Last week I gave you some free sites on the Internet which I hope you checked out.

But looking for your ancestors for free is not always the best way. If you're really serious, at some point you will have to fork out a few bucks and either buy genealogy/history books or pay for database access on the Internet. I want to share with you what I selected and why.

Browsing the net about a year ago, I found two paid sites that offer detailed database information. There may be more but these are the main, and most informative, ones I found. They are Kindred Konnections (it appears to have changed its name to MyTrees.com ... a Kindred Konnections Web site) and Ancestry.com.

Kindred Konnections was not easily maneuverable. Every time I clicked on something I wanted to see, it advised me to log in my password and user name. Just to double check, last Wednesday I tried to do a search for my Nathan Fowler. The search gave me 59 places I could find a Nathan ... but when I tried to access the information, it told me to log in my password. So much for free stuff.

They also advertise a free family tree online, saying it's unnecessary to buy expensive genealogy programs, but they tell you later it's free with a paid membership. Doesn't sound so free to me. I have no problem with paying ... just don't tell me it's free and then lie.

Apparently, as on other sites, people submit their family trees to be put online at MyTrees.com. But, unlike other sites, nonmembers have to pay to view them. The only thing I found to be free on this site was the Social Security Death Index. Rootsweb and Ancestry.com also offer it free. More about the SSDI later.

Membership at Kindred Konnections is $5 for a 10-day trial period (automatically converts to the monthly rate if you don't tell them to cancel it), $15 per month, or $100 per year. You can join online with your credit card. You can check it out for yourself at www.mytrees.com.

The other site, Ancestry.com, is the one I chose. Access to the family trees people have submitted is free (Ancestry World Tree), and, periodically, they offer non-members access to some of their databases free for a limited time, usually 10 days.

Members also can use Ancestry's online genealogy program, which allows you to store your genealogy information without having to buy a separate program. I used this feature before I bought my Family TreeMaker and Reunion programs. It's very handy, but if your computer is slow, you will get impatient at the time it takes the screen to redraw after each entry. Also, there are more short cuts for the PC (Windows) than for the Mac.

A one-year full premium membership at Ancestry is $59.95; access to 1910 and 1920 census images is an additional $39.95, or you can get the whole kit and kaboodle for $49.95 (that doesn't sound right but that's what their membership options say. I guess they're trying to get new members signed up.)

You can also pay quarterly (three months) for $19.95 and pay an additional $19.95 for access to census images. Or, you can just pay for access to the census images quarterly for $19.95.

The census images are something new at Ancestry. They are actual photos of the census pages that you can view on your screen. Ancestry is starting with 1910 and 1920, but hope to have them all online as soon as they can. I have not signed up for this service yet, but I probably will.

I have been very pleased with my membership at Ancestry and most of my genealogy friends use it too. Members can also create a family Web site on Ancestry (MyFamily.com) and keep in touch with messages, photos, etc. All in all, Ancestry has a lot to offer for a reasonable price. But I hope you will browse both sites before you make your selection.

The SSDI mentioned before is a database of every deceased person who has ever received Social Security or a Social Security death benefit. Social Security didn't come into being until 1935, so information is limited to those who died quite a few years after that. But, if you had relatives or ancestors born in the late 1880s who lived well into the 1900s, they just might be there. It gives birth and death dates and locations, as well as the location to which the last benefit was sent.

Before I close this week's column, I want to thank both the director, Christeen Snell, and assistant director, Beverly Snow, of the Fayette County Library, for their kind letters about my column. They gave me a list of additional microfilm records available there which I didn't have time to investigate.

They are: Fayette County newspapers; Fayette County marriages, 1823-1913; Estate records, 1824-1911; Fayette County pension records, 1861-1949; Fayette County deeds, 1823-1903; Fayette County tax digests, 1823-1857; Federal Census records for the state of Georgia: 1820-1880, and 1900-1920; Slave schedules for 1850 and 1860; and Soundex for 1880, 1900 and 1920.

Soundex ... now there's one I haven't touched yet. It's sort of confusing. We'll discuss that another time.

Next week I'll tell you about the Hanson family of Frances Hanson Arnold who was kind enough to share her family genealogy with me. Her Hansons were in Fayette County early ... during the 1820s. And her husband's Arnolds were in Coweta.

I hope you'll share your south side family with me too. Send letters to The Citizen, Drawer 1719, Fayetteville, GA 30214. Or e-mail me at jkilgore@thecitizennews.com.

Back to the Citizen Home Page