years with him. I found her living across the street just by eye balling the name. Italian families always knew others from the old country and they tended to congregate in the same area and in fact same apartments. You never know what you might find, when you don't know exactly what you are looking for.

[@AncestryAimee]

Great additions!! Thanks for adding your thoughts. Love how you’re searching the streets the way you are. Appreciate your comments!

[@mysterj1]

Fun video! In particular, your census evaluation tip and using the search screens to include/filter relevant data gave me ideas for searching for some 'lost' 2x great grands!

[@AncestryAimee]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks!

[@richardgore1692]

Just watched this video and I am so glad that I came across it. The hint on census evaluation is a HUGE help! Thank you for posting these videos :)

[@AncestryAimee]

You are so welcome! Glad they are helpful. 😃👍

[@jamistardust5181]

This was great I've used Ancestry for 5 yearsand You showed me some things I didn't know and I'm going to start using.Thank you for explaining things I previously may have avoided using as much as I could have.

[@AncestryAimee]

Wonderful! So glad to hear it’s helped you!

[@nanfrostsfashionfocusstyle6250]

Such a good tip about adding address and neighbors in the description field when adding census record. So good. Also, I have saved this to review again. LOTS here.

[@AncestryAimee]

Thanks Nan! Glad it’s helpful!

[@cathyhughes991]

Thanks for the tip on census evaluations

[@AncestryAimee]

Any time!

[@marilyncarey7957]

Thank you. I be been using ancestry for over 15 years and still learnt new stuff! Especially how to get rid of that side record box. I know I’ve accidentally stumbled on records with the old layout but have never known how it happened or how to do it deliberately. I especially want the description box when adding records. There were other tweaks that make the processes I’ve been using for years more streamlined. Thank you very much again.

[@AncestryAimee]

Love to hear it! Particularly when you’ve been using Ancestry for so long! Glad the video has helped!!

[@AncestryAimee]

Sorry I missed visiting with you live! I was off on the time zone! I’m hanging with two of my amazing kids and four granddaughters! What I’m most thankful for this Thanksgiving - love my fam!! Happy Thanksgiving!!

[@lynnscott9657]

You give a lot of great ideas and it’s very helpful to be able to follow your cursor. I’ll never remember them all, but I’ll save your video.

[@AncestryAimee]

Thank you! So glad it’s helping.

[@gerry8558]

Hi Aimee, Thank you for this video I cant find my Family and had almost given up but know i will watch you video and also subscribed i was so impressed Gerry from Canada

[@AncestryAimee]

So glad it’s helped you Gerry! Good luck!

[@susanboon4605]

I work on my tree, and those of friends and extended family, on a daily basis, but you still showed me some tricks! (I also am not fond of the change where the hint shows up to the right!) I will use that card catalogue tip from now on. In your opinion, are there some "brick walls" that can only be overcome by searching through the actual documents in the town involved? My GGGrandfather was born in Baltimore, and I have the name of his parents from his marriage licence in Scotland, as well as his father's trade (got to love those Scots!). However, I have not been able to find any record of them or their marriage. Granted, the surname is Parker, which is quite common, but I haven't found any internet-accessible source for that in the Baltimore area. Should I start dropping hints to my husband about a trip to Maryland?!

[@AncestryAimee]

Yes! A trip is always fun but to save money be sure you have exhausted all resources. Look on FamilySearch and be sure to check the wiki pages for genealogy and historical society’s. You can check out my playlist on FamilySearch for those types of resources if you aren’t familiar with them.

[@AncestryAimee]

And glad you got some new tricks out of the video too!

[@pinwheelgrl9304]

I have been using Ancestry for a very long time and didn't know some of this! That tip about looking for more same-name people in the census - it's a big problem in my tree, thank you!

[@AncestryAimee]

Love to hear that! So glad it’s helped you.

[@brendaashton6428]

Thank you Aimee for the tips on card catalogs and attaching images. I have a couple of roadblocks and have my fingers crossed that the card catalog will help provide answers.

[@AncestryAimee]

I hope so too!

[@evfusion4094]

Thanks Aimee - a great video. Particularly liked your trick seven; will definitely be using that one now.

[@AncestryAimee]

Fantastic!

[@afnDavid]

Searches begin at the card catalog.

[@AncestryAimee]

I haven’t done that in the past but I know others do. Thank you for adding that. It’s a good thing to share with everyone.

[@stevelaursen1691]

Hello. Should you believe the headstone or the SSDI. Thanks

[@AncestryAimee]

That's a tough one. I've seen both wrong. I would look for a death certificate and obituary to see what they say. The death certificate is probably the most reliable.

[@LSAMace]

can you find what county in NC Grey B. Johnson from Laurel County Ky. was born in? 1850 Census Greay B. Johnson (Mary Traugerson wife) 25 years younger, Jinsa Traugerson, old lady born around 1780. - all were from North Carolina, can't find the county to save my life.

[@AncestryAimee]

We would need to dive in with a lot more detail. Why don’t you sign up for coaching and we can look at things carefully and talk about next steps. You can sign up here: www.patreon.com/aimeecross

[@Kptiger82]

I have a 2nd great grandfather that I have with different middle names but same birth dates and death dates and places. How can I prove that it's the same person or different person. This is very confusing. Any suggestions

[@AncestryAimee]

I would keep evaluating records. Different records have different qualities and are more reliable. Do you want to think about who provided the information. And people did list different names and different records so that means your big deal. But I would also check to see if there happen to be two individuals by that name that lived in the area just to be sure. Just look at census records, and all other types of records to check for a possible duplicate that has been confused. The birth record might apply to one in the death record to a different person, so you just want to make sure that two individuals haven’t been erroneously combined.

[@mountaintophomestead7662]

What is your perspective about adding documents for living persons? My general concern would be privacy. Do you have any advice or cautions for this?

[@AncestryAimee]

That’s a terrific question. Yes. You do need to be cautious with living people. I generally don’t upload documents for living people for privacy reasons. I have uploaded pictures occasionally but usually don’t tag them within the photograph. There are many documents though that are public record for living people. I don’t hesitate to add those to my tree. Hope that helps.

[@yahccs1]

Thanks, I once wondered why the records I had already seen didn't come up on searches because I wanted to recheck them and see alternative possibilities on the same census. I've been reluctant to save records to the tree on Ancestry and preferred to download the images and make a note on the computer about which ones I have saved, but then started uploading a few as images on the profiles so others seeing my tree can see what I found. It still has not answered my issue on how to remove a relationship link without removing a person from the tree, but almost - about adding the unknown parent then merging, the problem comes when the person originally added as the father is found out to be not the real father but is still on the tree (and his parents, siblings and children!), so deleting him can't be the answer. There must be a way to edit relationships somewhere...?!

[@AncestryAimee]

You can edit relationships by going up to the top and selecting relationships. Then you can either change it to step parent or remove that person as a parent altogether.

[@yahccs1]

@@AncestryAimee Thank you very much, I had not yet noticed the 'edit relationships' option. Very useful! It's just that this person was born 2 years before her mum married the 2nd husband and she had put her mother's 1st husband's name as her father on her marriage record, probably just to cover up the fact she was illegitimate. Now I'm sure the 1st husband couldn't have been the father after all as he died years before she was born - but I still have DNA matches descending from people on his side... it makes sense with his children as they are half siblings of the main person I'm talking about! The possible DNA match descending from the 1st husband's sister may be a problem... she's not related unless he really was the father (or his father was?) and the death record was wrong or the daughter was a few years older - all unlikely! More likely a wrong Thru-Line or they are related some other way on nearby branches of the tree! Anyway this part of my tree has been rather complicated to work out, with lies on records about ages - and her father's name it seems!

[@LennyLacey]

since on my moms side, we go back only to my grand father in the USA-- before that its all italy... will ancestry help me there?

[@AncestryAimee]

It can. I would also check FamilySearch and myheritage.

[@LennyLacey]

@@AncestryAimee thank you Aimee

[@ridif]

Very helpful, Much thanks ! Greetings from Italy

[@AncestryAimee]

Glad it was helpful!

[@yahccs1]

I don't see where Ancestry shows how many people are on a tree (it's hard to find!). MyHeritage says how many there are which is useful to know how close to that limit it is. I wish at the top it would say how many are on my tree. My DNA matches would know because it would say 'public linked tree' and how many people are on it. I think there also ought to be somewhere which lets me know if I have 'floating' people's profiles on my tree that are not connected any more - so I can either re-attach them somewhere or delete them, e.g. if I had added the wrong family by mistake and corrected it by deleting those people and missed some of them so they are still there on the tree list but not visible on the main tree. When I decided to split my tree into 4 separate trees one for each grandparent (because the whole file was way too big) by deleting the great grandparents on the other 3 sides I thought that would delete those entire branches of the tree but no - I had to spend ages deleting everyone on those branches one at a time and checking the list so see if I had missed anyone. It would be great if the GEdcom file for the whole tree could be more easily split into 4 or started from a different 'home person' and sub-set Gedcoms created that ignore the other lines. Just so the cousins on one of those sides can see the part of the tree that is relevant to them. Maybe that's too complicated, but it's really time-consuming making copies of the original tree and deleting all the profiles on the other 3 sides...! Anyway, since my DNA results could only be attached to one tree I had to reinstate the original big tree and attach them to that instead of using those 4 separate trees.

[@yahccs1]

Oh OK sorry, I found the number now, it's on the tree overview where it says Summary and there's 'people' and a number. Not as many as I thought I had, perhaps I have lots of potential parents and possible siblings I could add but don't want to until I'm sure they are correct. Some uncertain ones are already on there anyway with '?' after their names!

[@AncestryAimee]

Yeah, that is true about the DNA matches. You can do some of what you were talking about with Family Tree Maker. You think your tree and make the changes in the program and then put it back up on Ancestry

[@JP-zn9dw]

I found my grandfather in 2 census records - he was visiting someone and was counted there as well as at home.

[@AncestryAimee]

Great example of that! Thanks for sharing it!

[@alanheadrick7997]

I need tips and tricks for a Japanese person that was adopted with 180 matches, best one is a 3rd cousin. I mapped as many matches as I could, also added in 23andme matches, I found 4 clusters. I also looked at the ethnicity, parent1 is 1% Southern Japanese, for parent2 6%. This is a little more sketchy to get much from. Any idea when the parent 1 & 2 will be finished? I have tried to dig in the names to find any groupings but nothing. I looked at X DNA and most of those matches are Chinese. I looked at Haplogroups, no other matches are C1a, The only matches in the C Haplogroup are six distant Chinese matches.

[@AncestryAimee]

I think you’ve done a great job. And that is more than a tip or trick. I don’t have many dna videos but youtube.com/@FamilyHistoryFanatics do. The issue is a lack of dna tests in Japan and China and I don’t know when that will change. I would upload your dna to gedmatch, findmypast and myheritage too to search for additional matches. You don’t need to retake the test, just download it from Ancestry and you can upload to the others for free.

[@deborahpitts03]

Hello, I have ran into a brick ball trying to find some senses records for my ancestors. I have some inconsistencies with birthdays. How do I find out which is the right birthday for my ancestor that I’m looking for on ancestry?

[@AncestryAimee]

That’s a perfect question! Census birthdates will definitely vary. Don’t let that concern you. It kind of depends on what type of her record you have. The best records for birthdates are birth records. Then the quality just varies. I often analyze the first census record that they were in and see where they were in comparison to the other children in the family. Birthdates after that can sometimes vary greatly.

[@SueC56]

I didn't know about the different ways to save census record info.

[@AncestryAimee]

It does really help doesn’t it?!

[@janineslifeofadventure]

How would merging work with my great Grandmothers who are sisters on my maternal line?

[@AncestryAimee]

Not sure who you’re trying to merge.

[@elegantlightstudio2223]

I have been going through old newspapers on microfiche and gathering obituaries. Is there some place that would be good to submit those too to get indexed? I am currently uploading them to Find A Grave, but I am not sure that is the best way to get this information cataloged. Thank you!

[@AncestryAimee]

What a great question! Adding them to Find A Grave is wonderful! Be sure to cite what paper, it's location, date of publishing, and page number too. You could also add them to the FamilySearch tree. That is a stable platform that should be around for many years where people could find the information. You can also add them to Billion Graves. Finally, you can add them to Ancestry in your tree - images like that get picked up by others. If they aren't in your family tree that makes it more difficult on Ancestry. The FamilySearch tree is a collaborative world tree, so theoretically there should be only one individual in the tree that the obituary would be for.

[@JesusIsLoved-wn2hr]

How do you keep pictures or documents that are uploaded to stay in the tree. I have uploaded my birth certificate and it never stays.

[@AncestryAimee]

Interesting. Maybe they are rejecting the content as it pertains to a live person? But I think I have done that. Are you not saving it and completing the process?

[@JesusIsLoved-wn2hr]

@@AncestryAimeeI don't understand about completing the process

[@AncestryAimee]

After you upload you have to click save and attach it to people.

[@sharonolsen3814]

Thanks for the great tricks!

[@AncestryAimee]

You bet!

[@jylromain6439]

My issue with finding my great-grandfather back in 1905 was that apparently, the census taker copied the info from the previous census from 1900. My great-grandfather had died in 1901.

[@AncestryAimee]

That happened! I’ve seen it before. So frustrating!!!

[@SwampCat96]

Great Show and Happy Thanksgiving

[@AncestryAimee]

Thank you! Happy Thanksgiving!

[@randywallis9624]

Amy I have been researching my mothers family on Ancestry when I came across my 4th g grandfather Enos H Morgan (1818-1862) there is a star just above and to the right of Morgan* something like this. It’s on several locations can you tell me what it means? Thanks Randy Wallis

[@AncestryAimee]

I’m not sure where you have seen that. Perhaps on someone’s tree? I do something like that when I want to note someone for some reason, and have seen that in others trees. Some people do that for direct ancestors so they stand out in other tree views. That kind of stuff was more common before the tags Ancestry created but many have left it. Without seeing the context it’s hard for me to give you a good answer.

[@CarolinaCarolina-ph9mx]

I don't know about others, but I have started adding a * to my direct ancestor's names so I can follow my direct line with a glance in the tree view - instead of scratching my head if I go sideways and down the pathway of one of the 10-20 children far too many of them had. I know you can do tags, but you have to actually click on the people to see a tag. I wish Ancestry would make direct ancestors stand out in the tree view. They could put bold lines around the names, or maybe even give us a choice of a background color that we would like to color-code our direct line ancestors. Something, anything, otherwise, without an *, everyone blends together.

[@AncestryAimee]

Good suggestions Carolina!

[@JT1358]

​@AncestryAimee I have heard elsewhere that adding extraneous characters to a name messes-up the search algorithms

[@AncestryAimee]

It doesn’t as long as you put it in the suffix box. That doesn’t affect the algorithms. You can even put emojis there.

[@KittyS-gg5gd]

Our last census was NOT completed and is useless, or will be when its available.

[@AncestryAimee]

Not sure which census, the 2020? They wait a number of years for privacy purposes. The last census we have access to is 1950.

[@ejrees589]

If I change the privacy settings on my tree, will it block photo and other items that someone has accepted when the tree was Public. I have someone who thinks a great Uncle of mine is her Aunt's husband and the only original document she has does not have the correct name or other information on it. She has liberated all my family photos and information. Thinking of starting over on Ancestry to removed all she has done.

[@AncestryAimee]

No. That won't work. Once a photograph is out there, you can't pull it back. Sorry!

[@ejrees589]

@@AncestryAimee Thanks it is time to build a new tree.

[@stlmama7643]

I find it aggravating that family photos I posted originally in my tree’s gallery are then picked up and posted by others (which is great), but every time someone else posts my picture it shows up in my hints. So many duplicate hints of my original photos. I love sharing these photos with others, but not sure it’s worth weeding through all of the duplicate hints that it causes.

[@JT1358]

That's also the downside of making your tree public. It's great to share stuff, but if there's mistakes in there they will be copied too.

[@JohnLumpp]

Good tips. Thanks!

[@AncestryAimee]

You’re welcome!

[@lorrieborder]

Thank you!!!

[@AncestryAimee]

You're welcome!

[@ejrees589]

Instead of adding a "new father" why not go to the son / child and change the relationship naming the father as his father. Then there is no need to merge the two fathers?

[@AncestryAimee]

Great question! That works too. I do the merge thing when there are multiple children. It saves time - not having to change all the children.

[@Sandra13688]

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!

[@AncestryAimee]

Happy Thanksgiving to you too!

[@lionwings2781]

Valuable information! Thank you so much.

[@AncestryAimee]

Glad it was helpful! You’re welcome!!

[@em4steam896]

Happy Thanksgiving!

[@AncestryAimee]

Same to you!

[@KittyS-gg5gd]

But affording to purchase all the documentation is impossible for the average citizen.

[@AncestryAimee]

It’s frustrating, but so many free resources exist.

[@ejrees589]

Thank you!

[@AncestryAimee]

You're welcome!

[@brettcole84]

The teeth are really distracting All I hear is you trying to talk through those things

[@AncestryAimee]

😁

[@davidworsley7969]

Far too fast delivery, put me right off.

[@AncestryAimee]

Thanks for sharing your opinion. I do talk quickly - some like it, some don't. You can also slow down the speed if you desire by clicking settings on the bottom of your screen and reducing the audio speed. I do appreciate you letting me know though!

[@wolfgangfreeman3928]

Tricks and trees wtf is going on here. And are we all being dooped here.

[@AncestryAimee]

🤔

[@charlesportervoice5262]

beware they charged me $23.00 a month for there service. I used one time for about an hour over 12 months period. Then they charged me $25.00 to cancel about the monthly charge

[@AncestryAimee]

Ancestry is expensive. You can access it for free at most public libraries and LDS FamilySearch centers.

[@wolfgangfreeman3928]

Hi Charles my name is Wolfgang. I wanted to get with this whole ancestry thing for along time. " AS soon as I sent my DNA in I had a bad thought. What if there just telling me something they already knew. And what if they tell me something I didn't making me more interested.

[@quigleymp]

You did such a great job with this video. I learned a lot from you. Can't wait to watch more of your videos. Thanks so much...Patty🩷

[@AncestryAimee]

Thank you Patty! So glad they are helping you.