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Let me guess…your first stop on the genealogy path includes Ancestry.com? For most this is the first go-to website to aid in research. For rookie genealogists, ancestry.com can be overwhelming to say the least. The following 7 tips can help new users navigate their way around the leading the genealogy website.

1- Utilize a free trial and know subscription levels

If you are new to ancestry.com I highly recommend doing a free trial in the beginning. This will allow you to get to know the website and get a sense of what records are available. Although access to records are limited with the free trial, you will still be able to check out the site and determine if you want to pay for a subscription and what particular subscriptions will help you the most. **Note that if you get a free trial, do so when you have a good chuck of time to fully investigate the site. No sense in getting a free trial when you don’t have time that week or two to explore it fully.

A basic subscription will allow you access to 15+ billion records in the United States. The World Explorer subscription will allow you 3+ billion more records from around the world. If some of your research will branch out beyond the United States, this subscription is a good idea if even for a set period of time until you gather the information you need.

All Access subscription includes all of the above and access to Newspapers.com and Fold3.com (military records). The All Access subscription value depends on the amount of research you plan to do. Once you search Newspapers.com and Fold3.com for relatives in your family tree, you may not have a need for it any longer (or at least for awhile until more records become uploaded). However, you can always downgrade your ancestry.com subscription when certain services are no longer needed.

Choose one that suits you and your budget. You can adjust them when needed.

You can also go to Newspapers.com and Fold3.com and do a free trial separate from Ancestry.com and determine if it will be of value to you to have a longer subscription or include it with an Ancestry.com subscription.

2. Create a family tree: public or private

Create a family tree on Ancestry.com. Click on ‘Trees’ in the upper left hand corner and start entering in information you currently have. You do not have to have a public tree that everyone can see. However, having a public tree could lead to more leads from possible relatives. Should you choose to have a private tree go to the drop down arrow on the tree you created. Go down to “Tree Settings”. In the middle of the page under “Tree Settings” click on “Privacy Settings” and select Public or Private. A description of what Public and Private really mean is stated on the “Privacy Settings” page.

Add as much information as you can to your tree and include photos if possible. When you find a record that matches a relative in your tree attach it to that person in the tree. Attaching the record to the person helps to keep track of sources (a crucial element to proper research).

3. Be cautious of family trees and hints

Once you create a family tree on Ancestry.com you will begin to see the little green leaf next to relatives. These are called hints. Take these hints with a grain of salt. Just because they are attached to a relative does not necessarily mean they are connected to your relative. You have to do your own research and deciphering before declaring the hint a find.

Be alert when it comes to other researchers family trees. They are doing research just like you and can often get details wrong or mix up people with similar names. Using other trees is not a good way to gain proper information. However, family trees are excellent to use as hints. Verify information from other trees with good sources.

I often hear of researchers getting very upset that someone else has wrong information on their tree. Remember–you may have misinformation on your tree as well that you don’t see. Some of us have decades of research behind us and some of us are new. You can gently send them a note with a correction and source but hold in your anger, please!

4. Create a genealogical question

Going straight onto Ancestry.com without a clear idea of your objective can make research overwhelming. Research is much more successful if you stay focus on one topic at a time and follow it through as far as you can. An example of a question includes: When did my great grandfather immigrate to the United States? With this question you know a name you need to focus on and what records will be need to be utilized.

Once on Ancestry.com you can focus in on immigration/ship records for clues. Census records would also be useful with this question as they may state the year of immigration.

Keeping a journal of your genealogical questions with short research notes will also keep you organized. Once one question is answered or taken as far as you can over a period of time, you can create another question and move onto more research.

5. Be flexible with general searches

When first beginning a search on Ancestry.com, be as specific as possible. Include as much of the name, birth/death date, and locations as you are able to. Have tunnel vision and stay on the straight and narrow right off the bat. However, after you have results for specific information, begin to branch out and relax your details.

You can be as specific as you want with various search categories.

Try entering in a date of birth range instead of a specific year. Expand the birth or death location to surrounding counties or states of their last known residence.

Don’t forgot to be flexible with the spelling of names. Census records, especially, were recorded phonetically and the spelling may not be how you know it to be. Often people went by their nicknames or middle names so don’t disregard an entire household just because one name is not correct.

Ancestry.com is a great starting point for any researcher. However, Ancestry.com does not do the research for you. Use common sense, compare records, take hints and other family trees with a grain of salt and your research can flourish. And remember…Ancestry.com is not the only source out there. It only scratches the surface of sources out there on the web and in person.

By now in your research you have probably come across numerous death records. You have probably recorded the death date, parents names if listed, and birth date. Have you looked beyond the surface of the record? Can you use the death records you have to gain more information or break down a brick wall?

In this post I will go over some ways that death certificates can possibly yield more clues in your research.

Death Codes

You may never have heard of death codes before but they can bring to light important information on death records. Death codes can tell you how your ancestor died. These codes (written as a number) often go unnoticed by researchers and is usually written somewhere near the cause of death- scribbled next to or below it. The example below shows the number written below the cause of death. There is no specific line for this number.

Example of death code written below the cause of death

Death code numbers come from the International Classification of Diseases or what is also known as the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems. It is maintained, now, by the World Health Organization. Around 1898 the United States began using the system. Therefore, you will probably not see these codes on death records before that time.

You can refer to this list here. The list includes various revisions. Click on the revision made before the date of the death record you are researching. In the case of the certificate above, I clicked on the 1938 revision. Scroll down to 93 and it says “myocardial disease”. This code confirms what is written and does not show any other factors relating to the death. The death codes can often shed new light on the cause of death or if the cause of death is hard to read you can look up the code if one is provided.

Use town of death and occupation to locate home

Older death certificates do not show specific addresses for the deceased. A town or township may be the only clue to residency. In cases like this, take a look at their town/township and occupation or even burial place. Occupations can help you pinpoint where they lived. Back when travel took longer, your ancestors probably would not have traveled very far from home to get to work. Also, if an occupation is listed on the record you can then research the industries in the place they lived to figure out more about where they worked.

When you can place a family in a particular spot you can then use plat maps or Sanborn fire maps to investigate a more precise location of your ancestor’s residency. Take the example below:

In this death certificate Andrew Meyer lives in the village of Otis in the township of New Durham (Indiana). He is a farmer so he may have owned land. I located a plat map for the county of LaPorte and went to New Durham township. I then searched the village of Otis and surrounding area to see if I could locate Andrew Meyer. The plat below shows what I found:

Andrew Meyer’s land is right next to a church and cemetery. There is also high chance he is buried in that cemetery. I looked further into the surrounding areas of this plat map and found a couple of more plats of land that he owned just south of Otis.

Sanborn Fire Maps

Sanborn Fire Maps from the Library of Congress (LoC) can also help you find the ownership of property in cities across the United States. On the LoC website you can narrow your search down to state and city. The maps can provide a wealth of information and death records can help you narrow down your search to a township or street.

Not all Sanborn Fire Maps include who owned the property. However, if you can narrow down the search to a street you can see what buildings were present at the time the map was produced. If you have a death certificate with a specific residence address you can also look on the maps and determine which residence belonged to your ancestor. The maps are also helpful for cemetery, church, and business locations.

Newspaper articles related to death

Not all deaths are disease or natural causes. You may come across a death certificate with a murder, suicide, or accident. Unpleasant as it is, you will most likely find one eventually. Suicides are not exposed in today’s newspapers, but back in the day they often made headlines.

I found the death certificate of my great great grandfather many years ago. I was shocked to see that he died by suicide–strangulation. In curious fashion I went to the local library to look at newspapers from the week he died. I was flipping through the microfiche when I came to a screeching halt. There- sprawled across the front page- was the headline and article about his suicide. I could not believe it made front page news. In that article I was able to learn exactly what happened (hanging, he had been in poor health) and also find his obituary.

Even a cause of death can lead to more clues and further research. Look beyond just the words on the document. Figure out what clues you can gather from that seemingly simple piece of paper.