Ancestry . com

[Glynda]

The biggest thing Ancestry has done for my siblings and I is confirm our younger brother is not my father's son. This wasn't really a surprise, but all the parties who were involved or who would know are deceased. Our Mother was married multiple times, and had more than a few affairs during her single days. So learning she conceived my brother by another man while married to my (mostly absent) father wasn't much news. But it explains that we four siblings each have different fathers, and why we look quite different from each other, beyond our Mother's features that we each have in common. Once we had "the rest of the story" things became much more clear.

The thing about Ancestry is that you need to be very diligent to get the right spelling and dates on people, and you may have to work for it. A lot of data is open for interpretation, by people deciphering names on census records or headstones, for example. It's easy to mis-read a name, and if there is no other proof, it can allow misinformation to propagate down the line, continuing for a long time. My Mother's misspelled maiden name appears in a famous genealogy book that was published decades ago, and widely disseminated. I see her name misspelled the same way over and over again in certain family trees I see. Those who don't know or care will continue to report the incorrect name.

Dave

I was adopted. I am searching for my birth father. I am particularly interested in a family who match me closely on Ancestry and 23andme. They don't match my known strong maternal matches. Theirs was originally a German surname that was probably shortened. I find it spelled about six ways in records. Perhaps census takers, etc., were told the name and just wrote down what they thought they heard and the way they thought it would be spelled.

 

[Glynda]

I helped a newly discovered second cousin find her grandparents. Her mother had been adopted in 1916, and they never knew her background. Using my family tree developed on Ancestry, plus the clues she had, I figured out who the grandparents had to be. She has living full first cousins.

I had a new match of third cousin contact me on 23andme and I found his birth mother (deceased) in less than 24 hours. He was born with cerebral palsy and thrived with the help and love of his foster parents.

 

[Glynda]

Forty-three years ago I discovered my birth grandmother. We corresponded by mail until her death. She told me that my birth grandfather was a "drunk, deserter and bigamist." Two of my aunts confirmed this family lore. Forward to 2020. I found a cousin match on 23andme who told me that his great-grandfather was a deserter who took his WWI army buddy's name and used it as an alias to marry this cousin's pregnant great-grandmother. He left her before ever seeing his son and died two years later in a car crash, drunk, at age 34. That man was my grandfather. However, current research shows that my grandfather's first wife died within a year of giving birth to their son. His second wife, my grandmother, married him several years after the first wife's death. My grandmother divorced my grandfather and remarried a couple of years before my grandfather married using the alias. I've yet to discover bigamy or a reason for the alias.

When my grandfather's son discovered the alias marriage of his parents, he changed his name legally to "Jessie James" plus the real last name of my grandfather. Some offspring of the alias marriage have carried on the alias surname and others use "James". So far, I've discovered none from that line that use my grandfather's real last name now. Someday someone may pop up who can further complete the lore given by my grandmother and cousin. That's part of the intrigue of being on these sites.

 

[wackymother]

Forty-three years ago I discovered my birth grandmother. We corresponded by mail until her death. She told me that my birth grandfather was a "drunk, deserter and bigamist." Two of my aunts confirmed this family lore. Forward to 2020. I found a cousin match on 23andme who told me that his great-grandfather was a deserter who took his WWI army buddy's name and used it as an alias to marry his pregnant great-grandmother. He left her before ever seeing his son and died two years later in a car crash, drunk, at age 34. That man was my grandfather. However, current research shows that my grandfather's first wife died within a year of giving birth to their son. His second wife, my grandmother, married him several years after the first wife's death. My grandmother divorced my grandfather and remarried a couple of years before my grandfather married using the alias. I've yet to discover bigamy or a reason for the alias.

When my grandfather's son discovered the alias marriage of his parents, he changed his name legally to "Jessie James" plus the real last name of my grandfather. Some offspring of the alias marriage have carried on the alias surname and others use "James". So far, I've discovered none from that line that use my grandfather's real last name. Someday someone may pop up who can further complete the lore given by my grandmother and cousin. That's part of the intrigue of being on these sites.

Great story! Let us know what you find out. Thank you so much for sharing, I love these stories.

 

[DaveNV]

A full membership includes Newspapers.com and Fold3 for military service. I find the most helpful information from Census records, obituaries and draft forms. Marriage announcements in newspapers also help.

My daughter has jumped onto the Ancestry bandwagon with both feet. She's also a detail sleuth, and is amazing at what she turns up. She'll call me to rave about the latest discovery, which is great, except most of the people she's finding are on her Mother's side of the house. Although she has proven we have deep, deep roots in the USA, back to well before the American Revolution, and on both sides of the Civil War. The DAR and the male equivalent (SAR?) know our family names. Lots of major players back then.

Dave

 

[bogey21]

Back when I was getting genetically tested the hospital I used for the testing required a 3 generation family tree with ages and causes of death for all. The college professor I hired to put it together provided death certificates for almost all. What was interesting that I didn't know was that my Father had 3 Sisters die before age 10 and their causes of death were things I have never heard of. Of course we are talking about the late 1890s...

George

 

[Kat05]

Genealogy is one of my passions and I have been researching for years. I've been a member of Ancestry.com on and off for over 10 years. There is a huge bank of records and members add personal copies of birth, marriage and death certificates along with pictures that can be shared. There are also many inaccurate trees on there that people created without any facts or documents to support. DNA matching brought research to a whole new level. Don't do DNA if you don't want to know or can't handle surprises/family secrets. Believe me every family has at least one if not multiple and DNA does not lie, but that doesn't mean it needs to be broadcast that grandma once put a child up for adoption. Ancestry does allow you make your DNA and family tree private or non viewable to others. I've connected and formed friendships with distant DNA matches in Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, England, Canada and across the US. We share a common interest in tracing our ancestors and figuring out our connections.
There are other sites and tools to use for research that don't cost anything like familysearch.org (Latter Day Saints site) , fultonhistory.com (has thousands of scanned historic newspapers), FindaGrave.com (some entries have obits and info on family members attached as bios) local historical societies and town historians, Facebook groups and forums and of course the public library. Most libraries have an Ancestry account that can be used on site and some have shared online access with members during the pandemic.

 

[Miss Marty]

Messaging on Ancestry®

If you have an Ancestry® account - with or without an Ancestry membership
you can initiate messages with your DNA matches and read & respond to messages you receive.

You do need a membership to start a message with someone on Ancestry who isn't one of your DNA matches.

 

[aamarquez8]

My (deceased) mother in law only knew that her biological dad was an Irish sailor who ported on Oahu. Ancestry.com revealed she or my husband (I forgot) has a 1st cousin (irish/various European dna) living in the mid west. Tempted to connect but since my husband was not interested, will not.