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My wife has been wanting to figure out where she comes from real bad for some time now, and being African American there are quite a few dead ends. She told me the other day that she was on the phone with Ancestry.com and they said for $100 they can go back 10 generations, different ethnicitys, country of origin, and find family online etc...Before we shell out this kind of money has anyone had any kind of luck with doing this?
you can buy a gift package and it doesn't keep applying monthly as a membership, just one fee, one time. ancestry is loaded with info. familysearch.org is loaded too. but free, with the two. i got back to 1640 with tons of info.. i like ancestry.com but just for the gift package, i would never get the membership
My wife has been wanting to figure out where she comes from real bad for some time now, and being African American there are quite a few dead ends. She told me the other day that she was on the phone with Ancestry.com and they said for $100 they can go back 10 generations, different ethnicitys, country of origin, and find family online etc...Before we shell out this kind of money has anyone had any kind of luck with doing this?
Topher, what are you trying to accomplish?
It sounds like you are talking about DNA, correct? That can indeed you give you a rough idea of countries of origin and match you with cousins who share your DNA. However, unless you trace your actual ancestors through such things as census records, you will not be able to determine how you and your DNA cousins are actually related.
DNA can be done not only through Ancestry.com but also through FamilyTreeDNA and 23AndMe. You will find more about those in other threads in this forum.
Yes, it is difficult for African Americans, but your wife may find there are more records than she thinks. Ancestry.com allows you a free trial to search and view its records. You do have to give a credit card number, but it is easy to cancel if you do not want to continue a subscription. Many libraries also have free access to Ancestry.com, but you will have to go to the library to use it.
There are some very good researchers here who could possibly help if your wife is willing to share the names and info for some of her dead ends. We call them "brick walls" and all of us have them.
It sounds like you are talking about DNA, correct? That can indeed you give you a rough idea of countries of origin and match you with cousins who share your DNA. However, unless you trace your actual ancestors through such things as census records, you will not be able to determine how you and your DNA cousins are actually related.
DNA can be done not only through Ancestry.com but also through FamilyTreeDNA and 23AndMe. You will find more about those in other threads in this forum.
Yes, it is difficult for African Americans, but your wife may find there are more records than she thinks. Ancestry.com allows you a free trial to search and view its records. You do have to give a credit card number, but it is easy to cancel if you do not want to continue a subscription. Many libraries also have free access to Ancestry.com, but you will have to go to the library to use it.
There are some very good researchers here who could possibly help if your wife is willing to share the names and info for some of her dead ends. We call them "brick walls" and all of us have them.
Agree. If you can post a few names for us to help with, than we may be able to break down a brick wall. It can't hurt to let us try.
Certainly doing one of the DNA tests that are offered can't hurt. People seem to have differing results with DNA, but it's one of those things that you have to try for yourself.
There are many companies that do DNA, so be sure to research them.
The DNA test can tell your wife what part of Africa her ancestry is from, but if you want to trace her actual genealogy, you'll need to do the document research with their names. Ancestry doesn't do that for you, it makes databases available and searchable.
As an example, I have African ancestry from my paternal grandmother's family in Puerto Rico, and these are the results I got back from Ancestry's DNA test:
6% African
- 2% Southeastern Bantu
- 1% Ivory Coast/Ghana
- 1% Africa North
- 1% Mali
- 1% Senegal
It gives a general idea of where my ancestors are from, but doesn't get more in-depth than that, but of all the DNA tests I've taken, Ancestry.com has broken it down the most.
What I think she wants to do is three tier
1. She wants to know where her family in the U.S. is. It seems that after her grand ma there isn't much information, and living in Michigan, and having her family originate in the south there seems to be some information missing
2. She wants to know approximately what part of Africa that her ancestors came from.
3. Knowing exactly what ethnicity she is. She knows that she is a bit of a hodgepodge of ethnicity, but she wants to know which they are.
What I think she wants to do is three tier
1. She wants to know where her family in the U.S. is. It seems that after her grand ma there isn't much information, and living in Michigan, and having her family originate in the south there seems to be some information missing
2. She wants to know approximately what part of Africa that her ancestors came from.
3. Knowing exactly what ethnicity she is. She knows that she is a bit of a hodgepodge of ethnicity, but she wants to know which they are.
DNA should help with questions 2 and 3. And, if any other family member is already in the DNA database than she may find cousins.
To answer question number 1 she will have to do the research, search through census, vital records, old newspaper, etc.
A lot is on-line these days. She should start with what she knows, and work her way back generation by generation. www.familysearch.org is a good place to start.
www.ancestry.com is an excellent site. It is a subscriber site, but is available for free on many public library computers. Spend a day at the library and enjoy the search !
Genealogy is not a short-term endeavor. My cousin and I have been at it for 20 years, and still don't have all the answers !
What I think she wants to do is three tier
1. She wants to know where her family in the U.S. is. It seems that after her grand ma there isn't much information, and living in Michigan, and having her family originate in the south there seems to be some information missing
2. She wants to know approximately what part of Africa that her ancestors came from.
3. Knowing exactly what ethnicity she is. She knows that she is a bit of a hodgepodge of ethnicity, but she wants to know which they are.
As mentioned, DNA will provide the answers for 2 and 3. As for #1, are you saying she wants to know where her family in the U.S. is now? Meaning, does she want to find living cousins? Or does she want to find out about her ancestors that came before her grandmother? DNA tests will help her connect with other cousins who have done the test but finding living relatives who haven't done it can be difficult. Learning the names and lives of ancestors from generations back can only be done with genealogy research, with records and documents. An Ancestry.com subscription will provide access to many of the necessary documents for this kind of research but she will have to do the research herself. If she does not want to do the research herself, she should hire a professional genealogist.
If she is going to do the research herself, the first places to look are the US censuses, which she'll likely find her grandmother listed on (assuming her grandmother was born before 1940) as a child along side her parents. This will usually provide her grandmother's parent's names, siblings, and approximately when and where they were all born, plus where they were living at the time of course. The US censuses can be found at Ancestry.com with a subscription but they can also be found for free at www.familysearch.org - (go to here for the censuses: https://familysearch.org/search/coll...us&countryId=1 ). If she is not ready to pay for an ACOM subscription, familysearch.org is the best starting point. The other thing to look for is her grandmother's death certificate in whatever state she died in (assuming she is deceased, since if she were alive, you could just probably just ask her what her parent's names are). This will usually also provide her parent's names as well as a more specific birth date/place for her grandmother. Death certificates are usually found at the state's Department of Health.
I hope that gives you and your wife some direction and starting points.
I suggest signing up for a FREE Ancestry.com account first. Then create a PRIVATE tree (there is no cost) adding whatever birth, marriage and death information she knows.
Note that information for any person listed as alive cannot be seen by anyone else, even on a public tree. I suggest making the tree private to start with though because she may not be 100% sure about some of the data she enters for deceased individuals.
Was her grandmother alive in 1940? If she was, see if you can find her in the 1940 census. You do not need a paid subscription to view and search this census: 1940 Census | Access U.S 1940 Census Records Free at Ancestry.com . When you find possibilities, don't just look at the summaries. Look at the actually microfilmed images for additional information. Once the family has been found in the 1940 census, it may be easier to find them in the 1930 census, then the 1920 census, etc.
I wouldn't take out a 2-week trial Ancestry subscription until this point and when time has been cleared to focus on family tree searches.
Also keep in mind that Ancestry makes some records available for free on holidays such as Memorial Day weekend and July 1.
As a general rule of thumb, usually the best place to start searching for one's roots, is to look at what information you already have first. It's probably more than you think. For example, old photographs may help pinpoint dates and locations. A date and place of death is useful when searching for an obituary in online newspaper archives. An obituary when found may list parents and siblings and provide other leads.
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