Member Success Stories

"After over thirty years of searching, I have finally found my great-grandfather Jesse Lock, thanks to the every-name census indexes at Ancestry. Genealogy has been one of my hobbies for most of my life, and I have been successful in finding records for many of my ancestors. I had always hit a brick wall, however, when it came to finding any records on my paternal great-grandfather. All I had were a few stories that had been passed down through the family, and one obituary that only mentioned his name. I have spent countless hours looking in libraries and on the Internet, but I never found anything I could definitely tie to him until recently, when I discovered that Ancestry now had every-name indexes to most of the U.S. census records, rather than simply head of household indexes. Within a few minutes of starting to search, I found not only my great-grandfather, but his parents and five siblings as well. This is a dream come true, and I owe it all to Ancestry. My advice to anyone who has hit a brick wall in his or her genealogical research is never give up!”--Jack Lock

"I recently used my membership to search for ‘Emma J. Anderson’ in the U.S. census. I wasn't sure how much luck I would have because hers is such a common surname. Immediately, I found a link to an ‘Emma J. Anderson’ in the 1900 Census. I clicked on the link and watched as the census page downloaded—I couldn't believe it! Not only did I find Emma, but her sister Anna as well! I also found Anna's future husband living next door! The page listed the names of Anna's children, and her future husband's family! It was a goldmine!“--Rachael Anderson

"My father died when I was young and his parents passed away long before I was born, so I never knew my father's family. I'd been told that the name of one of my great-grandfathers was ‘Bill Simmons,’ and that he was probably from Kentucky or Pennsylvania.

”Based on a date that I knew (my grandmother's birth date in 1898), I figured that my great-grandfather could have been alive in 1900 so I searched the U.S. census to see if I could find any information. Sure enough, after just a few minutes of searching for ‘William Simmons’ in the 1900 census index, I found my family. I opened up the census page image and discovered the town and county they lived in, the street they lived on, and even the names of their neighbors.

”I also learned that my great-grandmother's name was Francis and that she'd married my great-grandfather in 1881, at the age of twenty-one. Armed with these clues, I was able to track down their marriage record, where I learned her maiden name (Short)—and discovered another family branch to explore. Best of all, I learned the names of my grandmother's six siblings and was able to track down cousins still living in Kentucky who'd descended from this family—my family. We swapped information and my tree has grown as a result.

”Thank you for making my research faster and easier than I ever imagined it could be."--John Halford