BEDUC 502: Ancestry

The UW Libraries subscribes to the academic version of Ancestry.com.  The database is a major source for genealogical records including census, military, immigration, marriage, birth and other material.  It also includes a growing number of articles and images related to family history such as yearbooks and biographical dictionaries. 

The database is primarily searched by name as users seek to find information about their ancestors.  The latest census information dates from 1940.  Information collected by census takers includes names, ages, and relationships of all people in the household, country of origin, native language, information about home ownership, and other information varying by year.

• Names are indexed in the database in the form they were entered on the original document. Try searching variant spellings, maiden names, first initials only, etc.

• Use wildcards if you're unsure of spelling. If you want to search for names that differ only by one letter, use the question mark (?) wildcard. A search for "Johns?n" will return both Johnsen and Johnson. You can search alternate spellings with the asterisk (*), which represents 0 to 5 unknown characters. The query "Johann*" will search for Johann and Johannes. A query for "Smel*er" will search for Smeltzer and Smelzer, among others.

The institutional version of Ancestry.com does not include all of the features available through the personal subscription version, such as:

• Family Trees
• Collaboration tools
• Certain database content such as Biography & Genealogy Master Index, Obituary Collection, etc.