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Ancestry.com anyone else feel like this is a rip off?

Posted on 6/26/16 at 5:20 pm
Posted by tduecen
Member since Nov 2006
161244 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 5:20 pm
So I did the month long subscription...
I inputted my information, my parents, my sibling, and even my grandparents... however the damn site could not give me anything more...

I had to go and search for the information and without my parents, this was rather hard to do. Both sets of grandparents are dead so I could not ask them about their parents.

Even after talking with my parents trying to figure it out I was only able to go to my great grandparents and some of my parent's uncles/aunts. I thought this site would help you fill in the pieces once they had enough information.

Was a waste of money imo for a month.
Posted by Tuscaloosa
11x Award Winning SECRant user
Member since Dec 2011
46681 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 5:22 pm to
I loved it while I was subscribed. I could see it not being worth it if you run into problems like you described. Thankfully, there was an abundance of information available for my family, and the holes that were there were easily filled by asking other family members. Was able to trace my family all the way back to the early 1500s. It was pretty sweet.
Posted by GaryMyMan
Shreveport
Member since May 2007
13498 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 5:24 pm to
I use it to help me run ancient title. Sometimes you don't know where a probate is recorded until going on ancestry and tracking down where they lived/died. It's only as good as the input - like Wikipedia - so if you have some crazy genealogy-obsessed cousin who does all the work, then it could be great.
Posted by tigerfan84
Member since Dec 2003
20349 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 5:24 pm to
I have relatives and that's their biggest hobby. I guess if it's your hobby then it's not a waste of money.
Posted by Jim Rockford
Member since May 2011
98335 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 5:25 pm to
It all depends on who else has been doing work on common ancestors. Someone you don't know who has the same great-great grandparent may have traced the line back five generations and put it online, so you don't have to do anything. If no one in your family tree has done that, you're SOL.
Posted by ZekeTheTeke
Member since Sep 2014
1242 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 5:29 pm to
My aunt is obsessed with genealogy so ours is pretty informative. On one side of the family we went back to a marriage certificate from the early 1600s and the other side went back to the signing of the Magna Carta
Posted by Calvin Candie
The Cleopatra Club
Member since Dec 2014
485 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 5:31 pm to
The way you're wanting the site to work, isn't how it works. You need to be searching for the oldest grand parent you can think of. If other relatives haven't started a tree, it's going to really hard to get anywhere.

Posted by Titus Pullo
MTDGA
Member since Feb 2011
28567 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 5:35 pm to
My great-great-grandmother on my father's side and my second cousin, twice removed, thought it was a ripoff too.
Posted by LSUBFA83
Member since May 2012
3372 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 6:10 pm to
If you want to use ancestry.com for free you can access it at your local library.
Posted by lsuwontonwrap
Member since Aug 2012
34147 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 6:13 pm to
I did the 6 months and lost interest after 3 months. I hit a dead end. It sucked. I don't really have the desire to travel to God knows where to look up newspaper articles about people who died 100 years ago. Life is for the living!
Posted by Tiger in Texas
Houston, Texas
Member since Sep 2004
20897 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 6:53 pm to
My wife just got it a few weeks ago & has learned how to affectively use it. She was able to solve a lot of issues on her mother's side and already went back to the early 1800's on her dad's side.
I already have my dad's family info. when they came over from France, but I am going to see how good she can do with my mother's side. Judging by what she has already done, I can't fault Ancestry.com at all...
Posted by CenlaLowell
Alexandria, la
Member since Apr 2016
1016 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 7:02 pm to
From experience you can only go back so far, especially if your black, I was trying to trace my roots back to Africa, but stopped at 1908 with my great(3) grandfather as a servant. Interesting yes, worth the money probably not.
Posted by Evolved Simian
Bushwood Country Club
Member since Sep 2010
20621 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 7:03 pm to
OP, you're doing this wrong. Ancestry.com is a shared database of genealogical research. You have to be able to provide enough information to tie yourself into some existing research. If you didn't get it from your immediate family and didn't want to put in the effort to go online and look at census records or something, you shouldn't have expected anything out of it.
Posted by Ancient Astronaut
Member since May 2015
33162 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 7:08 pm to
The people who sign up do all the work. IT's genius.
Posted by Master of Sinanju
Member since Feb 2012
11368 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 7:17 pm to
There are tons of free sites. Are the pay sites worth it?
Posted by TheWalrus
Member since Dec 2012
40747 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 7:19 pm to
Glad I read this thread, had no idea this was a DIY project.
Posted by dantes69
Boise, Id.
Member since Aug 2011
2022 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 7:52 pm to
Just go and join the Mormon Church, they will do it for you
Posted by Choctaw
Pumpin' Sunshine
Member since Jul 2007
77774 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 7:58 pm to
I was thinking about using it but my grandfathers family changed their name when they moved here from Germany so I'm not sure how much luck I would have
Posted by TheWalrus
Member since Dec 2012
40747 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 10:32 pm to
Now I'm getting ads for that site and Alzheimer's care. Target ads courtesy the OT.
Posted by gthog61
Irving, TX
Member since Nov 2009
71001 posts
Posted on 6/26/16 at 10:35 pm to
I am not sure why anybody cares past 3 or 4 generations anyway.

"Yippee, I am kin to someone interesting 6 generations ago!"

Yeah, and that is 1/64th of your DNA.

Go back 10 or 15 generations and everybody is kin to damn near everybody else anyway.

works going into the future too In 6 generations you will have contributed 1/64th of your descendants' DNA

A single person is as significant genetically as a rock tossed in a river.
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