Genealogy - Ancestry Database (Library Edition): How to Search Ancestry

More Information Is Better

• The more information you have in hand the easier it will be to find records in Ancestry
• Talk to your parents, grandparents and other relatives. Ask them for information you do not already know, (It is a good idea to verify information, anyway.) Ask them to share records, if they are willing. Ask them if they remember the names of their own parents; if they know where their parents were born, lived, died and got married.
• Pay attention when you visit graves on Memorial Day; write down information on headstones.
• Listen carefully when older relatives tell stories; make note of references to a great-uncle's uncle. Ask questions of your great-uncle - who was this uncle?
• Write down names, dates and places of birth, marriage and death. Use the forms provided by Ancestry - Library Edition.

Click on Ancestry Library Edition!

You can also go to the A-Z Databases link on the library home page.

Scroll down (not very far! Ancestry begins with an A) and cick on Ancestry.com in the database list

Click on Search

There are two search links: one in the black Tool Bar, and the green Begin Searching button on the home page image

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The initial search screen displays. Only the name, place and birth year fields display on this first screen. To fill in more fields you would want to click on SHOW MORE OPTIONS. Notice the lists of record categories on the right.

 

 

 

Fill the search fields with whatever information you know about a person. In this case the user knows the first, middle and last name of a relative, and the state in which that relative lived. The user is uncertain of the birth year (though it really would be best to guess.)

 

 

Click on the orange Search button. The image below shows the results of this search. (Be forewarned; Ancestry has an odd relevance-sorting system. You will not see the exact same results each time you repeat a search.)

• On the left you see the search criteria with an Edit Search option underneath. You can click on this and use the Show More Options option to add or change search terms. 
• Below, on the left, you see record categories. You can limit your search to specific types of records by clicking on one of these categories.
• On the right you see the search results. One can probably safely discard the record for George Angus. (You will see records with names, places and dates that do not match your search terms. There are good reasons for this.)

 

 

 

Click on the first entry from the Search Results. This record is from Find a Grave, a separate database that is now owned by Ancestry, but still has its own website. You can navigate directly to that website or you can stay within Ancestry, relying on the transcribed information.

 

Clicking on this entry will pull up the following:

 

The researcher knows that the relative's wife was named Harriet. The date of birth is plausible - the person was an old man in the 1970s. (A birth year of 1870 or 1945 would indicate a false hit. Keep your common sense hat on when doing genealogy.)

So now the researcher knows the DOB, POB, DOD and POD. In addition she knows the place of burial, the wife's maiden name AND the likely names of the decedent's parents. 

As you work with Ancestry and pull up different kinds of records you will want to learn about those records? Who created them? What country, state or county generated them? Who wrote down the information? What events did they describe? What information do the records provide?

Find-a-Grave, as noted above, is a database that depends on the work of volunteers. Field workers take photos of headstones and transcribe the information from the headstones. In many cases they attempt to establish relationships between individuals buried near each other. Be careful. In genealogy, things are sometimes not what they seem. Find-A-Grave volunteers try to be accurate, and they will make changes if mistakes are communicated.

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The researcher will go back now to the Search Results. She knows that someone named Lyle Alexander MacKellar married someone named Harriet Gillesby. She saw an entry for a marriage record but ignored it because the marriage took place in Indiana. She wasn't wearing her common sense hat - marriages often take place away from the place of residence. Indiana and Michigan are close. So she clicks on the marriage record in the Search Results

 

 

This record verifies the names of the groom's parents. Excellent. However, it provides transcription information only. Often you can view the actual record in a separate screen. This entry displays a grey image with the words No Image Text Only Collection. 

If one really wants to see the record one could Google Indiana Marriage Index. The Indiana State Library website displays a list of links. If you click on Indiana Marriages, 1811-2007 you will be redirected to the Family Search website. FamilySearch is a very good genealogy database and it is free. It is an excellent supplement to Ancestry. It is free but you will need to sign up for an account. Remember your user ID and password.

Sometimes you may have to access a state's Office of Vital Statistics website and request a record. Be careful - READ the instructions. Pay attention to date ranges and information concerning who can request what types of records.

Viewing Original Records (FOLD3 means you can't)

The researcher goes back to the Search Results.

 

 

The researcher selects the record from U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men

 

 

The researcher can see the information that was transcribed from the draft record. This information is on the right. There is an image on the left that says View Original Record on Fold3. Uh-oh. The researcher does not have a subscription to Fold3. Fold3 is a paid subscription database created by the National Archives and the Library of Congress. The researcher does not want to pay for Fold3. When she clicks on the image she gets the following:

 

Viewing Original Records - Success!

When the researcher does a search on Lyle's father, William John MacKellar. In this case she is able to pull up and view the original draft records

The researcher can view the transcribed information on the right. To her delight she sees the word View in green on the image of the draft record. No mention of Fold3. She clicks on the image.

A scanned image of the original record appears. The red arrow on the right indicates where one can change the size of the image.

You may also experience frustration with obituaries. Most obituaries in Ancestry are drawn from Newspapers.com, another database owned by Ancestry. One has to subscribe to Newspapers.com separately in order to pull up images of obituaries or other articles from old newspapers.

Limiting Your Search By Adding Additional Information

Click on Show More Options when you are at the initial search screen, The following screen will display:

 

Click on Father, Mother, etc (right after Add Family Member) in order to add the name of a parent, sibling, spouse or child.

Click on any of the events listed after Add Event in order to enter the place and year of an event. The image below shows the expanded fields if you click on Marriage

 

As you progress in your research you will be able to add more and more information to your searches.

 

Match All Items Exactly - Yes or No?

You can click on the box next to Match All Items Exactly. When you see search results with names, places, dates, etc that do not match your initial search you may be tempted to use the Exact Matching option. 

Ancestry lists results that do not necessarily match. This can be a good thing

• Your ancestors did not spell their names consistently. Sometimes they could not spell at all
• Census takers spelled names the way they thought best. Sometimes they had to spell unfamiliar names phonetically
• Census takers sometimes misheard names and other information
• Clerks sometimes misspelled names or entered incorrect information
• Record transcribers sometimes misread written information
• Ancestors might have gone by different names. Sometimes they went by nicknames or middle names
• Families and people can be complicated. A Brooklyn police officer, rising in the ranks, insisted he was born in Brooklyn; a ship's passenger list and earlier census records show he was born in Scotland. A young man, orphaned as a baby, raised by his mother's sister and her husband, gives his uncle's first name and his own last name as his father to the clerk recording his marriage. His wife, also an orphan, lists her employers as her parents.

 

Limiting to Specific Types of Records

When you are searching you will always see the option to limit by record category.

 

 

You can click on any of these links to limit to a record category. If you click on Census and Voter Lists only U.S. and state census records and voter lists will display. If you choose this category you will see a list of decades. Click on a decade to limit results to records created during that decade.

At this point you should be able to follow the researcher's example and try some searches on your own. Be prepared to experience some frustration. Be prepared to study records, look for clues, read, think, guess, and search again. Read the information provided by Ancestry's Learning Center and look at the links provided on this guide, under the How to Do Genealogy tab.