Is Ancestry worth it ?

[Susie Q]

Hello All,

I'd welcome your opinions on whether Ancestry is worth the money ?
I've never begrudged what I've spent on SP ( and it is considerable ! )
No doubt, ALL ...TS members are in the same boat.My nose ALWAYS gets the better of me. I've held out for a long time with regard to Ancestry, but I do find it frustrating when I finally track down some elusive relative............only to have that blasted " pop-up " asking for my card details, soooooo TS members, what do you recommend ? Should I finally succumb to the temptation, or haud oan tae ma purse ?

Cath

[sheilajim]

Hi Cath,

Why don't you wait till one of the Free Trial Offers come out again to find out if it will be worth your while to subscribe.

Regards

[Heather]

For what this is worth, I do have a UK subscription and feel it it worth while. I have used my Ancestry subscription to sort our some issues that I just could not solve via Scotland's People without buying (and buying more credits.

Here's an example. I was looking for a 1881 Census for a CALLAGHAN family that I suspected should be in Ayrshire. I'm not terrific with wildcard searches on Scotland's people and had to search for quite some time on Ancestry. The family was located but the spelling used on the transcription was KELLACHER. Not in my wildest visions would I have ever thought that would be even a far fetch for the spelling of this name. I only located the family by doing a search for one of the children in this family, their first name, estimated year of birth and location of birth. I don't know if I ever would have located them by just searching Scotland's People. Perhaps someone can direct me on this ?

- a satisfied Ancestry subscriber - I do feel that I get value for the subscription price.

Heather

[SarahND]

Hi Cath,
If you just want to look up your immediate ancestors, the subscription may not be worth it. However, if you're like me and can't resist looking up all the siblings and their children, the neighbours, and the families of your ancestors casual acquaintances Then a subscription definitely makes sense! I have got so used to instant gratification wherever my curiosity takes me, that I don't think I could do without it any more I would agree with Heather that the flexibility of the search is one of the strong points-- I'm always frustrated that I can't search just on a first name, or just a date and place on other sites.

All the best,
Sarah

[winslowsmom]

I have learned a lot on Ancestry, and I think a two week free trial is definitely worth the money

But please keep in mind when you are looking at the One World Tree part that it is just stuff that people have submitted, some accurate and helpful, and some wild leaps of imagination.

My favorite part now is the draft cards, with physical descriptions.

Its also great for the ships lists to Boston and other ports, since not everyone who came (went) to America arrived at Ellis Island.

It comes down to how flush you are. No more expensive than a dinner and drinks, and lasts a lot longer. But if you are pinched, and make a list first, you can get everything you need in 2 free weeks. Then sit on pins and needles until the next free trial comes up. (they always do - keep a list
of what you want to look up then)

After reviewing my response, I suppose I should add that I have never bought their membership. I have never begrudged a cent I gave to SP, even on bad guesses on my part, but I won't give them at Ancestry one penny. They steal your information, twist it around and then try to sell it back to you.

Cathy H
California

[paddyscar]

Hi Cath:

You may want to check with your local public library, as they may have a subscription to Ancestry.com, which you could use at no cost. You may have to book a computer station ahead of time, but you would be able to judge if it's something worth getting for home.

Our local library has it available on all the in-house computer terminals, but they do not provide us access to it from home.

Frances

[Tracey]

When i need to, i subscribe to .com (World membership) not .co.uk and last time i did it by phone (on the U.K number on the web site), they are very helpful. Some people have lots of gripes against Ancestry re taking your money if you fail to give them notice when your sub is due to end and you need to renew it but all you need to do is keep a date in your diary to cancel it which you can also do by phone, if like me you prefer to talk to a person.

[kenspeckle]

I think ancestry is well worth getting on a casual eg a month at a time basis and doing as much as you can within that time frame I find I keep coming back though as its an obsession

I get the world deluxe from time to time but if you purchase from ancestry.com the USA branch rather than ancestry UK or ancestry AU its much cheaper especially for Aussies

I paid $30 AUD for a month to world deluxe and it would have cost me $59 in the Ancestry Australia I did ring to ask why some time back and was told that is the price in Australia so now I just go to USA when I want a months access and I am not about to argue with them as its in my favor ......do the math yourself and compare
the default setting takes you to the country you live in BUT
when you go separate search to eg ancestry.uk
its £24.99 a month = $52 AUD for world deluxe
ancestry.au its $49.95 a month for world deluxe
ancestry.com its $24.95 USD a month = $26 AUD !! for world deluxe 24.95 USD =12.6108 GBP
I dont know why its different pricing but its the same product
I use http://www.xe.com/
for currency conversions

[Hugo]

If you take up the free subscription / trial period, remember:-

YOU MUST CANCEL IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO CONTINUE WITH ANCESTRY.

A friend only realised this after money was taken out of her bank account.

[mallog]

It's a question I keep asking myself and never get a satisfactory answer but the month sounds a good idea.

For Scotland I like SP but the when it comes to very common names it really requires a visit to Edinburgh. Our library has the 1881 Census. All I have to do is persuade them to get Ancestry