THE SECRETS OF ANCESTRY.COM
April 7, 2015
Family Tree Maker, although it can stand alone, without using, Ancetry.com, is really built to
take advantage of the information contained on the ancestry.com fee based website.
Generally, once you have found as much information as you can find from family histories,
etc, and then you have input that data into your Family Tree Maker file, then it is time to sign
up for the fee based portion of Ancestry.com.
Ancestry.com is a monthly service that can be purchased for about 20 dollars per month or
about 100 dollars for 6 months. If you are just starting out and do not have mounds of
information already, then I would suggest that you purchase a 1 month service from
Ancestry.com, and then use it as much as possible for that one month and then cancel.
As will be seen further on in this discussion, you will be looking for “hints” on the
ancestry.com website for your family. These hints will be in the form of Census images for
your ancestor usually ranging from 1840 through 1940 (excluding the 1890 census which
burned up). Also it may include military application cards, some military pension info, and
even occasionally a passport. Here is a list of items and the source of the data that
Ancestry.com says is available:

Census info (US Census and State Census data)

Revolutionary War Pension info from Federal files and county files

Military registration applications for WWI and WWII

Passports for government personnel (to Guam, etc)

Find a grave – us
gives you the data related to a particular gravesite. Also gives
you a link to find-a-grave to view tombstones and cemeteries.

Find a grave –state
gives you the data related to a particular gravesite. Also gives
you a link to find-a-grave to view tombstones and cemeteries.

Marriage – Collection

Various City Directories

Various photos

Various stories and documents

Ancestry Family members trees

Death and Stilbirths index –state

Social Security Index
A common misconception concerning the SS Death Index is that it contains all
persons who have ever had a Social Security number. This is not the case. The Government actually
maintains separate databases for all Social Security number recipients--the regular database on which most
living individuals are found and one for those who are deceased. It is the latter that is found on the Social
Security Death Index. In order to appear in the SSDI, the following must all be true: The individual must have
had a Social Security Number (although there are some Railroad Retirees who also appear in this index),
The individual must be deceased, The individual's death must have been reported to the Social Security
Administration (SSA), The Social Security Administration must move the individual from their active
database to the Death Master File which is what is used to create the Social Security Death Index. Keep in
mind that most of the individuals in the SSDI died after 1962 which is the year that the SSA began
computerizing their records. In order for the government to officially switch a person from the living person to
the database of deceased persons, a survivor of that person must apply for and receive death benefits for
that deceased person. Therefore, even though a person has died, the government may never switch them
over to the database of deceased persons if no benefits were ever paid out.
With all of the above said, it is now time to LET THE HINT HUNTING
BEGIN!!
We are looking for hints to be able to add data for a particular person.
In our first example we are looking for info on Malissa A. Weger, the spouse of Jessie Simons. I already
have some data on this family and know they are from the Honeycreek Township in Crawford
County, Illinois
There are two ways to look for hints/data. There is the obvious way and the not so obvious way. I prefer to
generally use the not so obvious way since it is cleaner and easier to do.
OBVIOUS WAY
The obvious way would be to go through your family tree maker software, bring up the name Malissa A.
Weger, and then click on the hints leaf in the far right data input area. This then takes you to ancestry.com
and shows the following list of items to review:
Record
Type
Information found in record
1880 United States Federal Census
Census & Voter Lists
View Image
Name:
Spouse:
Birth:
Residence:
Melissey Simons
Jessa Simons
abt 1835 - Illinois
1880 - Honey Creek,
Crawford, Illinois
1910 United States Federal Census
Census & Voter Lists
View Image
1850 United States Federal Census
Census & Voter Lists
View Image
1870 United States Federal Census
Census & Voter Lists
View Image
1860 United States Federal Census
Census & Voter Lists
View Image
U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600sCurrent
Birth, Marriage & Death
Anna (Ky) Folks
Public Member Tree Unsourced
Wallace
Public Member Tree 1 source
Name: Malissa Simons
Birth: abt 1838 - Illinois
Residence: 1910 - Pasadena Ward 3, Los
Angeles, California
Name: Melissa Weger
Birth: abt 1835 - Illinois
Residence: 1850 - Crawford, Illinois
Name: Melissa Simons
Birth: abt 1838 - Ill
Residence: 1870 - Hamburg, Fremont,
Iowa, United States
Residence: Hamburg, Fremont, Iowa
Name: Melissa E Simons
Birth: abt 1838 - Illinois
Residence: 1860 - Sidney, Fremont,
Iowa, United States
Name: Malissa A. Simons
Spouse: Jesse Simons
Birth: 2 Jan 1837 - Crawford
County, Illinois, USA
Death: 13 Aug 1891 - Crawford
County, Illinois, USA
Other: Flat Rock, Crawford County,
Illinois, USA
Name: Malissa A Weger
Birth: 2 Jan 1837 - Crawford
Death: 14 Aug 1891 - Crawford, IL
(Illinois)
Marriage: 30 Jan 1859 - Crawford, IL
(Illinois)
Parents: William Weger, Elizabeth C
Highsmith
Spouse: Jesse Simons
Name: Melissa Weger
Birth: 2 Jan 1837 - Crawford,
United States
Death: 14 Aug 1891 - Crawford,
Illinois, United States
Marriage: 30 Jan 1859 - Crawford,
Illinois, United States
Parents: William Weger, Elizabeth
Spouse: Jesse Simons
Elizabeth Anne Hart
Public Member Tree 3 attached records, 4
sources
Magaña, Allee, Ford, Kowalski
Public Member Tree 3 attached records, 4
sources
Cooper Family Tree
Public Member Tree 3 attached records, 4
sources
Watkins - Ford Tree
Public Member Tree Unsourced
Oscar Ford (1844) and Myrtle
McDaniel's decendants & ancestors
Public Member Tree 4 sources
Name: Malissa O Weger
Birth: 2 Jan 1837 - Crawford, USA
Death: 14 Aug 1891 - Crawford,
Illinois, USA
Marriage: 30 Jan 1859 - Crawford,
Illinois, USA
Parents: William Weger, Elizabeth C
Highsmith
Spouse: Jesse Simons
Name: Malissa A Weger
Birth: 2 Jan 1837 - Crawford
Death: 14 Aug 1891 - Honey Creek,
Crawford, IL (Illinois)
Marriage: 30 Jan 1859 - Crawford,
Illinois, United States
Parents: William Weger, Elizabeth C.
Highsmith
Spouse: Jesse Simons
Name: Malissa A Weger
Birth: 2 Jan 1837 - Crawford, USA
Death: 13 Aug 1891 - Crawford,
Illinois, USA
Marriage: 30 Jan 1859 - Crawford, IL
(Illinois)
Parents: William Weger, Elizabeth C
Highsmith
Spouse: Jesse Simons
Name: Malissa A Weger
Birth: 2 Jan 1837 - Crawford
Death: 14 Aug 1891 - Crawford, IL
(Illinois)
Marriage: 30 Jan 1859 - Crawford, IL
(Illinois)
Parents: William Weger, Elizabeth C
Highsmith
Spouse: Jesse Simons
Name: Malissa A Weger
Birth: 02 Jan 1837 (2 Jan 1837) Crawford
Death: 14 Aug 1891 - Honey Creek,
Crawford, IL (Illinois)
Marriage: 30 Jan 1859 - Crawford,
Illinois, United States
Parents: William Weger, Elizabeth C.
Highsmith
Spouse: Jesse Simons
Wayne Shinkle & Linda Dittrich
Lineage5
Public Member Tree 1 attached record, 2
sources
Highsmith Family Tree
Public Member Tree 1 attached record, 2
sources
Name: Malissa A Weger
Birth: 2 Jan 1837 - Crawford,
United States
Death: 14 Aug 1891 - Crawford,
Illinois, United States
Spouse: Jesse Simons
Name: Malissa A Weger
Birth: 2 Jan 1837 - Crawford
County (Crawford), USA
Death: 14 Aug 1891 - Crawford,
Illinois, United States
Marriage: 30 Jan 1859 - Crawford,
Illinois, United States
Parents: William Weger, Elizabeth C
Highsmith
Spouse: Jesse Simons
By using the Obvious Way, you pulled up what appears to be 3 good census sets plus a Find a grave set.
The remaining items were either family tree data provided by individuals or the data did not match the
info for our Malissa A. Weger. I tend not to look too closely at the family tree data, and in most cases
ignore it completely if I can find a better source.
Before we look at the images and analyze the detailed data, let’s look at the NOT SO OBVIOUS WAY to
bring this data up.
NOT SO OBVIOUS WAY
This time we go to PLAN in family tree maker and click on the ON LINE TREE, which in this case is called
FTM Studygroup desktop ancestery1. At the top right of the webpage in ancestry.com it has a space to
FIND A PERSON IN THIS TREE. So we type in Malissa A. Weger and we get a Pedigree chart with her name,
and we click on the hints shown there. Then the following pops up:
Ancestry Member Trees
This hint compiles information from 10 other Public Ancestry Member Trees.
Name Malissa A. Weger
Birth
Death
02 Jan 1837 - Illinois, USA
14 Aug 1891 - Honey Creek Twp,
Crawford, Illinois, USA
Review
Ignore
1880 United States Federal Census
Census & Voter Lists
Name Melissey Simons
Spouse
Children
Birth
Residence
Jessa Simons
Henry
abt 1835 - Illinois
1880 - Honey Creek, Crawford, Illinois
- Age: 45
Review
Ignore
1910 United States Federal Census
Census & Voter Lists
Name Malissa Simons
Children
Birth
Residence
Lola
abt 1838 - Illinois
1910 - Pasadena Ward 3, Los Angeles,
California - Age: 72
Review
Ignore
1850 United States Federal Census
Census & Voter Lists
Name Melissa Weger
Birth
Residence
abt 1835 - Illinois
1850 - Crawford, Illinois - Age: 15
Review
Ignore
1870 United States Federal Census
Census & Voter Lists
Name Melissa Simons
Birth
Residence
abt 1838 - Ill
1870 - Hamburg, Fremont, Iowa,
United States - Age: 32
Review
Ignore
1860 United States Federal Census
Census & Voter Lists
Name Melissa E Simons
Birth
Residence
abt 1838 - Illinois
1860 - Sidney, Fremont, Iowa, United
States - Age: 22
Review
Ignore
U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current
Birth, Marriage & Death
Name Malissa A. Simons
Spouse
Birth
Death
Jesse Simons
2 Jan 1837 - Crawford County, Illinois,
USA
13 Aug 1891 - Crawford County,
Illinois, USA
Review
Ignore
As you can see the data pulled is the same going either the OBVIOUS WAY or the NOT SO OBVIOUS WAY.
However the NOT SO OBVIOUS WAY combines the Ancestry Member trees data , which I generally ignore,
and also provides an IGNORE BUTTON in order to ignore that data. If you later decide you want to see the
data you can Unhide it/UNignore it.
Findagrave
In our present case, I would start with the find a grave data that tells you Malissa was born in Illinois in
1837 and died in Illinois in 1891. I usually feel pretty good about that data, as to born and died dates. You
click on REVIEW and it brings up the findagrave data on the left side on your data on the right side. You
can then select which data you would like to use or keep. There may also be data on the father and
mother of Malissa A Weger, as well as info on her children and husband. Some of this info appears to
come by virtue of the census info, however I always try to find a separate census documentation for the
data on these other persons rather than just going from findagrave.
Ancestry member information – not necessarily documented
You will see the data for the Ancestry member trees. Which may or may not be validly documented. I
would click on the IGNORE button ( you don’t have this button if you use the obvious way) and hide the
Ancestry members trees.
Conflicting Census data
1850 Census
The 1850 Census shows a Melissa Weger born in Illinois.
The 1850 census and the 1880 census appear to be our Malissa A. Weger. The 1860 census and 1870
census are for a Malissa/Melissa who lived in Iowa. To determine if they are the same person I looked to
the detailed census data showing the children of the two Malissas. They do not appear to match. Our
Malissa had a child named Henry and their Malissa had a child named Lola. The children are never on the
same census. So chances are they are not the same people. Also if you look on the 1910 California census
which is obviously not our Malissa since she is dead by 1891, you see that the other Malissa is living and
living with her married child named Lola.
Let’s look at the various censi and compare them. I start with the oldest and proceed to the newer ones
thereafter:
1860 census – not our Malissa
Click on REVIEW and you will see on the left side data which appears to be for a Melissa E. Simons, not a
Malissa A Simons. Also it shows her as living in Iowa in 1860. When you click on the image of the census it
shows that Melissa was married to Rueben Simons. Not Jessie Simons as shown in findagrave. When
reviewing census you can double tap with mouse and make it bigger, can invert color and can unenhance if
does not work right. It could be that Malissa Weger was born in Illinois, lived in Iowa and then died in
California and was buried in Illinois. Be wary when data shows the family moving around a lot. Such a
situation is generally a red flag that puts you on notice that you may be dealing with two separate Malissa
Simons.
1870 census – not our Malissa
Doing this same thing again for the 1870 census you find Melissa married to Reuben, lived in Iowa, and
has several children, one of which is named Lola.
1880 census – our Malissa
This census shows Malissa married to Jessie, and new data related to her living in Honeycreek twp,
Crawford County, Illinois. The children have names other than the children named in the 1870 census, so
they are not likely to be the same family as shown in the 1870 census. In addition Malissa would have to
have lived in Iowa in 1860 and 1870, then moved to Illinois in 1880, and then California in 1910, and then
buried in Illinois. Not likely.
1910 census – not our Malissa.
This California census shows that Melissa Simons is still alive and her daughter is Lola. Obviously this is
another family and not the family of Malissa and Jessie, since Malissa died in 1891.
HERE IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF USING THE ANCESTRY.COM DATA. THIS IS FOR FREDERICK
HOOVER PINKSTAFF, THE SON OF ALFRED AND MARTHA PINKSTAFF, WHO I KNOW WAS BORN
IN ILLINOIS.
Order of review
I would look at the data in the following order: 1. Oregon Finda grave, 2. US Finda grave, 3. Oregon
Death Index, 4. WWI Draft Card (in error in this particular case), 5. 1880 Census, 6. 1900 Census, 7. 1910
Census, 8. 1920 Census, 9. 1930 Census, 10. 1940 Census. Here is what we find:
Oregon Finda grave
Findagrave shows him born in Illinois in 1872 and died in 1961 in Oregon
US Finda grave
This shows the same info as the Oregon findagrave, as expected
Oregon Death Index
This shows he was Frederick H. Pinkstaff and that he was 89 when he died in Oregon and the date of his
death.(this would mean he was born in 1872. It also shows his wife was named Cloy
WWI Draft Card –almost illegible (and in error in this particular case)
This shows he was born Sept 3 1876 which does not jive with the other data. It shows he was in
Tilamook County, Oregon when he registered for the draft. Either the card is wrong on the date or this is
another Frederick Hoover Pinkstaff. I think the card is wrong. How many Frederick Hoover Pinkstaffs
could there be in Tillamook county, Oregon that were born 3 to 4 years apart?
1880 Census (7 years old)
Frederic Pinkstaff. 1880 Illinois census he was 7 years old so born circa 1872-1873
1900 Census (27 years old)
This 1900 census shows that Frederick lived with his brother Charles. The census states that Frederick
was a brother to Charles. Fred is shown as 25 years old and born in 1874. The prior 1880 census also
showed that Charles was his brother.
1910 Census (37 years old)
This census shows Fred H. Pinkstaff living in New Mexico and that he was a government worker for the
land office and that he was 37 years old, which would mean he was born in 1873. Apparently unmarried
at this time.
1920 Census (47 years old)
This Oregon Census shows he is a farmer, is 43 years old, which means he was born in 1873 ( he has a
wife named Della who is 28 and two children. One of which is named Ellen, 7, and Ruth, 3).
1930 Census (57 years old)
In this Oregon census he is 55. Has no wife, but has two children, Ruth 13 and Howard 8. This ties into
the 1920 census since Ruth was 3 in 1920 and is 13 in 1930.
1940 Census (67 years old)
In this Oregon census he is 67. He has divorced his wife and is living alone.
ADDITIONAL SEARCH DATA NEEDED
We have learned a lot about Frederich Hoover Pinkstaff. To find out more I then do a regular SEARCH
and just type in FREDERICK HOOVER PINKSTAFF and get the following showing info on findagrave:
When I go to US findagrave by clicking on the heading US findagrave, I see the following:
We have already reviewed all of the items listed on the right under SUGGESTED RECORDS, except for the
US Passport Applications, so we go check that out by clicking on the item and we see this passport to the
Phillipines in 1908, where Fred states he was born in Birds, Illinois on Sep 3, 1872, and is a teacher. It
also says he is 6 foot 1 inches tall, has a small mouth, long face, tall forehead, grey eyes, a long nose, etc.
: