Ancestry.com is difficult in two ways. The search mechanism is complex, for one thing. This is well done, making the searching powerful while hiding the complexity unless the user asks to see it. But the second difficulty is the number of databases it contains. Once you get past the safe harbor of the U.S. censuses you find a vast ocean that can be hard to navigate. There may be answers to questions you never thought to ask!
Nancy Hendrickson’s “Unofficial Guide to Ancestry.com” helps with both of these problems, especially the second. Perhaps that’s why it’s currently the #1 bestseller in Genealogy on Amazon. Our club library now has a copy. It’s shelved in Research.
The fifteen chapters of the book are:
- Getting Started with Ancestry.com
- Family Trees on Ancestry.com
- Search Basics
- The Ancestry.com Card Catalog
- Working with Census Records & Voter Lists
- Birth, Marriage and Death Records
- Military Records
- Immigration & Travel Collection
- Newspapers, Publications and Maps
- Stories, Memories and Histories
- Pictures
- Schools, Directories & Church Histories
- Tax, Criminal, Land & Wills Collection
- DNA and Ancestry.com
- Collaborating with other Ancestry.com users
Sun City Vistoso Genealogical Society 