American Ancestors website

[Janet]

Email just in from New England Historic Genealogical Society:

Fall back into research with access to over 1.4 billion names from AmericanAncestors.org! Access everything our databases have to offer with your free guest account.

All databases are FREE from through November 13 at 11:59 PM EST. [sic]

I can only guess that "from through" was meant to say "from now through" but I can't say for sure.

Once you have registered as a Guest Member I think you can go ahead to log in and start searching, unless this offer is designed only to work for lapsed members. I can't be sure of that either.

Anyway, hope it works for someone because I do like their search engine.

Oh, here we go. Clicking on the link in the email brings me to this page, which seems to indicate that any Guest Member is free to search, and I've already lost 2 free days!
Search our databases free from November 6-13 (http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?f=001ie6iDUbfAaUbJEOhOgFrBh3nj2SVTVOxeQHfb8 W3IL-lBZdohGlJ7m6lJnK0_yzA6JfzZVQTOnIw0IdPjVnRec3kh4tMS GiqdgZ3u3QlZ3uFCqfep-mqoDGHG2mFQ2Ub9aXSkv17XoyMxTaGe3DIhepAqvYeqE1pLY1K 0cGeCAI=&c=9vRQD2RwdjpFcyi6DTzL2SPfxQW538kYfyaSElwejEUSK6FT NdEU4g==&ch=PwOxnMtDJ4uxcXC1z13Xum4FTPkIfvHWNYaEy2c2D7qtvwE r26nOcg==)

The cutoff should be 4:59 a.m. on the 14th in the UK, and I guess you'd have until mid-afternoon if you're down under.

[kiterunner]

Thanks for that, Janet. I haven't come across that site before. Having a look now.

[Janet]

I'll be interested to see if you find anything interesting, Kite.

[kiterunner]

They don't seem to have anything that isn't on other sites, and no census images.

[Janet]

Thanks, Kite. Getting back to this rather late, sorry, and trying to remember what I do and don't know. It's a while since I had a membership.

Yes, some of the censuses have no images. However if you go to Search on the home page and then choose "Census, tax and voter lists" you can click on "See all databases in this category" and you find a list of 49 databases. Then if you tick "only databases with images" you find these 24:

Boston, MA: Census, 1810
Boston, MA: City Directory, 1890
Boston, MA: Smallpox Inoculation Census W. District, Ward 7, 1824
Boston, MA: Taking Records, 1800
Framingham, MA: Census of the East Ward, 1837
Germany: Mecklenburg-Schwerin Census, 1890
Germany: Mecklenburg-Schwerin Census, 1900
Germany: Westfalen, Minden Citizen Lists, 1574-1902
Guatemala: Guatemala, Ciudad de Guatemala, Censo, 1877
Kennebunkport, ME: Voters for Town Officers, March 1833
Massachusetts and Maine: Direct Tax, 1798
Massachusetts: 1855 State Census
Massachusetts: 1865 State Census
Ohio: Tax Records, 1800-1850
Rhode Island: Census Collection, 1865-1935
Rochester, NH: Tax lists, 1790 and 1815
United States 1830 Census: Free Negro Heads of Families
United States 1850 Census (Slave Schedule)
United States 1850 Federal Census
United States 1910 Federal Census
United States 1920 Federal Census
United States 1930 Federal Census
Vermont: Windham and Windsor County Census, 1771
Woonsocket, RI: Heads of Families Census, 1842

Overall they have 454 databases, of which 257 have images.

It may well be true as you say that there is nothing that isn't on other sites, I certainly wouldn't know and you're generally right, but in case anyone is without any subs at all right now, at least this one is free for another day.

[kiterunner]

Just got this email from American Ancestors and wished I had a mouthful of coffee to spit out when I got to the prices:


Research Services is proud to offer a
brand new service!


Every new project with American Ancestors Research Services now starts with our Expert Assessment. During this assessment, a Senior Researcher will review your project goal(s), complete preliminary research, and produce a detailed strategy for you. This research strategy will outline sources to look at, records to order, and any helpful information to answer your project question(s).

Upon receipt of the Expert Assessment, you’ll have the option to carry the work out on your own or hire a Researcher to conduct it for you.
Your Expert Assessment will Include:

A list of specific resources examined
Copies of records discovered during the review period
A detailed strategy for what can be accomplished with additional research-for-hire
Suggestions for further independent research

Get Started Today!
The Expert Assessment costs $450 for American Ancestors members,
and $550 for non-members.

[Janet]

Good grief, Kite! :eek: :eek: :eek: I guess that's for the well-heeled without quite enough data yet to nail down their membership in the Sons or Daughters of the American Revolution. (Lah-ti-da...)

I was originally attracted to it because I was offered some deal that was hard to refuse. Can't remember what. Maybe a $49 annual membership or something.

When that ran out I let it drift for quite some time, but I found I badly missed their search engine. It has a habit of turning things up neatly that had escaped me elsewhere. When I found a few bucks to spend, I therefore jumped back in. I see their full annual membership is listed at just under $90 US at present.

[kiterunner]

They are now offering a family tree builder, "American AncesTREES", free at the basic level or $19.95 per year for "advanced" or $34.95 per year for "premium". If you have a Contributor level membership it will include the advanced tree benefits.

The premium tree includes "cutting-edge DNA tools" - but it doesn't seem to say what they are! If anyone finds out, please let us know! As far as I know, American Ancestors doesn't do DNA tests or have a facility to upload DNA data?

https://www.americanancestors.org/ancestrees

[kiterunner]

I've found some information about AncestTREES, including the DNA tools.

https://www.familytreemagazine.com/premium/4-reasons-american-ancestrees/

And it had a link to the info about DNA on the actual site, which I couldn't find by just looking at the site!
https://americanancestrees.helpscoutdocs.com/category/56-dna

You have to use GEDmatch or DNAGEDcom first.

[Janet]

Wow. I guess my current membership qualifies me for access to AmericanAncesTREES because I got right in. This offers some interesting possibilities. Thanks, Kite!

[kiterunner]

Janet, would you mind if I changed the thread title so it is just American Ancestors website, or something like that?

[Janet]

Indeed, right you are, Kite. Maybe include a reference to AmericanAncesTREES? For instance, "American Ancestors website - now with AmericanAncesTREES" or something similar, because I suspect it's the "trees" part that people might remember to look for. But I'll leave it up to you. Thank you!

[kiterunner]

American Ancestors is doing free access to its database of over 1.4 billion names again, from today (12th Nov) to the 19th Nov.

https://www.americanancestors.org/index.aspx

[kiterunner]

Hmm, I clicked on the link from the email, loaded the page and copied the URL over to my post, but the link doesn't seem to be working now. I will put a working link in when I have one!

Edit - still getting the same problem. If the link doesn't work for you, just Google for "American Ancestors" and it should have .org at the end.

Hopefully Janet will have posted a working link by the time I log on tomorrow morning! :)

[Kit]

Kate's link is working now

[Janet]

It worked for me too. Hopefully for everyone! First I've heard of this. Thanks, Kate. Passing it on to a young friend.