How to Search on Ancestry.com

[@robynjohnson5750]

Thank you! Your videos are easy to listen to and follow along with and I always learn two or three new tips/secrets from each one. I appreciate your help!

[@GenealogyTV]

Wonderful!

[@joelwolski]

Great info. One thing that I'm discovering is super important when searching is spelling variation. Ancestry already will search common "sound-a-like" variations, but I have certain surnames that are spelled in records outside the scope of what Ancestry looks for. A search for Dearborn will include Dearborne, Dearbourn and Dearburn, but it will not include Darbon, and I have found entire family groups under this spelling. I've gotten in the habit of adding multiple variations to the last name field in searches (I've used as many as 11 in one search) and find it can expand the results by 10% or more. (Yes, it does increase the number of irrelevant matches, but it can find some that would otherwise be hidden.) This also applies to transcription errors. Ancestry doesn't look at what's in the record, only what has been transcribed from it, either by computer or person. I would recommend that as spellings variations are discovered in records, they be recorded in a special section of the research notes. (I keep separate notes on surnames with info like origins, meanings, spellings, etc.)

[@GenealogyTV]

Great idea.

[@danielmorin6140]

Thanks for another great video. Like you I'm a heavy user of "open in new tab". Many people don't realise that the scroll wheel on their mouse can also be clicked on a link to open it in a new tab. At least it works in Chrome.

[@GenealogyTV]

Great tip!

[@Reyne-fb7mj]

Excellent reminder for using the card catalog. That is precisely how my generation found info and resources for our class research papers.😊

[@GenealogyTV]

Wonderful!

[@staffansvard]

Always great to be reminded of all the different ways. You get stuck in the ones yuo use the most.

[@sherimc4869]

Great idea to right click - Open a new tab! THANKS❣️

[@GenealogyTV]

Yeah... I learned that one from the great Crista Cowan.

[@shelbybaltzley3960]

I learn so much from your videos... Ancestry is my go-to for 90% of my research and I usually feel like I navigate pretty well. I have so many "new" things to try!

[@GenealogyTV]

That's awesome! Go for it.

[@lucielou7745]

Every time I try card catalogue even for ancestors who are reasonably easy to research I come up with nothing.. I just can’t figure it out

[@user-ec7bh8ld8w]

I just started watching the videos. You have a lot of really good helpful tips. I can’t wait to try them out. Thank you.

[@GenealogyTV]

Glad you like them!

[@KeatingChick]

As per usual for me, I don't have the fancy menu items yet in my tree view. No Beta hints. Lots of great search info! Thanks Connie! Have a great weekend!

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks... They removed some of those items right after that video was published. I hear they are working on it and it will return soon.

[@AlannahRyane]

Firstly thanks for confirming that what I do most times intuitively is the correct process and secondly for that active button tip!!

[@GenealogyTV]

Glad it helped!

[@kplante7881]

Thanks for sharing…!

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks for watching

[@Rocadamis]

Another great and helpful video! Thanks Connie. I especially like the Card Catalog search. I will use this.

[@GenealogyTV]

Glad it was helpful!

[@patranye]

Great information on how to drill down into untapped records. Thank you!

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks... and thanks for your continued support of the channel.

[@lynnedean713]

YES!! Thank you Connie. Again a brilliant video and now I feel I am doing things right. You gave lots of new ways to search records. The first thing I do is ignore member trees in the hints that come up. Apart from the trees are often mistaken, I want to find the records myself. I am doing my ex's tree and have managed to go back to his 10th generation in many of his ancestors. My only criteria is a birth, a marriage and a death record in each ancestor, or, if it is really way back, like 1600/1700s, a birth or death record is acceptable but a marriage is a must as it validates the "child" of that marriage for the ancestor I already have on the tree. I will look at hints but I have to double check them myself and, of course, some of the hints have nothing to do with my person. I only admit defeat if I have a name and find many persons of that name, sometimes in the same village and I cannot discern which one is the correct one. I just enter the name as an ancestor with no information. Thank you yet again.

[@GenealogyTV]

My pleasure

[@debbeb4499]

Thanks for your continued great work with your videos, Connie. I agree that viewing family trees of other members should usually be reserved for a last ditch effort to find information, but sometimes a person will have tracked down a record that I did not find, so it can be a useful resource. I have a question for you, though, Connie. About a year ago, Ancestry started to show only 3 family trees when I click on the family tree hint, regardless of the number of trees that actually have that person (with the same vital dates etc.) in their tree. Do you know if there is some setting that causes this? I can, of course, do a general search and see other trees that way, but for a quick peek, it’s nice to do it from the hints.

[@GenealogyTV]

I'm assuming you are talking about member trees. I have more than three when searching from the hints or the ancestors profile. I'm not sure why you are only seeing three. I rarely use member trees, only as a last search after I have done the document research.

[@debbeb4499]

@@GenealogyTV Yes, member trees. As I say, I used to have more than three show up, but now it is only three. I'm with you on the reluctance to look at other trees. Too many people put too much incorrect information in too many places. I've made mistakes myself, of course, so I know how easy it is to do.

[@liannejohnson8193]

Thanks Connie. I was on hints most of day yesterday and having trouble copy and pasting the record into my surname folder on Google. It was clumsy, or maybe it’s me that’s clumsy. Great video this is a keeper.

[@GenealogyTV]

Thank you. And thank you for supporting the channel.

[@martihastoolittletime1204]

Excellent video! I love your explanation about how one record from a data set may already be in your tree, but there might be more from that data set that doesn't show up when the "active" button is on. I actually use the record hints to find record collections that I might not consider even looking in. For example, one of my ancestors had a record hint from records at Auburn State Prison. I looked at it and yep, he's my guy. I decided to see what other records might be in that set, so went through the Card Catalog to that actual set of records, did a search with just his first and last name, and found another record where he had been reprimanded for talking. There were other records for guys with the same name, so looked at them, but the dates/ages/etc didn't match my guy, so pretty sure those are not for my guy. But if they had been my guy, I would find them. Now that I knew where my guy was for the specific time he was incarcerated I realized he was there during the 1900 US Census, and sure enough, there he was and the information in that record just reconfirmed this was my ancestor. So a really great find that I probably wouldn't have thought to look at if not for the hint.

[@grantfahlman1815]

Connie, thanks so much; this was both helpful and informative!

[@GenealogyTV]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Scdudley725]

Great information. Thanks for sharing

[@GenealogyTV]

Glad it was helpful!

[@masonm240]

Can you PLEASE do an updated video on different online and offline programs for tree BUILDING. Ancestry's interface is ruined by things like LifeStory. I just want to find a tree builder that is simplistic and clean looking while still having the option to add sources that can be attached to facts well, like FamilySearch. I REALLY wish that FamilySearch had trees you could make that don't connect to the global tree, so you can research first and then add to the collaborative tree later. I really like the setup of Familysearch.

[@thehistoricallyadequatesea4395]

Active/Inactive is a new hint for me, never noticed it! Thanks ; ) and am I the only one who thinks DAR and SAR records are less useful than TP?

[@maureenhewett333]

Excellent video, as always!

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks

[@JDAnnyInskeep]

I'm watching your video and you have my great grandmother Elizabeth Ferguson and my great grandmother is Elizabeth Jane Wade. Sam Ferguson is mine to we have to be related.

[@GenealogyTV]

I have three Eliz. Ferguson's. One Elizabeth Ferguson 1785-1682, two America Elizabeth Ferguson 1835-1875, three Sarah Elizabeth Ferguson 1779-1829. I do not have an Elizabeth Jane Wade or Sam Ferguson... yet. :)

[@carlthornton3076]

Very Good!... #23 ✝ {10-6-2023}

[@phyllis610]

I see a lot of my relatives in your tree. I would live to see how we are related. How would I find your tree?

[@GenealogyTV]

I’m sure my tree would pop up in your hints, maybe.

[@phyllis610]

What is your tree called? How would I know it is your tree? Thank you for all your helpful videos .

[@ginagaladriel]

I thought if you click "don't ignore" it will go to "undecided" hmm that's new

[@randywallis-vd2ez]

I despise other members trees because most don’t have and documentation for their information.

[@Mistydazzle]

I am thinking that this may be because they don't have subscriptions and just clicked on they Ancestry suggested direct lines, which is about the only thing you can do without a subscription. Occasionally, Ancestry will give a non-subscriber a carrot in the hints and allow saving that to your tree. Here's one for you... hundreds of Americans have a certain ancestral couple, in their trees, that they go back to in Colonial America. Yet, I have not found one of those to ever have any record to prove that this couple is valid! The couple is just there, with attributed birth locations from England - but, no proof.

[@chadr2604]

It only works for the last 100-150 years. I reckon there is some really bad record keeping. Church records are usually better if you go back earlier than 1850

[@Hellfrolic71]

I watched your video last week, and later I kept thinking the name Zachariah Nixon. So I had to get up at 2am and look in my tree. I have Zachariah Nixon in my tree, but going back to your vid, it showed Keziah Nixon, not Zachariah? Anyway, I wonder if my Zachariah Nixon of Pasquotank is the ancestor of the Keziah Nixon in your video. I get weird feelings like that when I do genealogy. Like people are talking to me (not trolling btw).

[@GenealogyTV]

I have five Zachariah Nixon's in my tree. They're birth to death dates are... 1798-1855, 1684-1739, 1661-?, 1640-1691, 1744-?

[@jonewkirk-hornecker3761]

Connie, I'm a Channel Member, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to access this handout. I just keep going in circles, clicking where it seems to indicate members should go. Help me understand?

[@GenealogyTV]

Hi @Jo Newkirk-Hornecker. Thanks for supporting the channel. Handout links are in the membership tab on the KZbin channel. Go here kzbin.infomembership

[@BennettRussell]

I have a question I would like to ask. It is in regards to census records. Do realize in this video, you are talking about another subject. I do not know if you have preference where to ask questions if another subject. I did a census comparison for the father and son. Throughout the years, everything matched. From name, street address, dates and family members. The fathers middle name is Merrill and the sons middle name is Darius. But on the 1930 census, they have the same middle initial. So would it be proper to make an edit on the 1930 census to request to make a change on the name? I had screenshot, but I do not see how one can attach images to their post.

[@GenealogyTV]

I would click on the name in the index and make the change, but only if you are absolutely sure you have it right.

[@debbiewhite6484]

How do I create a family tree for my husband has a Christmas gift

[@GenealogyTV]

Well, you can start one on Ancestry or some other place. If you want to publish it, you could use something like Storied, or Ancestry also has publishing.

[@danielamunoz7313]

Hi! I have a question, I did not met my father, can I use ancestry? I am from Colombia but I am interested in buying ancestry for a while

[@GenealogyTV]

I would start with AncestryDNA... to see if you get any close connections.

[@user-ec7bh8ld8w]

When searching from my tree, a potential mother popped up with a red square next to her last name when I clicked on it to preview and went over to the right under the information for records, photos and family I clicked on family and all of her children, have yellow boxes out beside their names, except for the last one, which Has a red square after his name does anybody know what this is? Why does the red box appear

[@GenealogyTV]

Ancestry is getting ready to add a new tree checker feature. You might be seeing early access to this. Look at the dates. Is there a child that was born after the mother died? Perhaps those children are from a different marriage?

[@claudiofunchal1392]

What happens when you link your dna matches to your family tree on ancestry?

[@GenealogyTV]

It shows a little icon on your tree.

[@freedmm3122]

How canone correct name spelling on acensusrecord?

[@GenealogyTV]

Click the index then the name and edit.

[@elizabethcollins8817]

Do you only see all the new tools if you signed up for a membership?

[@GenealogyTV]

I took some of them down. I think you’ll have them once it comes back.

[@sherimc4869]

How can you search if Social Security # is found?

[@GenealogyTV]

There is a SSN field in the SSDI search fields. On Ancestry go to Search>Card Catalog>enter SSDI in the keyword field and hit search. You'll get two record sets. Open each one separately in a new tab (right click) and then scroll down to the SSN field and search that way.

[@JDAnnyInskeep]

Elizabeth Ferguson b 1734 Ireland d Armstrong Pennsylvania not sure what year and not sure where in Ireland married Daniel Archibald Elliot b 1732 Warwickshire England d 1784 Chesterfield South Carolina.

[@GenealogyTV]

Must be a different line. I don't have those same people. My Eliz. Ferguson's have different birth and death dates.

[@JDAnnyInskeep]

@@GenealogyTV maybe it's her Aunt I'm not sure.

[@Hadassah-KaquoliMReno]

I don’t trust Ancestry, my grandfather was Cherokee and Ancestry said that I didn’t have any native blood

[@freedmm3122]

Cherokee dosent check mongole