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- Some things on Ancestry are free and some things cost. There is a tiered subscription model. Check here.
- Ancestry provides several, quite separate, things:
- Ancestry has a vast library of records — census data, births, deaths, marriages, etc. These are excellent and a phenomenal resource to have at your fingertips.
- Most users have posted a family tree. Some of these trees are reliable. Look at them for suggestions, but many of them could be considered “alternative facts.” Unfortunately, it can be difficult to sift out the reliable trees trees (hint: look for and evaluate the sources provided). Copying-and-pasting of trees causes bad research to propagate as quickly as good research.
- There are many family histories as well. These are secondary sources, and — similar to the personal trees on Ancestry — their reliability varies considerably from one to the next.
- Many genealogy books and publications are available to subscribers.
- Ancestry also offers DNA testing. Further information can be found by clicking here.
- Ancestry’s US portal.
- Tiered subscription model.
- Mostly the same as the Canadian site, but American users will have their trees here, and links may direct you here.
- There are sometimes things that you can see on the .com website that you can’t see on the .ca website, but it is not clear what they are.
- There may be things you can access with your subscription on the Canadian site that will not be available to you on the U.S. site.
- The scope of records available on Family Search (Censuses, Births, Marriages, Deaths) is similar to that available on the Ancestry site, but here it is all FREE. As in: no cost, ever.
- Quite an amazing resource, actually. The Church of Latter Day Saints (the Mormons) are performing a HUGE public service to the world by building and maintaining this collection and making it available to the world free of charge.
- Family Search also has several different offerings:
- Searchable records
- Family histories
- Global Family Tree
- Books and publications
- Most reviewers do not include WikiTree in the “Big Four.” Part of the reason is that the primary offering of WikiTree is a tool to build your family tree, not provide access to historical records.
- Nonetheless, there are enough profiles in WikiTree and most of them have references to primary records that it can be a very useful aid to your research.