From: Ann Avery Hunter

Vicki,

I rarely look at any of the submitted family trees at Ancestry. I think
you're ignoring the fact that they have many, many databases of scanned
original records - the U.S. census and the U.K. census, both with every name
indexes; passenger lists, WWI and WWII draft cards, passport applications
(many of which give the place of birth and father's name), historical
newspapers, original vital statistics, directories for cities and
organizations, abstracts of land and probate records, family and local
history books, etc. The list goes on and on - over 25,000 databases.

If you find a census record with the name incorrectly indexed, there is a
feature to submit a change. I've done it several times, and they they do add
your corrected name, usually within a couple of weeks.

I love going to libraries too, but most of us don't have access to the
libraries that we need.  I did for many years, but I can tell you that
sitting at home looking at the digitalized and enhanced census records beats
the heck out of reeling through dim and often unreadable microfilm.

Ann
---
Ann Avery Hunter
Winston-Salem, NC


Ann,

My first year of doing family research I did
without Ancestry. My second year I used Ancestry
only because I bought their Family Tree Maker at 
Sam's Club for $40 that included a free year of
their service. 

I did not ignore the fact that they have over 25,000 
databases and searched them as well as the trees 
submitted. I never had any issues with their census 
indexes. One time I did with HeritageQuest
and they corrected the problem as soon as it was
brought to their attention. 

All I was stating before was that Ancestry 
never assisted me with any documentation that 
I needed. Documentation that I was able to acquire 
using Google searches (later verified through court 
docs) I could not find in any of their databases. 

Also you don't have to physically go to a library 
to take advantage of their resources. Contact local 
libraries in the areas that you know your family 
to have live in to see if they have any works in their 
reference department concerning them. If they do, 
for a small copy & postage fee they will gladly 
mail it to you. I know because I was able to acquire 
two such informative publications on my family in 
such a manner without traveling to West Virginia. 
Neither of these publications were listed in Ancestry
either.

I guess that by using simple tools with success before 
trying Ancestry that I might have expected too much 
from them. I got what I paid for considering that I 
didn't pay anything for their service that year. 
Just because it wasn't a good tool for me doesn't 
mean that I don't think it could be a good tool for 
others. I do think that they should know that the
25,000 databases narrows down greatly when you
are searching for a specific person in time and place.

One last thing, I've found that the best investment 
that I've made was in a digital camera with a
document setting. It saves time and money copying
docs in courthouses as well as copying pages
from reference books in libraries. 

Good luck and happy hunting to all.
Still Searching, Vicki in Virginia

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