Rachel D.

I have researched my family history over the last 30 years so I know what it is like to actually do the legwork and locate birth, marriage and death records by looking them up on microfilm at the county court houses and libraries. If you want to truly research your family tree and create solid documentation with sourcing along the way, then Ancestry is what you want.

A note about DNA testing which I have also done on Ancestry. The DNA testing is really to be used as a supplemental type of data to help you work through roadblocks or find cousins and others that may be sources. Yes they have some nice charts and maps that show you geographically where you family came from and their migration path, but do not expect DNA to be the end all for genealogy research. I also am disheartened by people who rate Ancestry poorly because their DNA test came back to reveal that their parents lied to them. Come on people - you choose to take the test, the results and how you handle it is on you!

Ancestry shows you actual documents about your family so you can determine who is who for yourself. As far as the Ancestry trees created by others... they are only as good as the person who put them together. I do not view ancestry tree results for my research unless I have hit a stone cold brick wall and even then, I only use what I can prove with historical documentation.

The other thing that I think is so valuable about how Ancestry works is that every time you save information from a document to your tree, they are tracking the source information in the background and it is always there if you need to prove you are related to someone specific.

They have also done a really nice job helping us to merge new data with old information, make updates or edits. You get to see the old and the new and choose which facts or data you will use.

I have more than 7000 folks in my family tree and through ancestry I can prove that I am a daughter of the american revolution multiple times over, that I am also a 4th generation American, my ancestors fought in the Napoleonic wars, were shirttail relatives of the royal Stuart's of Scotland and were pioneer farmers in Iowa. I know the part my family played in history and I continue to learn more as Ancestry is digitizing and adding data from across the world as fast as they can get it done. Thank you Ancestry! -Rachel