NGS Conference Summary - The Sessions - Part Three

Me with Crista Cowan at NGS

So, you think you know it all about searching on Ancestry, eh? If all you ever search is based on your ancestor, you are missing out on a LOT!

Did you know:

Ancestry.com has more than 16 BILLION (yes, I said BILLION) records online?

There are 1-2 MILLION records being added to Ancestry's database each DAY!

There are 1.7 BILLION records in the City Directory database! This is the largest database on Ancestry.

When searching on Ancestry, remember that you are NOT searching for people, you are searching for RECORDS! This concept alone will change the way you look for records on Ancestry.com.

Crista says that the shaky leafs or hints you receive on Ancestry represent only 10% of the databases on the site. Remember that these are HINTS only! It's up to YOU to decide if that's your person!

When doing a search, Crista says that she never goes beyond three pages of results.

Card Catalog

Have you learned to use the Card Catalog on Ancestry? If not, you may be missing out on many records on your ancestor! You really do need to look into the specific databases, rather than using the generic search your people!

Type-ahead List

When you search on Ancestry, are you allowing the search to use the "type-ahead" list? If not, your are merely doing a keyword search. The "type-ahead" function allows you to drill down farther to find records on your ancestor. This was new to me!

Crista has that "Tony Robbins" presentation style that I appreciate! Her passion and enthusiasm for family history research are obvious. She knows her stuff and she doesn't give a canned presentation. Whenever you have the opportunity to hear her speak in person or view one of her online video lessons, go for it!