Stabilize Your Shaky Leaves!
By Debra Woods of FamilySearch
Ancestry.com uses a wonderfully intuitive way to show you hints which could help you discover new information about the ancestors on your family tree. When I open my family tree on the Ancestry.com site, the first thing I notice is a little animated “shaky leaf” next to almost every name on the tree. These little icons are an indication that there are resources available on Ancestry that may provide additional information about that individual! . . .
It’s funny how excited I get when I see those little leaves shaking as I open my tree! It puts me in private detective mode! I click on a name with a shaky leaf and up pops their individual detail. Notice what appears next to the leaf in the pop-up:
View Hints
At the top of the list is status information. Since I’ve never looked at these hints, they all appear as Unreviewed Hints.
At the top of the list is status information. Since I’ve never looked at these hints, they all appear as Unreviewed Hints.
My grandfather has 13 Ancestry hints! Ooo! Ooo! I want to see what new thing I might discover about Grampa Woods! By hovering over that link a little box explains that I can view all hints for this person. I click on the link and am taken to a page listing the 13 hints.
For now, I’ll just look at the hints listed for a quick overview. First on the list (I’ve noticed this is usually at the top of any list of hints) is Ancestry Member Trees.
If my grandfather’s details match details of someone on another Ancestry Member’s Tree – and that member has agreed to make their tree public, I will be shown any such records. In this case, my grandfather may be listed on the trees of three other Ancestry members! More on that later. The remaining 12 hints include:
Adding New Hint Information to a Record
Let’s Review a census record.
- Five US Federal Census records
- One record from S. City Directories, 1821-1989
- One record from the New Hampshire, Marriage Records Index, 1637-1947
- One record from the New Hampshire, Marriage and Divorce Records, 1659-1947
- Two Birth, Marriage & Death records,
- A WWI Draft Registration Card
- A WWII Draft Registration Card
Adding New Hint Information to a Record
Let’s Review a census record.
Next to each hint is a Review button – I click on it and am taken to the in-depth details. There are several parts to this particular census record. The screen is divided in two columns. On the left is the information from the census record. On the right is my grandfather’s information as it is currently on my Ancestry family tree. Whatever information is not identical, there is a DIFFERENT label. Where there is completely new information, there is a NEW label. Some boxes in the NEW area are already checked and the information has been added to the right column. I can either uncheck the boxes, or leave them checked and click on the Save to your tree button to add these new items to my grandfather’s record.
There is additional information from this census if I scroll down, but none of it is anything I want to add to my grandfather’s record.
Additionally, up in the left corner there is a thumbnail sized image of the actual photograph of the page from the census – hovering over it reveals a message to Click to view record image.
Additionally, up in the left corner there is a thumbnail sized image of the actual photograph of the page from the census – hovering over it reveals a message to Click to view record image.
This is always interesting because additional information may be listed on the original record. I click on the thumbnail and the full page view is opened in a special viewer that allows me to scale the image and grab and drag around the image for more detail. Here is a part of that image showing that my grandfather’s family is highlighted.
Ancestry gives more census data and more original images of census records than you can find on FamilySearch. Each census recorded different information. One interesting aspect of viewing the original image is seeing who the neighbors were. In this case, they are also family members!
I was concerned because the Ancestry record misspelled my grandfather’s sister May’s first name as Mary. Looking closely at the original image, I see that the census taker had misspelled her name, so it was indexed that way. I know it is not correct, so I don’t want to include that spelling in my records. You have to use discretion when accepting and saving information from these records.
I leave checkmarks by the items I DO want to save to my record and click on the Save to your tree button.
Ancestry gives more census data and more original images of census records than you can find on FamilySearch. Each census recorded different information. One interesting aspect of viewing the original image is seeing who the neighbors were. In this case, they are also family members!
I was concerned because the Ancestry record misspelled my grandfather’s sister May’s first name as Mary. Looking closely at the original image, I see that the census taker had misspelled her name, so it was indexed that way. I know it is not correct, so I don’t want to include that spelling in my records. You have to use discretion when accepting and saving information from these records.
I leave checkmarks by the items I DO want to save to my record and click on the Save to your tree button.
The census record has now been added to my grandfather’s profile and the status of the hints has been updated.
I’m just getting started with the Ancestry hints for one person. You may find new critical information for your ancestor that will make it possible to request temple ordinances, link new family members, correct mistakes – or you may find verification for what has merely been heresay up until now. You don’t have to use every hint, but it is nice to look at every hint for whatever useful information you might glean.