Comparing ancestry.com and other memberships

I would like to hear some opinions on the merits of various census subscription memberships. I have subscribed to ancestry.com in the past but let it lapse for awhile. I am thinking of switching to genealogy.com because they seem to have slightly different groups of products, occasionally different census page scans and their world family tree. (I hope I'm not offending anyone by posting this on an ancestry fan site.) I have my tree posted on world connect, which is still free if one can manage to successfully navigate through the barage of ads. But I do like my relative's recent use of ancestry.com with census page links and all. What do others think?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Glenda Sewell on July 31, 2009 at 9:30am

I understand what you are saying. I have been using ancestry.com for years and I really do like it, however, I often wonder what I might find on other sites. I just hate to spend money for a site I might not like or use as much as I do ancestry. It will be interesting to find out what other people are doing.

Permalink Reply by Russ Worthington on July 31, 2009 at 9:46am

Anne - My driving force is the software that I use and it's searching capability. If the software has internal web searching capability, what subscription service does it work with.

Some subscription services, from what I have seen, have trial services. Others may have searching capability, will show results but won't show the subscription pages. Or, look at the record types that they might have and how does that match up with the information that you already have or don't have.

You might want to look at what the World Family Tree project is. Is the information in the WFT project available elsewhere. Not make any comment on what is is or isn't, but would encourage you to look at what it is.

I have found a website that does help me see what is available and what results are subscription based. It is www.liveroots.com. A couple of searches there might help you.

Great question.

Permalink Reply by Anne on August 1, 2009 at 9:03am

Thanks for your thoughts. I will probably eventually get around to doing free trials again. I got as far as the credit card number for footnote, but I often stop at that point in the "free" sign up. One thing I did not like about world family tree was the idea of some company repackaging individuals' donated hard work and then charging for it. But over time I wonder if I've got any relatives like me who are not thorough in where they have shared their resources. I did love ancestry's search capabilities attached to my family treemaker file. I can totally see how that generates a lot of loyalty and I miss it when I don't have it.

Permalink Reply by Lorine McGinnis Schulze on August 1, 2009 at 2:25pm

Anne, It can be very confusing trying to figure out which subscription website is the best one to use for your genealogy research. I have used Free Trials on many of the subscripton sites and there is no catch. They are free for a certain length of time. However you must cancel your free trial in the time indicated.

The sites whose free trials I have used include Footnote Free Trial,
Ancestry.com, GenealogyBank

and NewspaperArchive.com

Ancestry.com has the most databases and is the largest. I love the newspapers on GenealogyBank and NewspaperArchive but Footnote has those wonderful naturalization records and a very intriguing interactive based site.

At present I have a subscription to all of the above and would be lost without them! But if I had to choose only one I would have to go with Ancestry.com simply because it is so complete and has so much more than the others.

If you want help choosing which pay site is best for census records, you might want to have a look at

Quick Start USA- Census Comparison Charts for those in a hurry

Quick Start Canada- Census Comparison Charts for those in a hurry

Permalink Reply by Judy on August 6, 2009 at 8:22am

I was unable to see a "free trial" on NewspaperArchive.com and was wondering where it is hiding. I did a search on my grandfather and found a mention of him in the Daily Herald (Chicago, IL) on Oct 3 1957. His named was spelled as Earnest Trogg and he is mentioned along with other family, including a name that might be new to my research but I am unable to find the free trial so that I could access this article. I don't think it is an obit but a mention of his death in the "social" comings and goings of my family. It is not on Ancestry.com (I have found a lot of social comings and goings of the Lindbergs which is one part of my family but the Oct 3 1957 edition is only on NewspaperArchive), Footnote, GenealogyBank, WVR etc.
Any help with this will be appreciated.

Permalink Reply by Barb Ragucci on August 6, 2009 at 9:21am

This is what it says:
Symphony is being extended Mrs. Raymond P. Lindberg and family, Maple Rd., on the death of Mrs. Lindbergs uncle, Earnest A. Trogg September 19. Mr. Trogg died in the home of his daughter Mrs. George Palicer, International Falls, Minn., with whom he had been living. Burial was September 24 at Walheim cemetery. Mr. and Mrs. William Jaaks, Palentine, were also cousins to Mr. Trogg. Mrs. Lindbergs parents, Mr. and Mrs. Henry E. Trogg, of Marinette, Wisc., stayed with the Lindbergs while attending the funeral.

Permalink Reply by Judy on August 6, 2009 at 5:46pm

Thank you very much!!! Spelling is a bit off as my surname was Palliser and not Palicer. Did you see anywhere where there is a free trial??

Permalink Reply by Linda Sue Hollingsworth Robbins on August 14, 2009 at 9:51am

www.newspaperarchive.com used to have a free part of it. I subscribe At the time I joined there was a free trial subscription. I just looked and there are two free newspaper email links you can sign up for.

Permalink Reply by Lorine McGinnis Schulze on August 16, 2009 at 6:52am

Judy,

If you follow the link NewspaperARCHIVE.com you are taken directly a a page with a green button "START YOUR FREE MEMBERSHIP NOW!"

Permalink Reply by Mitchell Staude on August 6, 2009 at 7:59am

I subscribe to Ancestry World. What I'd like to know is whether there are records on WorldVitalRecords.com that are not on Ancestry.

Permalink Reply by Linda Sue Hollingsworth Robbins on August 14, 2009 at 10:00am

I subscribe to www.ancestry.com for the US records. So far I have not subscribed to the World Records part. I also subscribe to www.worldvitalrecords.com. The differences for me has been the following:
1. Ancestry has the largest sourced database for genealogy records online, period. Even though sometimes it is difficult to find an ancestor's records due to transcribing errors in spelling or census enumerators' errors in collecting information, it is still the best. Ancestry also allows members to correct ancestors' names so that when you look at a census record, someone else hopefully added another name that is spelled correctly so you can identify your ancestor more easily. I have made many corrections on what I know is factual information for my ancestors. People who point, click, and copy genealogy records in any database without furthur checking are not really genealogists at all, and they hurt the real research that others do. Do not believe evertything you read and see on Ancestry or any other database. We all make human errors. Some try to build their ancestry pedigrees based on fiction to make themselves look better. My ancestry tree is private and only people who communicate with me are allowed to see my research.
2. www.worldvitalrecords.com is not the same as Ancestry, but has been valuable to me for finding yearbook records that are not free on other databases either.

Permalink Reply by Mavis Jones on August 9, 2009 at 8:43pm

I've used some of the free trials, GenealogyBank and Footnote. I agree with Lorine that if I had to choose just one paid site, it would be ancestry. To me, they seem to have the most information.