Ancestry

Might be a stupid question, but how exactly does it work and how far back in your family's history do you need to know before you start seeing results? I'm kind of interested as I know very little about either side of my family's history. Like my dad really didn't know his father so I only have a name for that grandfather and zero other information for that branch of the family.

 

@CRUDS ^

 

She kind of giggles like Muttley sometimes

 

you may get a dead end. I got to my great Grandpa Leo, then the Smith side went no further. But with all the families in your history, you will get one back hundreds of years, at least.
they own millions of documents. Anything documented in censuses or Social Security birth/death indexes will show up. It taught me a TON. It's totally worth paying for a month or two, and going deep into it. If you go back enough, you'll run across someone who did their homework, and it gets simple to go back to pre-1500. Like I said, I got mine back to about 1000AD, because I have a distant cousin who did a lot of homework that far back.

 

How much is it, like $100?

It's something I plan on doing pretty soon.

 

way less than that. I think they run 1 month free trials sometimes. usually 20 bucks a month or something after that.. or get a friend to chip in.. and go half and half for a few months. Way worth it.

 

free 14 day trial.. If you put in some time.. you can get a TON done in 14 days. I used it for like 30 days 2.5 years ago.. still a very cool experience, and I look back and check it often. It's cool to know where you came from.

I got mine back to Sir Robert Andrews, born 1046. Knight from France, moved to England to fight for new king. Only lived to be 30. Was common back then.

link to sign up for trial:

Start your FREE trial at Ancestry

It's crazy... that if that knight (31st great grandfather) hadn't met that exact woman, and "did it" at that exact right moment, then thounsands upon thousands of people, including me, would never exist.