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ANCESTRY.COM

© Christine Sievers

The comments I have heard about an Ancestry.com subscription vary greatly. Some people have found it valuable, and others not so. It all depends on what you are looking for. As with all growing sites, new data is being added on a regular basis.

This month is the perfect time to see if their member databases are something that you need. You can get a free month's member ship at http://www.ancestry.com/promosplash.htm.

From their home page navigation is easy. The first thing you will see is their search engine. Choose a database to search (I found the one that is for person's names the most comprehensive), enter a first and last name, or just a surname, and choose the state or any. It will pull up a multitude of information. This information is either free (f) or subscription based ($). Searching your surnames this way will help you decide if there is enough subscription based information available to make a membership worthwhile.

Ancestry.com does provide a lot of free information. Scrolling down their main page, you will find the free searches. Of particular value is the SSDI (Social Security Death Index), the White Pages ( a way to search for people's addresses and phone numbers), and their extensive collection of maps.

Of all the sites I have been on, they have the most extensive list of articles and reading material online. You will find these further down the page under "Reading Material" and "Research." Their reading resources cover everthing from beginner information to genealogy computer information. Their research section, also, contains downloadable forms. This alone is worth a trip to Ancestry.com.

Next on their home page are Internet communication resources. They provide free email, chat rooms and bulletin boards.

Give yourself a month to explore the member services, then decide if the subscription is something for you.

TIP OF THE WEEK: Do you have a box full of recent photographs? In the effort to get myself organized, I keep this box next to my computer. When I am waiting for pages to download, I pull out photos, and write the date, place and peoples names on the back. A tedious job made easier by tackling it one picture at a time. It is amazing how quickly you can forget where and when these pictures were taken, so it is not good to wait too long for identification.

NEXT WEEK: In honor of Black History Month, I will being doing an article on the Internet resources available for Black genealogy research.