Is it worth buying an Ancestry.com subscription? How many useful things have you found that are not elsewhere?

Question

I'm trying to find out when my Bodkin ancestors came to America.  I'm also looking for evidence of Richard Bodkin the second's existence, as he and his supposed father Richard Bodkin the first have no sources to back up their existence.  The only sources I've found for them are unsourced family trees that seem to have been copy pasted throughout the internet.

I've found random things on various websites that ultimately don't lead back to the two unsourced Richards.  There were apparently Bodkins living in Maryland around the time they would have been alive so I think it's possible Richard "the third," if he even was the third at all, was born there.  Family trees have claimed that Richard the third was born in 1710 in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, or Galway, Ireland.

Last night I decided to check ancestry.com despite not having a subscription.  There are a few Bodkins that emigrated to America from Ireland in about the year 1680.  They were named James, Andrew, Martin, and it appears there was a second James.  The very limited record preview ancestry.com gives non-members says that they landed in Maryland and one in Virginia.  It also says buying a membership would give me access to more data.  Ages and ship names would be very helpful, for example.

Would it help me to buy a subscription to ancestry.com in this case?

Has anyone else found anything on Ancestry.com that they could not find for free elsewhere?  So far almost all of my research (at least for people of the 1800s and 1900s) has come from records on FamilySearch.

Comments

A lot of public libraries have Ancestry subscriptions.  I'd recommend visiting yours and seeing for yourself whether the value is there for you.  I find that sometimes their records are better indexed than FamilySearch's, so I'll use Ancestry just to get the clue that I need to find them in FamilySearch's image-only records.

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You can always do a free trial of 14 days in case you didn't know. It helped me immensely to decide if Ancestry is worth it. They also have different subscription options you should check out (e.g. only access to U.S. documents or all international documents they have). Just try out whichever option you like and you can cancel anytime you want during those 14 days if you don't like it (they charge you immediately after those 14 days if you don't do that).

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After 30 years of research, not even once did I have to direct an inquiry to Ancestry to secure the information for which I was searching.

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A. Kilburg,

Do you know if you only have one shot at the Ancestry free trial?  If I do a free trial once, can I ever do another one?  I just don't have the time to work on genealogy consistently enough to make a subscription worthwhile but have been holding back on the free trial until I have enough things to look up all at once.  If I knew that I could do a free trial, maybe once a year or so, I'd probably give it a try.

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I did the free trial twice and know other people who have done it multiple times. Seems like Ancestry either doesn't notice or doesn't bother. However another option would be a monthly supscription that you just cancel everytime you don't plan on doing genealogical research. That's what I do, e.g. I know I don't have the time to do much research the next two months, so I will just cancel and start the monthly supscription again in December or January. A yearly supscription just isn't worth it for me when I don't plan on using it every month.

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A. Kilberg,

That's a good option, too  Thanks so much!

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Good advice on Ancestry in comments.  I have never paid a fee for any pay site.  I have bought published books.

My advice is on research process.  Good first step is to survey the internet, like you described.  Sometimes you will find important info, or at least hints.  Just one item, like a published book or a source, like a Will, can get you started.  I have done several research projects in the last few years, some solo, some collaborative.  Two options to consider.  The nature of research in 1700's is radically different than 1800's.  The former really takes careful analysis of family history and sources, because there are so few of them, in order to confirm relevance and then to extrapolate secondary conclusions.  Gets complicated and takes huge amounts of time to make progress while trying to maintain genealogical proof standard.  Copying tree info is so much easier and faster, but most people don't consider the lack of value in unproven garbage.

Ancestry is one of many tools in the toolbox.  All tools have advantages and limitations, so its good to hear the experience of others.  Collaboration is a huge asset.

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Public libraries have 'ancestrylibrary.com' and it is free, and to print an item may cost 10 or 15 cents using your library card number, or you can download to a USB (be careful to only use one for that purpose to avoid viruses), or  take photo with your cell phone, showing source.  It is best to do your own digging and best to begin with 'familysearch.org' starting only with surname and year you believe to be approximate. Also, we were British Colonies before becoming states, so try first with no state.

Also, on familysearch, the genealogies at the bottom of searches are USER SUBMITTED.  They are not necessarily correct.  Sources need proofs.  Scroll down past the "Search" box and select 'Browse all published collections.'  There are many choices, so select pre 1700 or 1700-1749, etc., Continent, or Collections.  

It just so happens I have found a James Bodkin that married Mary Westfall in "Harrison County, VA, 1784, (now W V); a picture of their marriage is on https://wvculture.org/vrr.   Births, deaths, and marriages are choices. First, enter surname and select "100".  I Just looked at some early Bodkins.  One Patrick Bodkin, death at 70 yoa, born in Ireland.  Have a look and remember, early Virginia was Augusta County that went to the Mississippi, and look at geographical genealogies, showing parent counties.  

I hope this helps and gives you a start.

Kathryn Miller

Miller 35831

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Fabulous info! I've beeb trying for years on Ancestry, Familysearch, etc., for my allan relatives from Ireland. I still have no idea where in Ireland, or where any of the wives are from as well. I don't know if rootsireland. would help... I had either regular, basic ancestry.com membership, thinking about upgrading to world explorer or all access, don't know if that would help??

thanks again for previous info, even though   it wasn't for me, it was in-depth, great suggestions.

Answer 1

There are some things available on Ancestry either not on other sites or not readily accessible (may need an LDS account on Family Search).

I think Ancestry and FamilySearch complement each other.

The institutional edition of Ancestry is comparable to the more expensive subscriptions.

You can use Ancestry at many public libraries and at any Family History Center at no cost. Go there and try them, and make your own determination.

Comments

Great answer! I've found that many local records (city directories, some local city/county records, some land deeds, some international records) can be found on Ancestry and can be very hard to find digitally elsewhere.

For the most part, Census records, most public military record "links" (the actual records usually found on Fold3), and a lot of free public records can easily be found on FamilySearch. But if you're looking for the maximum amount of records, you should check out Ancestry as they do have the market cornered on certain items that just can't easily be found elsewhere.

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I was doing a lot of research in the civil records of Aguascalientes, Mexico. Both FamilySearch and Ancestry had the films, but they were indexed at Ancestry and images linked to the index.

The indexing efforts at both FamilySearch and Ancestry are works in progress. What is not at one, could well be at the other.

When I find a record at Ancestry, it is then generally easy to find it at FamilySearch. For use on WikiTree , you can then cite the free record.

Answer 2

Ancestry has record collections that FamilySearch does not have -- and visa versa.

Personally, I find Ancestry's searching and hinting tools much easier to use. This alone has been worth the expense, for me.

Answer 3

It's been worth it to me, but it is a personal decision. I've had an Ancestry.com subscription for over 20 year. Sometimes I can find a record through Ancestry's indexing that I didn't find on FamilySearch.org. And vice versa. I feel I have a better chance of finding every available record by using both repositories. I love the city directory collections on Ancestry.com for relatives who lived more recently. Also, I use an offline genealogy program, Family Tree Maker, which syncs with Ancestry.com. I like the little leaves which tell me there are additional sources to check for someone. I know many people put down/say they never use the Ancestry trees which individuals build because they have inaccuracies, but, for me, they have been great for hints on other family members to look for. I don't take them at face value--I make sure I find records to back up those leads I get from family trees. My subscription includes Newspapers.com and Fold3. I added Newspapers.com less than a year ago. I cannot tell you how wonderful a resource that is and how much information I have been able to gather from it.

As others have said, try it out for free at your local library and decide for yourself. It is an investment, so only you can decide whether it's worth the money to you.

Comments

Is the newspapers.com subscription part of the ancestry.com subscription? I have been thinking about getting that too.

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I had to pay extra for it as part of a bundle so I get it for a little less than the Newspapers.com subscription by itself. Ancestry has several subscription levels or "bundles." I have the "All Access" subscription. It's expensive but I don't have many other vices.

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When you subscribe to the Ancestry bundle including Newspapers.com and Fold 3, the Newspapers.com is not a full subscription. For that reason I subscribe to just Ancestry.com World and once in a while on a sale I pick up the Newspapers.com for 6 months or so directly from them to get the full subscription. I already subscribe to Fold3 so don't need that through Ancestry.

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Virginia, that is correct, but the full Newspapers.com full subscription was deeply discounted for me because I already had the basic one through Ancestry.com, so the "bundling" still saves me some money. I won't lie--altogether it's still a lot of money --but worth it to me.

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So the full subscription to newspapers.com is discounted if you already have the basic one through ancestry?

Is that correct?

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Yes, it was. Please don't ask me to remember exactly how much.

Answer 4

It is worth the expense to me just to avoid the time, cost, and inconvenience of driving to a library.

Answer 5

I have never had an Ancestry subscription (but I have subscribed to Fold3, which Ancestry owns -- see below). An Ancestry subscription gets you two things, so I will consider them separately:

1. Access to their record collections.

2. Ability to store your own tree, to view trees of others, and to get research leads generated from those other trees.

The prices listed right now for US subscriptions that get you both items above are either $99 or $149 for 6 months, i.e., almost $200 or $300 per year. I do occasionally use Ancestry for free at my public library, and I must say, I don't think I would find $200 to $300 per year value for accessing the records.

I have a subscription to NEHGS (the New England Historic Genealogical Society). Individual membership is $95, but I started with a sale price and seem to have been able to arrange that when I renewed. Once I found the "catalog" section of Family Search, and especially once I had made my first trip to my local FHC (Family History Center), the combination of these with the NEHGS subscription gives me basically all of the access I could hope for. I can't remember a trip to the library to view an Ancestry record that has produced anything substantive more than I'm already getting through NEHGS and FamilySearch. Those Ancestry records that sounded so enticing turned out to be duplicates of records I can find for free or else references to compiled indexes of questionable credibility. Plus, the $95 gets me access to the beautiful and amazing NEHGS building in Boston. I had the pleasure of spending a couple of days there, and it was just an amazing experience.

Now if your main interest is in, say, the Southern US, then maybe NEHGS wouldn't be so helpful. I don't know how much more helpful Ancestry would be compared to combining FamilySearch with, say, a Virginia Historical Society membership, but I'd guess the payoff is still not worth $200 to $300 per year.

Except: you get access to all of those Ancestry trees. If your interest includes identifying living cousins, that is very hard to do without Ancestry. A lot of information about living or recently deceased people is so hidden (rightfully so, since it concerns privacy) that it is difficult to track with standard research methods. The best source for this information is often just other living people who know the information, and a lot of it is availble to see on Ancestry trees. That must be worth the $200 to $300 a year to some people.

However, there is an alternative. Ancestry used to have, maybe still does have, a "DNA Insights" membership that used to cost only $98 per year. To get this, you need to send an Ancestry DNA kit in and then call them up to get the special membership. This only gives you access to trees -- not to records -- but on the other hand if your local library has a subscription, that will only show you records and not trees. So the two complement each other perfectly. Of course, you have to find someone willing to submit DNA and you have the one-time cost of the test. But this could be a good way to hack their system and get the most value out of Ancestry.

I have an Ancestry DNA kit, and I can see most of my DNA matches' trees out to 2nd great-grandparents with no additional subscription. I am also able to message them through Ancestry's messaging system. I must say I have been pleasantly surprised with how useful those two features have been. I don't know how much more I'd get out of paying the $98 per year to see additional people's trees -- maybe not much since so many people have DNA tests at Ancestry.

Concerning Fold3 -- I have found immense value in their images of war pension applications. Testimony from Revoluationary War pensions has twice helped me break through my own brick walls. And plenty of other documents there have given more information about people than I otherwise would have had. Some of these applications have transcriptions floating around, but if you want to see the original images, you can at Fold3. I could use the service for free at my local FHC, but I like to spend my time on those visits getting access to the FamilySearch images that are impossible to view elsewhere.

Answer 6

As someone who lives 32 miles from the closest small library (which does not have an institutional membership) and considerably further from one of significant size, the Ancestry subscription has been worth it for the research tools. Coupled with Family Search, American Ancestors and others that can occasionally meet specific needs, it's part of a combination that works for me. As others have stated, do the trial offer and get a feel for it.

Answer 7

I have had an Ancestry subscription for a few years and I don't think I would have got very far without it. If I can't find an original scan of a baptism entry, for instance, I feel like I'm working in the dark as there's so much more to be seen than you would find on English Births and Christenings etc. For instance if you have several families of the same name in the parish, the register usually adds their area or an occupation, which does not appear on the transcribed records. There are many mistakes in transcription too. Familysearch is beginning to add more register scans but there are still very few for the counties I am interested in.

It does depend on the area you are doing, I am looking mainly at England and I get the impression there are more records for America. Also they cover some counties better than others, they are good on Yorkshire registers but they have virtually nothing for Staffordshire and I recently got a subscription to Find my Past as they have registers and wills for Staffs which helped me to sort out a difficult family.

They do have some Irish Catholic registers including St Nicholas, Galway. I looked 1680-1720 but there are only 2 Bodkins then, Peter and James, both 1690. They have scans of the originals. But if that is the only thing you're looking up at present, the library would be better I think.

https://www.ancestry.co.uk/interactive/61039/02436_01_0011

Petrus Bodkin	Baptism	3 Sep 1690	St Nicholas, Galway city, Galway	Johanne, Anna
View Record	Jacobus Bodkin	Baptism	3 Jan 1690	St Nicholas, Galway city, Galway	Jacobs, Cathalina

Answer 8

I'm not a big fan of Ancestry, but I keep subscribing to it...

Useful sources that I have found there and that I can't get elsewhere include:

• Church baptism and marriage records for several New Netherland/New York/New Jersey churches
• City directories (availability is hit or miss, but when they are available, they often give good information)
• School yearbooks (see my note on City directories)
• Searchable electronic images of some books

For me, the biggest value of Ancestry is not the records, but the search engine. When I run a search in Ancestry after searching for the same person in FamilySearch, Ancestry often shows me records that are also on FamlySearch (and fit the search parameters I used on FamilySearch), but didn't turn up in the FamilySearch results. And when I look at a record, Ancestry usually suggests additional results for the person or the person's family members.

Answer 9

I use several free and pay sites.   I find Ancestry the easiest to use and gives a lot of value for the price.  I was researching my husbands childhood for a book to give each of the children.   One day a year book appeared showing him in second grade.  I figured out where it came from and made the 200 miles drive and found even more.   They told me that Ancestry had sent someone who scanned all day for ten full days.   I would not have thought to look there if that year book had not appeared out of the blue.

Comments

How did Ancestry become aware of the books?

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They probably have a whole department of people whose job it is to identify collections and then arrange for permission to scan to add to their collections.

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They were at the Lenewee County Historical Society in Adrian, MI.  I was aware it was there,  but never imagined it would have anything I needed.   My husband spent his first ten years in a farming community  about ten miles from there.  The school only went through 8th grade when his mother was young and she and her siblings had to be boarded at homes in Adrian to go to high school.   I didn't know that they had added a high school about the time John entered school.   The graduating class was very small so in their year book they added group photos of the younger children.  They had combined 1-2, 3-4 grades.   The books included the names of the children and and Ancestry had them transcribed and searchable.   I just never thought of primary school students being in a county historical society.

Answer 10

I avoided Ancestry for years but finally signed up for a month-to-month subscription this year.  I do a lot of DNA research and most of my matches' trees are on Ancestry.  Since I joined I have benefited.  My prime source has been Family.search but they often provide links to documents that are on Ancestry.  As a result I couldn't get to them without an Ancestry subscription.

Answer 11

A thousand times YES!  Ancestry has the largest database of testers so you will find many relatives,  I joined DAR, Jamestown, & Mayflower Society all from Ancestry (and also ordering a few of the newer, more recent needed documents from various county vital statistics offices)  

You can also cancel at any time & your work will still be there when you come back.  If you only need the US, just purchase that.  If you need World, order that.  I have never needed the highest plan as I found others who had already posted the needed information

Comments

Thanks Mary, I think your answer gives a good hint for sane decision making. If you expect to find relatives in the US and UK then I agree Ancestry is very worthwhile. I cancelled my subscription when I failed to find many records outside that arena. An important question to ask is 'where do expect to find some family'?