Tuesday, November 15, 2011

Ancestry.com - a plethora of leaves

I've been using Ancestry.com since it was a free site. Family trees for each of my grandparents are stored there on the public free section.
On a fairly regular basis I have been getting the leafy hints in my e-mail but could not attach the sources. Any research I've done at the site has been at the Franklin FHC, our local library, or through a couple of very kind, generous friends.
My husband recently surprised me with a subscription to Ancestry and I have been plowing my way through all the leaves attached to my ancestors. It will probably take months to get that all sorted out.
Major find - a descendant of my great great grandfather's sister Jane Fowler Lindsay. I'd about given up on ever finding her, or her daughter. It turns out she got married briefly, then moved to Australia and died a few weeks later. Her daughter was wooed over to Australia. It took her besotted intended two years or so to get her there :)
Once I knew what Jane's married name was it was fairly simple to find records for her at Scotlands People and some of her descendants through the Australian Electoral Rolls.
So some family names on my old calligraphy main line tree have now gloriously come to life and I finally feel at peace. I hope my newly found cousins and I can keep in contact.
Biggest surprise - most of my ancestors are not being researched by other Ancestry subscribers. A few of my "twiggy" cousins have worked hard at their research and I am impressed with their efforts. I won't be putting my BMD images or sources on my trees (which now includes one for my uncle's father). The BMD sources will remain at my web site or people can contact me for the info. I have not made up my mind about photographs yet.