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You are here: Home >> Posts >> Family >> Is Ancestry.com Worth It? My Ancestry.com Review

Is Ancestry.com Worth It? My Ancestry.com Review

January 16, 2011 By Tricia 12 Comments

Before I decided whether I wanted to promote Ancestry.com, I wanted to really try it out myself so that I could give it an honest review. I’ve always been interested in my ancestry, but I never thought that I would have any luck tracing it. Here are just a few things that I was up against:

  • No relationship with birth father
  • No relationship with adopted father
  • Live in a different state than my whole family
  • No family records (bibles, newsclippings, etc) at my disposal
  • Little chance of making it to cemeteries in other states to get information
  • Family members with foreign last names that were changed

So as interested as I was in Ancestry.com, I had little hope that I would get anywhere with it. At the urging of my daughter (who was doing a genealogy project for school), I signed up for a trial account. Within 3 hours, I had traced part of my family tree back to the 1400s in Europe! How is that possible?

I started by entering the names of my parents and grandparents. I was able to call my grandmother to get just a couple more family names. As soon as I entered those, Ancestry.com started giving me “hints” of other family trees to which I might be connected or various documents that had been scanned in that might contain my relatives. As a result of following each of those hints, I was able to add generation upon generation until I found some really cool information, including that I can join the Daughters of the American Revolution through my grandmother’s family and that I am a descendant of not one but TWO famous pirate women.

In part I got lucky because I was able to tap into trees that are already on Ancestry.com. I wasn’t able to do this for every single branch of my family tree but about 80% of it between both me and my husband’s families. I was able to view original documents like the passenger manifesto of ships, census records, and military papers.

Grandmother Brainerd Ancestry.com

Grandmother Brainerd

I know the image to the right is hard to see in the scan (old scanner!), but it is of an elderly woman sitting next to a spinning wheel with a dog jumping up on her lap. I’ve had this picture for years in a box of old stuff and knew only the name on the back was “Grandmother Brainerd.” I didn’t even know if I was related to her or if the picture got picked up at a garage sale! Thanks to Ancestry.com, I was able to figure out that her name is Charity Brainerd, she is my 5th great grandmother, she resided in Ohio, and she lived from 1785-1878. How amazing is that?

The only real negative to Ancestry.com are that it is a monthly subscription service and that there is so much information that you can spend hours and hours in there if you have common names in your family. But at the same time it is so fascinating that you WANT to spend the time there. And the reason to continue to pay the monthly fee is that they are always adding more documents. They range from official government documents to college yearbooks. True story, we found articles about my husband’s grandmother on there from her college yearbook.

I don’t want to quote you a price because Ancestry.com has different packages and options. But you CAN get an Ancestry.com free trial. You have nothing to lose and 30 days to figure out if you will be able to find enough information to make it worth your time and money. And if you are like me, you will be wondering why you didn’t start sooner!

Thanks to Maria Tsirikos-Poirier for fixing the picture for me!

Ancestry.com Picture

About Tricia

I'm a pretty ordinary mom who tries to cram a whole lot into my life every single day. I started as an attorney and eventually became a blogger, affiliate marketer, and business owner. My two daughters keep me on my toes by being both completely like me and nothing like me. You can follow me on Twitter @sunshinetricia.

Comments

  1. Ancestry says

    February 19, 2013 at 10:13 am

    I’m tempted to grab a subscription but their plans are a bit confusing and I want a deal. Any recommendations on finding a promotion or discount?

    Thanks Tricia,

    Julie

    Reply
  2. Venetia griffin says

    January 6, 2012 at 8:50 am

    Well iam looking for my grandmother on the griffin side of the famliy ,they are from hattiesburg mississippi if you any information on that family please text.

    Reply
  3. Hedy says

    January 17, 2011 at 11:41 am

    I really should try Ancestry one of these days-I always want to wait until I have time. My second cousin is wicked into it, and she always has cool stories wgen we see her.h
    .-= Hedy´s last blog ..Fabulous Online Groupon Today- January 17- 2011 =-.

    Reply
    • Tricia says

      January 20, 2011 at 7:28 am

      If you have a family member who already has a tree in there, it will be even easier for you to get started than most people.

      Reply
  4. Julie says

    January 17, 2011 at 10:50 am

    We had tried the free trial about a year ago and found out so much information about my husband. Hi mother was born in the US, and we traced back from there that his Great Grandfather (times 6) was Daniel Boone. Yes, THAT Daniel Boone. It was crazy cool.
    .-= Julie´s last blog ..Grill Charms As Seen On Shark Tank =-.

    Reply
    • Tricia says

      January 17, 2011 at 10:53 am

      @Julie That is amazing! Sounds like you need to do an Ancestry.com review yourself! I haven’t found anyone famous yet except for the lady pirates, but they were pretty cool as well.

      Reply
      • Julie says

        January 17, 2011 at 1:13 pm

        I want to know more about the famous lady pirates!
        .-= Julie´s last blog ..Grill Charms As Seen On Shark Tank =-.

        Reply
        • Tricia says

          January 20, 2011 at 7:27 am

          Lady Mary Killigrew and Elizabeth Trewinnard: http://www.undertheblackflag.com/2009/12/lady-mary-killigrew-and-elizabeth_28.html

          Elizabeth Trewinnard shows up in my family tree and this article links the two of them together as relatives, so I guess I am related to both. Both were lady pirates around the 1570s!

          Reply
    • Mary says

      September 19, 2012 at 2:06 pm

      Well, I must be related to Julie’s husband because Daniel Boone is my fifth great-grandfather on my paternal grandmother’s side!

      Reply
  5. Lisa says

    January 17, 2011 at 9:43 am

    That is awesome! I have a cousin who did this for my family, but I am amazed at how much you found!

    Reply

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Hi! I’m Tricia

How do you craft a short bio when everything in your life feels random? That's what this site is all about--the randomness of being a mom. I look for deals, write about my kids, and try to connect moms with information they need. Tell me what you are looking for and I will help you find it! Read More…

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