Ancestry hints. Some are useful.

[coombs]

I know you must scrutinise any Ancestry hints, and you may know off the bat they are wrong due to different location, time frame and a different forename but some of the Ancestry hints have been useful and lead to new discoveries.

I found out my great gran was baptised for the 2nd time in Hackney, London, when she was in a Hackney convent in 1910 aged 14. The Ancestry hint came up and I thought "this looks familiar" so I checked the original and all the details matched. DOB, parents, names etc. Must have been rules of the house.

Another Ancestry hint told me another ancestor of the paternal side spent time in a Greenwich Naval hospital in 1899.

[ms_canuck]

I agree!  Just this past week I was looking at a female relative, and I found birth, marriage, etc., and what appeared to be her death in Yorkshire. 

However, when I looked at her husband, Ancestry pulled up the 1940 US Census!  So a few clicks later and I find that the entire family had emigrated to the US in 1922/23.  Meaning that the death in Yorkshire was incorrect.

This is also a plug for getting All Country access, because my relatives are all over the place. 

Cheers
Ms_C

[PaulineJ]

I'm pretty sure that ancestry's hints are little more than what someone else added to a person who has a particular record attached.

eg "my" Lydia Brown in 1901 married as a spinster, yet dozens of other trees ignored that and have attached the marriage record to the widowed Lydia Brown in the same locality (the only one they could find on Ancestry's 1901 index). Ergo I now get inundated with record suggestions which pertain to the widow, and not the spinster.

[guest141721]

I know you must scrutinise any Ancestry hints, and you may know off the bat they are wrong due to different location, time frame and a different forename but some of the Ancestry hints have been useful and lead to new discoveries.

I agree with you there. I had one that pointed to a relative dying in Australia and when I checked it out the names of the parents we completely different to those on his birth record. Yet when I looked at the hints for the same person in other trees I found the incorrect information in all of them. Not only that another relative was shown as having died in 1933 when in fact he had children in 1935 and 1937. I had no idea that they were freezing sperm back in the 1930's and then carrying out IVF 

On the other hand hints on Ancestry have helped me trace a person from Sweden to England, back to Sweden and then back to England again and to various addresses in Newcastle. I still don't know when he died although I've had some suggestions but I'm not adding anything till I know for sure.

So the only thing to do is check the facts and be critical till you're 100% certain.

[Gone]

For years one of my ancestors was listed on ancestry trees as having died prior to the 1881 census. There was no record of a death for him and not a single hint after 1871.
But I knew he'd left his wife, moved to another county. Then divorced, remarried, had 3 children with the second wife, changed his surname and died 1907. I added all the records I'd found to my tree, eventually I started getting hints.
The records of his movements that helped me most (besides a letter I have addressed to him 1888) were from newspapers and his divorce in national archives 1887.

[andrewalston]

The hints CAN be useful, but it's essential to look at the actual records. Far too many just click "accept" without bothering, having been convinced by the ads saying "it was all there".

Occasionally you do come across unexpected nuggets, even in trees without sources. You just need to examine the real records which would confirm or deny the link.

[coombs]

I did some research on the Stamford Hill, Hackney convent and in 1911, several of the inmates were training for domestic service, so I assume by great gran was training for service while there a year earlier. She had left by 1911 and was in Sussex as a 15 year old servant.

Yes, as others say, check the original first even if the hint looks quite accurate.

[Kiltpin]

I make a point of checking every hint.   

For every person in my tree there is a "To Do" file. Some hints can be dismissed immediately, others need further research. While the hint is waiting it is on the to do (Notepad) file. Then when I have more time, or inclination, I open the file and then verify, or not. I also use the to do file for notes - "Birthplace might be wrong", "a lot of siblings - 2 families?" kind of thing.

If the hint comes from another member's tree, I always look at the tree, tree name and the other member. Alice Pember of Pember Hall in Pemberton is likely to have reliable information about my John Pember. 

Regards 

Chas

[coombs]

I make a point of checking every hint.   

For every person in my tree there is a "To Do" file. Some hints can be dismissed immediately, others need further research. While the hint is waiting it is on the to do (Notepad) file. Then when I have more time, or inclination, I open the file and then verify, or not. I also use the to do file for notes - "Birthplace might be wrong", "a lot of siblings - 2 families?" kind of thing.

If the hint comes from another member's tree, I always look at the tree, tree name and the other member. Alice Pember of Pember Hall in Pemberton is likely to have reliable information about my John Pember. 

Regards 

Chas

Yes, always check every hint. If it throws up someone of the same name and age, I always review it and if it does not prove or disprove they are my ancestor then they stay out of course.

I love direct ancestors who were born or spent time in London, especially on the paternal side as none of my dad's direct lot were born in London but some lived and married there. I think watching EastEnders in the 1990s started my love for London, as back then EE was a much better depiction of London than now. So was pleased to find my great gran in a Hackney convent. Also 2 of my dad's Essex born and residing ancestors wed in London in 1858 and 1866 respectively.

Mum's family have some London born and bred ancestors, from Soho to Shoreditch.