Ancestry.com Class 1
I. Ancestry Search Techniques
Take a few minutes to explore Ancestry’s home search page. First, use the drop
down menu and select Search all Records.
Explore by Location
Scroll down to Explore
by Location and click
on a state to see the
place pages. Note the
kinds of records
available.
You can also explore
the records available
for UK & Ireland,
Europe, Canada and
Australia & NZ.
Card Catalog
On the right hand side
note Special
Collections in the card
catalog. The Card
Catalog can be
accessed from here or
from the drop down
search menu at the
top.
Search
On the Search form,
toggle between the
basic and advanced
search. Note the
additional fields in the
advanced search.
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A basic search comes up without filters. The really good stuff is in the advanced
form. If you are doing a search for a common name you can get millions of results.
So how do you keep that under control?
Go to the search all records on Ancestry.com.
In the advanced search enter the name John Smith.
Search
How many results did you get? __________
Go back to the main search page.
You need 4 basis pieces of information:
1. first name
2. last name
3. A location (birth, lived in, etc.)
4. birthdate (use a spread of a couple of
years if you check exact year)
You can edit the search in the upper left
hand corner.
Let’s say John Smith was born in 1890 and lived in Virginia.
Add that information.
Search
How many results do you get? __________
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You don’t have to go back to the search form every time. Look in the
upper left hand corner to locate edit search.
Let’s say the first problem were trying to solve is location. Go down to
the bottom of the search form to collection priority and choose United States.
Search
How many results do you get? __________
Edit search again and choose show only records from this location. Notice
that you can also restrict the search to Historical Records, Family Trees, etc.
Choose just Historical Records.
Search
How many results do you get? __________
Let’s make the search results even smaller.
Go back to edit search.
In the location we want to only see records of a residence in Virginia.
Under location click on use default settings.
Restrict to this place exactly.
Search
How many results do you get? __________
Go back to edit search.
Let’s say John Smith lived in Goochland County, Virginia.
Click on default settings, then select county/ adjacent counties.
Search
How many results do you get? __________
Go back to edit search and restrict the results to this place exactly.
Search
How many results do you get? __________
II. The Catalog
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The Ancestry card
catalog is the location
of all the Ancestry.com
data bases. Use the
drop down menu to
find card catalog.
If you know the name
of the specific data
base you are looking
for you can type its
name in the Title box
on the left or if you
just know a keyword or
two you can type it in
the Keyword(s) box.
You can also use the
filters.
Let’s suppose you are
looking for a record of
someone who died in
Kentucky in 1922. First under filter by collect select Birth, Marriage & Death, then
select Death, Burial, Cemetery & Obituaries.
The next option is Filter by Location. Select North America, then USA and finally,
Kentucky. You can also filter it by county. You can also filter by dates so click
1920’s. On the right you will then see all the data bases that might be relevant for
deaths in Kentucky in the 1920’s. If you see one that has potential you can click on
it and do a search exclusively within that data base.
III. Immigration and Travel
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What is the difference between immigration and emigration? Both words have
the same root word, migrate, as well as similar pronunciations and meanings.
Migration means moving from place to place. When it refers to a seasonal
movement repeated yearly, we may think of Monarch butterflies, Canadian
geese, nomadic peoples and migrant workers. The permanent move of a person’s
place of residence, from one country to another, is referred to using the
terms immigration and emigration.
Emigration is the act of leaving one’s country to settle in another. It views the
action from the perspective of the person. Immigration views that same action
from the perspective of the person’s new country.
The prefix ex means out. Emigration is from the point of view of coming out. If
you identify the letter i in immigration with the word in, you will
remember immigration is from the point of view of coming in.
The pronunciation is almost identical. Immigration is pronounced /IHM
muh GRAYshuhn/, while emigration is pronounced /EHM muh GRAY shuhn/.
Immigration and naturalization records tell the story of your ancestor making the
decision to immigrate, travel, or become a citizen of a different country. Like
many types of records, earlier immigration records typically don't contain as
much detail as their more contemporary counterparts, but they still contain
pieces of your ancestor's story. Examine them in the context of the time in which
your ancestor lived and learn about traveling conditions to fill in more of the
story.
Twentieth century immigration records can be very rich in detail, including the
names and addresses of other family members, in both the old country and new.
Look at every detail in the documents and you'll see the story unfold. As it does,
you'll probably find new clues to further your research. Some of the details you
may find in immigration records include place of birth or last residence in their
country of origin, names of other relatives, immigration details, occupation, and
in some cases, photographs.
Ancestry Immigration and Travel Search Page
From the drop down menu select Immigration and Travel.
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Select Passenger Lists to
narrow your search to only
passenger lists from all of
the ports currently
To search the entire available.
Immigration & Travel
category of records, enter
your search terms here.
Use default settings
Learn about the ship your
ancestor traveled on.
Restrict to exact matches and:
Phonetic matches
Names with similar meanings or
spellings
Records where only initials are
recorded
Articles listed here can
help you get the most from
these records.
Select United States in the Collection
Priority box to give U.S. collections
higher ranking in results. Click the
box below it to limit results to only
U.S. collections.
IV. Ancestry Pictures
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Use the drop down menu to find card catalog. On
the left under Filter by Collection, click on Pictures.
There all 35 data bases in this collection. To search
the entire collection, click on Search the entire
“Pictures” Category.
You can also use the filters on the left to narrow by
Location, Dates or Languages.
Millions of photographs have been added to Ancestry
family trees by users who have indicated that their tree
can be viewed by Ancestry members. In the "Public
Member Photos and Scanned Documents" section at
Ancestry, you can find photographs of individuals,
families, homes, cemetery tombstones, and more.
In addition, millions of contributors have shared
documents such as naturalization papers, marriage
certificates, drawings, maps and other documents that
may not be found elsewhere.
Other collections in this category include school
yearbooks, images of passenger ships, selected U.S.
headstones, African American Photos, U.S. Civil War Photos, images of
Professional Baseball Players, historical post cards from several countries and the
Library of Congress Photo Collection, 1840-2000.