Anyone here do Ancestry .Com?

[Chrystal-J]

My son bought me a Ancestry .Com kit for Christmas. As soon as I signed up, people starting asking me questions about my relatives. I just wondered if that was normal for the site.
Also, I think it's kinda pricey for the other "levels", so I'm wondering if it's worth it.
Thanks!

 

[Michie]

My son bought me a Ancestry .Com kit for Christmas. As soon as I signed up, people starting asking me questions about my relatives. I just wondered if that was normal for the site.
Also, I think it's kinda pricey for the other "levels", so I'm wondering if it's worth it.
Thanks!

I’ve thought about it but never took the plunge. Everything I’ve found out, I’ve researched myself but you can only get so far. I think Ancestry streamlines it a bit but it comes with a cost.

 

[Akita Suggagaki]

I just took advantage of. I think. 10 free days and mined all the info I could in that time. Then got out. Thanks to the input of relatives I didn't even know I had, I was able to see pictures of my grandfather's grandfather.

 

[pdudgeon]

My son bought me a Ancestry .Com kit for Christmas. As soon as I signed up, people starting asking me questions about my relatives. I just wondered if that was normal for the site.
Also, I think it's kinda pricey for the other "levels", so I'm wondering if it's worth it.
Thanks!

YES! They helped me go waaaay back in history, and I found out lots of great information about my family.

 

[Gnarwhal]

My son bought me a Ancestry .Com kit for Christmas. As soon as I signed up, people starting asking me questions about my relatives. I just wondered if that was normal for the site.
Also, I think it's kinda pricey for the other "levels", so I'm wondering if it's worth it.
Thanks!

I did it a few years ago, I'd recommend 23 and Me instead. After I did it I found out Ancestry.com have some weird policy that allows them to retain the "rights" to your DNA, for what I don't know. But it creeps me out, if I had known that was their policy I wouldn't have gone through them.

Also with 23 and Me you can also find out about certain illnesses that might be genetic in your family and things along those lines. So more than just your heritage.

 

[HTacianas]

My son bought me a Ancestry .Com kit for Christmas. As soon as I signed up, people starting asking me questions about my relatives. I just wondered if that was normal for the site.
Also, I think it's kinda pricey for the other "levels", so I'm wondering if it's worth it.
Thanks!

I've been on Ancestry for about ten years now. I would be cautious about anyone asking you questions unless you have public information already available. But it's common for people to contact me asking for information about people in my tree. I always check out their public information before responding to them. If it's a question along the lines of "I see you have John Doe (who died 100 years ago) in your family tree. Have you ever heard of a cousin of his named..."? it's not a problem.

Never give out any current information about yourself at all. A scammer will be looking for info they can use to steal your identity.

 

[LivingWordUnity]

Hello to anyone here who remembers me. Hope all has been going well in your lives. I'm not really back, I'm just dipping my toe back in the water quickly before going away again. But this topic caught my interest since I recently tried the Ancestry .Com website. I haven't done the DNA part of it and as of yet have no plans to. I've only been working on putting together the pieces of my family tree. And I found out a lot of interesting things such as that one of my ancestors was one of George Washington's body guards. A 2nd great-granduncle was a union soldier in the Civil War, and a 3rd great-grandfather was a confederate soldier. There are other interesting things related to American history. But the biggest surprise to me was finding out that a part of my family tree joins up with the family tree of Bill Gates at a point way back. We are blood-related distant cousins. Stephen Gates (1597-1662) and Anne Veare (1603-1683) are the ancestors we have in common. They are my 10th great-grandparents and his 7th. Pretty far back, but still interesting.

 

[Michie]

Hello to anyone here who remembers me. Hope all has been going well in your lives. I'm not really back, I'm just dipping my toe back in the water quickly before going away again. But this topic caught my interest since I recently tried the Ancestry .Com website. I haven't done the DNA part of it and as of yet have no plans to. I've only been working on putting together the pieces of my family tree. And I found out a lot of interesting things such as that one of my ancestors was one of George Washington's body guards. A 2nd great-granduncle was a union soldier in the Civil War, and a 3rd great-grandfather was a confederate soldier. There are other interesting things related to American history. But the biggest surprise to me was finding out that a part of my family tree joins up with the family tree of Bill Gates at a point way back. We are blood-related distant cousins. Stephen Gates (1597-1662) and Anne Veare (1603-1683) are the ancestors we have in common. They are my 10th great-grandparents and his 7th. Pretty far back, but still interesting.

I’m glad to see you again! I hope all is well with you and yours.

 

[Gnarwhal]

Hello to anyone here who remembers me. Hope all has been going well in your lives. I'm not really back, I'm just dipping my toe back in the water quickly before going away again. But this topic caught my interest since I recently tried the Ancestry .Com website. I haven't done the DNA part of it and as of yet have no plans to. I've only been working on putting together the pieces of my family tree. And I found out a lot of interesting things such as that one of my ancestors was one of George Washington's body guards. A 2nd great-granduncle was a union soldier in the Civil War, and a 3rd great-grandfather was a confederate soldier. There are other interesting things related to American history. But the biggest surprise to me was finding out that a part of my family tree joins up with the family tree of Bill Gates at a point way back. We are blood-related distant cousins. Stephen Gates (1597-1662) and Anne Veare (1603-1683) are the ancestors we have in common. They are my 10th great-grandparents and his 7th. Pretty far back, but still interesting.

Hey look who it is! Good to see ya bro.

 

[Chrystal-J]

I've been on Ancestry for about ten years now. I would be cautious about anyone asking you questions unless you have public information already available. But it's common for people to contact me asking for information about people in my tree. I always check out their public information before responding to them. If it's a question along the lines of "I see you have John Doe (who died 100 years ago) in your family tree. Have you ever heard of a cousin of his named..."? it's not a problem.

Never give out any current information about yourself at all. A scammer will be looking for info they can use to steal your identity.

I'm a little worried about sharing information. Right now, someone is asking for my mother's maiden name. I don't feel comfortable giving that out. Should I just tell them or ignore the questions?

Thanks for all the replies!

 

[Michie]

I'm a little worried about sharing information. Right now, someone is asking for my mother's maiden name. I don't feel comfortable giving that out. Should I just tell them or ignore the questions?

Thanks for all the replies!

I’d ignore it.

 

[HTacianas]

I'm a little worried about sharing information. Right now, someone is asking for my mother's maiden name. I don't feel comfortable giving that out. Should I just tell them or ignore the questions?

Thanks for all the replies!

That is a scammer.

 

[Lady Bug]

I haven't done an Ancestry sort of thing but I do wish I could find out more information about my more distant ancestry. It is painful to not know more about it.

 

[eastcoast_bsc]

My son bought me a Ancestry .Com kit for Christmas. As soon as I signed up, people starting asking me questions about my relatives. I just wondered if that was normal for the site.
Also, I think it's kinda pricey for the other "levels", so I'm wondering if it's worth it.
Thanks!

I do. I am just careful with who I am speaking with and any information. Anyone less then a first cousin I don’t .

 

[eastcoast_bsc]

I'm a little worried about sharing information. Right now, someone is asking for my mother's maiden name. I don't feel comfortable giving that out. Should I just tell them or ignore the questions?

Thanks for all the replies!

your mother’s maiden name is often a security question .

 

[Lady Bug]

I do. I am just careful with who I am speaking with and any information. Anyone less then a first cousin I don’t .

Darn if I joined Ancestry or a similar website I would hope a second cousin would speak to me simply because my mom was an only child and I've got no first cousins from her, only second ones.

edit: I reread it and you were talking about giving information. I get that. I thought you meant you wouldn't even acknowledge them as a person. I still don't know if I'm correct on that either.

 

[eastcoast_bsc]

Darn if I joined Ancestry or a similar website I would hope a second cousin would speak to me simply because my mom was an only child and I've got no first cousins from her, only second ones.

edit: I reread it and you were talking about giving information. I get that. I thought you meant you wouldn't even acknowledge them as a person. I still don't know if I'm correct on that either.

No no no. I would of course acknowledge them.

 

[Lady Bug]

No no no. I would of course acknowledge them.

Weren't Jesus and John the Baptist second cousins?

 

[pdudgeon]

Weren't Jesus and John the Baptist second cousins?

Yes, they were. But some languages don't have a word that translates to "cousin", so in those languages, the relationship is refered to instead as brother or sister.

 

[Chrystal-J]

Darn if I joined Ancestry or a similar website I would hope a second cousin would speak to me simply because my mom was an only child and I've got no first cousins from her, only second ones.

edit: I reread it and you were talking about giving information. I get that. I thought you meant you wouldn't even acknowledge them as a person. I still don't know if I'm correct on that either.

I'll acknowledge someone, but just worried if they're legitimately asking questions or trying to scam me.