Ancestry.com: FREE Access to Census, Immigration, and Military Records + More (July 3rd-8th Only!)
Are you in the process of creating a family tree or maybe you just want to find out more about your long lost family members?! If so, then this offer is right up your alley!
Through July 8th, head on over to Ancestry.com where for 5 days only you can snag FREE access to 65 million ancestry records and discover your family’s story! At Ancestry.com, you will find Census Records, Immigration Records, Military Records, Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, plus more! I have not tried this site before, but would love to hear from any of you that have.
(Thanks, I Crave Freebies!)
just for the record, you can only search for people located in the 13 original colonies…
Not sure if I am just messing up but it STILL wants credit card info and for the free one I think its saying = only history for around the times of 1700-1800’s
It will not work for me either
this is actually a bait and switch imo. You can access limited information but when you go to click the information found it says you can see it with a 14 day free trial sign up. No thanks. For the record I used this site many years ago and actually found a whole lot of information for my family dating back to the 1600’s. Luckily I was smart enough to print it all. It was tons of paper and ink but well worth it.
I am a member and for me the monthly subscription is worth it. I found the my light skinned, blue eyed, blonde haired husband’s great great grandparents were actually African American slaves during the Civil War. It’s amazing what you will find that you never knew before about your family!
I once had a subscription to this site and the only way to cancel was to phone them. Would not do it again.
I used the site when we needed to research beneficiaries for a very old oil and gas matter at work and found it extremely helpful. However, our local public library has a full subscription that can be accessed at the library, plus quite a bit of genealogical research was available through the library resources online using my library card. You may want to try those options first to find out if it will help in whatever you are looking for.
I was able to find some documents (not from my family, but from others) without paying for anything. But here’s the real catch: If you know enough of your family history to know the names/DOBs of those individuals during the 1700s in the 13 original colonies, chances are you don’t really need to be on their site. The real need is to research and find those names & relations from known family, but you have to pay for that stuff (or sign up for the “free” trial in which you have to give them a credit card and cancel over the phone before the trial ends) to access the free stuff!
I have been browsing around ancestry.com all afternoon. I love when it goes free! But, my family is from Connecticut, so lots of info I get when it is free. I get obituaries, birth marriage and death records.
It says at the top of the link: “are your links red white and blue?” Click the search now, and it will take you to another window to search the free listings. It is not until you “wander off” that sight –maybe to their home page to put their name in a different search bar, that you would be asked for money.
You can search:
U.S. Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970
Daughters of the American Revolution Lineage Books
Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900
Where They’re Buried
Historical Newspapers, Birth, Marriage, & Death Announcements, 1851-2003
War of 1812 Pension Application Files Index, 1812-1815
Of course the free 5 days is not all inclusive. They did that once before and it was really great. But, this time it is limited free access. But still great if you are looking to do a bit of history for free. Get your printers ready! 🙂
This is a BAIT and SWITCH! They require you to sign up for a 14 day trial and you have to provice your credit card – of course you can cancel before they bill you but this is hardly FREE for 5 days.
I just closed the window and they can keep the information that is available publicly for free.
I am able to get free access to some of these geaneology websites through my public library. It may be worth a look.
You can actually get into a lot more records free then just the 13 colonies, If you go to Search, and into the Card Catelog anything that says FREE or FREE INDEX you can see without a subscription. The 1940 Census is Awesome!!!
You don’t have to sign up during the free period if you just search through the records. Its NOT a bait and switch. If you want to start building a family tree on there you can sign up for the free 14 day trail, and then saving the records to the family tree you start building. Then at the end of the 14 days, you can cancel the membership, BUT your tree is still available for you to look at. You will still be able to sign in, you just won’t be able to search for records any more.
Also, its not a rip off. Yes these are publicly released records that you can get for free, but Ancestry is doing the leg work for you because most of this you have to actually go into a building and copy the records. They’ve done the leg work for you and deserve to get paid if you want the records but can’t get to the records’ departments. Also, when you are researching, you usually need records from several different states and places, that’s expensive and inconvenient. I really think that Ancestry is worth the money. I can’t afford it either, but when I get some extra money, I pay for a month here and there. My tree is saved and I can always access it again at a later date.
I just kind of wish people wouldn’t go spreading nasty rumors about something when they have no idea what they are talking about. I’ve been using Ancestry for a couple of years off and on. They have NEVER done anything wrong. This is an important service. We are losing our history and unless people stop caring about their cars/money/coach bags, and start trying to preserve information about their ancestry, its going to die out. You can’t know where you are going if you don’t know where you’ve been.
Say it Tanya!
This is a great promotion. I have used Ancestry.com before and have never paid money. I have never signed up for the free trial. You can create a tree for free and you will only have access to the free documents. They have promotions every so often (St. Patrick’s Day for Irish records, Memorial Day for military records, etc.) and I do all my searching for people in that portion of my family during the promotion. You can save files to your computer as a pdf or print them, otherwise you won’t be able to view them after the promotion is over.
This is a must try if you are at all curious about your family history. I have found so much cool information about both sides of my family. My husband also found that the story of how the town where my mother-in-law grew up in was founded wasn’t accurate. I absolutely love that site! It was such a blessing to have found out so much that I didn’t know.
I did the free 14 day trial several months ago and the site is not bait and switch. It was very informative IF other people you happen to be related to have done alot of the leg work. I found tons of info about my mom’s side and my hubby’s mom’s side but I couldn’t get past my great grandparents on my dad and we couldn’t find out hardly anything on my fil who is from Canada.
For the Canada records, you’d need access to the World records, not just the US ones. I run into the same issue with my husband’s family in NZ and AUS, and mine before they immigrated.