Many records are accessible online, but it may surprise you to learn that not all record collections are represented in the hints feature of your favorite database. Ancestry loves to advertise their “shaky leaves,” and why not? It’s fun and it points you in the direction of the most used records containing basic information (think census or Find A Grave).
In this blog post, we’ll go beyond the hints and dig into Ancestry’s catalog to find information about your ancestors you didn’t know existed.
The hints at Ancestry.com are a wonderful starting point for your research, but the records they provide there are just the tip of the iceberg of what is available. To find all the records that pertain to our ancestors, we have to do a little digging. It’s not hard, but you may not have thought of it… the card catalog.
Just like a library, Ancestry has to organize all of its records…billions of records. And they use the card catalog to do it.
Where Is It?
There are two ways to get to the catalog. The first is to go to the Search tab at the top of the homepage and select Card Catalog. The second way is also from the homepage, but off to the right. Look under Special Record Collections then More Collections and select Ancestry Card Catalog.
Time To Search
Let me show you a sample of the different record sets you can find just by using the card catalog.
I’m looking for Maine marriage records. Seems easy enough. I click Search then Card Catalog.
There are over 33, 000 record collections at Ancestry, so I start to narrow the search.
From the left-hand menu, under Filter By Location, I select North America, then USA, then Maine.
This gets me down to all the record sets of Maine (7,787 of them), but I’m looking for marriage records, so on the left-hand side I select Birth, Marriage & Death, then Marriage & Divorce.
We started with over 33,000 record collections and have filtered our way down to 138. That’s doable.
Continuing The Search
Since I’m exploring any record set that has to do with Maine marriage, I start scrolling and find this collection: LDS Pioneer and Hardcart Companies, 1847-1856. In a million years, I never would have searched for that particular record collection.
You might be wondering why this record set is appearing under Maine. It’s because anyone with a connection to Maine, such as being born there in this case, will be included. Just so you know, there are 22 individuals listed in this collection who were born in Maine.
It looks fun, so I select it. Up pops a search box and related data collections. I don’t know of any of my husband’s Maine family that settled in the West, but I have one, the Astle family, so that’s my search.
I find one record, Mary Astle Severn, my 1st cousin 4x removed. You can read more about the origins of the Astle family in my tree here.
If I didn’t know this information already, I would consider it a mini-goldmine. It gives me her birthplace and date, and her parents’ names. But it also tells me what handcart company she traveled with…Martin.
Telling Their Story
Researching your ancestors is all about telling their story. This kind of information is invaluable to filling in the gaps between census years or finding out what their lives were really like.
If you Google “Martin Handcart Company,” you come across a wonderful website from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, that provides a timeline of the company’s travel across the U.S. to Salt Lake City. You can see that here.
There’s also an interactive map that details their journey. I don’t know about you, but I think the amount of fortitude it took to settle west was amazing.
Another Google result brings you to a website called “Stories, Art & Music For The Trail.” Searching under Pioneer Names/Martin Handcart Company, I find a list of over 600 pioneers who made the trek west. There are many pictures attached to the biographies. Unfortunately, there are no photos of my ancestors, but it did tell me they married on the ship Horizon on May 29, 1856. Wow!
Now, don’t forget to go back and look at all the related data collections to add even more to your ancestor’s story.
Finally
Do a broad search of a state or county just to see what record collections are available. There will be many you didn’t know existed. They may not mention your ancestor by name, but they’ll provide historical context for filling in the gaps of your ancestors’ lives.
Whether you use the catalog or not, it’s vital to stay up-to-date on what Ancestry has to offer. From their homepage, if you look down the right-hand side, you’ll see a section called Tools and Resources. Click on New and Updated Collections to always find the latest record sets found on Ancestry.
Genealogy tip: FamilySearch and MyHeritage also have wonderful catalogs. Make sure to try them out the next time you are on their sites.
If you need help using the catalog or want the research done for you, give me a call. I’d love to hear who (or what) you want to find.
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