Ancestry.com?

Okay, this is about as loosely related to photography as it gets but here goes. We are planning a vacation to England/Scotland in June, 2007, and I would like to know more about our ancestry before we go.
I've done some free research and found that the name "Woods" comes from England/Scotland but would like to know where it was my family came from when they crossed the "pond". Hopefully, just 2-3 generations back and I'm not really interested in the entire family tree.
With that in mind, all Google searches eventually led to Ancestry.com so my question is, has anyone used this service and, if so, did you find it helpful?
Thank you for any input.

PS: Unfortunately, I don't have surviving family members that would recall or have knowledge of any of this.

Yes, I have used it and found it to be quite helpful. The most helpful thing I used on the web for genealogical research was GenForum, though. I researched my family lines for 15 years before I got internet service and GenForum members helped me solved riddles I simply couldn't find through other means. I now have three of my family lines researched back to 17th century Europe as a result.

Liza,
Thank you very much for your input. I noticed that they're having a 14 day trial period that probably would be enough for what I'm trying to accomplish. They do ask for a credit card though in case you decide to stick with them, so I thought it still wise to get some feedback before going forward.
Thanks again!

I haven't used it personally, but the rest of my family is having a ball using it. They have traced large segments of our family back to the early 1700's and some parts back to the mid-1600's.

I used Ancestry for a while but I found it pretty limited for the cost of the full membership. The 14 day trail is ok but make sure you call and cancel it before the 14th day so they don't hit your credit card.

Some of the free sites are just as good to get you started. For England/Scotland research start with:

http://www.rootsweb.co​m
http://www.familysearc​h.org
http://www.stevemorse.​org
http://www.ellisisland​.org

Here's a decent article to help you get going as well:

http://genealogy.about​.com …enealogy/a/free​_sites.htm

Another decent pay site I'm starting to use with cleaner documents than Ancestry is:

http://www.godfrey.org​/

Keep in mind, it will get costly once you get into it. So you'll need to decide where you draw the line at some point. We've been able to track my wife's family back to 1100's in England. The more you find the more you'll be drawn into the whole genealogy thing...

Jon.

I forgot to list my link too if you want to see what 12 years of research looks like. When I started we didn't have the internet for research help so just getting started was a nightmare. In fact, I didn't even know the names of my grand parents until early last year. On my fathers side everything was kept hush hush because my grand father supposedly needed to flee his home in order to stay out of the German ovens. And just a week ago we met cousins from that side of the family for the first time. My grandpa had a brother who also fled the Germans and Russians around the same time (early 1900's).

http://familytreemaker​.genealogy.com …athan-T-Foster/index.html

Jon.

Definitely take Jon's advice with Ancestry.com - if you don't cancel your 'membership' after 14 days trail period you find a £60 bill appearing on your credit card.

Try doing a google search for UK Census - it is a good starting point. However, Woods is a quite common name so it will help to have an idea of where your family came from by way of a town or district.

After thinking about what you have to start with, you might want to post a few questions in the RootsWeb message board or even at the GenForum if you try the Ancestry trail...

http://boards.ancestry​.com/mbexec/script/mai​n/rw
http://genforum.geneal​ogy.com/

Do you have any software to keep track of your research? It makes a huge difference. I use Family Tree Maker but there are other's that will perform just as good for less money or even free. The FamilySearch site has a free program in the lower right corner of their home page. Once you have something started in a program you can export your tree as a standard GEDCOM file. You can then upload the GEDCOM file to several databases (FamilySearch, RootsWeb) with key words (names) and dates so other researchers can see what you have and what you are searching for. If any of them thing they have matching information they will e-mail you...

You can also get help at the local LDS Research Center. Use the link below to find one in your area and stop by to visit for a few minutes. The people there are pro's at doing research and always offer any help they can. It's free except for when you make copies or order micro films. Copies are a few cents each and the films are less than $5.00 to order but you aren't even close to needing films...

http://www.familysearc​h.org …PAGE=library_fh​c_find.asp

Jon.

Wow, I definitely have some tools to use now and I thank you all very much for your help.
Mainly, I just want to go back to when my family came from, well, who knows, over to America. Perhaps, a generation back from that just to see if there is some consistency in local.
With our trip to England/Scotland next year, I thought this would make our vacation all the more interesting as we could actually visit the area (assuming it is one of those of course ).
Again, thank you very much!

Hi Robert,

I'll echo what the others have said here. I've been doing genie research for about 18yrs. When I was still very active with the local Genealogical Society's Computer group I would always recommend Family Tree Maker (FTM) to new users starting out. Simple and easy to use and will do most of what people need in a genie program. At the more complicated end you have programs such as The Master Genealogist (TMG), but TMG, while offering a few more advanced features has a harder interface to master and this sometimes turns people away from using software for their genealogical research.

Personally I've used FTM for many years but haven't used Ancestory.com at all. I find I get a lot of hits and email from my web page. Found at least 6 relations via the net this way. The link below for Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet is another very very good place to start. One last thing - you may find it hard to stop at just finding out where they came from over in England / Scotland. Lots of people get bitten by the genie bug and find it a great hobby. Those ancestors were people too and you'd be amazed what details still exist on how they lived their day to day lives. It's always interesting to put their emigration to a new land into a historical perspective and look behind the simple fact that they moved to a new land. Why did they move?

Good luck and have fun with your searching .

My home page with Genealogical Research
http://home.st.net.au/​~carlill/

Cyndi's List of Genealogy Sites on the Internet
http://www.cyndislist.​com/

Jon Foster wrote:
...You can also get help at the local LDS Research Center. Use the link below to find one in your area and stop by to visit for a few minutes. The people there are pro's at doing research and always offer any help they can. It's free except for when you make copies or order micro films. Copies are a few cents each and the films are less than $5.00 to order but you aren't even close to needing films...

http://www.familysearc​h.org …PAGE=library_fh​c_find.asp

Jon.

I used the LDS page for a lot of my research. The rest came from relatives and other parties who found my website (www.kalla.net) somehow, probably by google or something. Oddly enough, I usually get about three emails per year asking about relatives from this! Very cool!

I use Reunion 8 for the Mac. Love that program! Makes for easy web publishing, also.

The only "Wood" (not Woods) I'm related to was in Canada in the mid 1800s.