Ancestry's updated Hint interface

[Bob Spiers]

For a Beta version to revert back to Alpha would have indicated major design flaws necessitating a major re-write of the product

Yes you are right of course, it was something off the top of my head, so whatever follows Beta is what I meant.

 

[CloozJoe]

The last message that I see in this thread is July 11th. I just feel compelled to add that I find the new hints, color dots and Thru Lines to be exciting new changes. Since these changes were made, when used in combination with standard research techniques, I have been able to confirm and add at least 30 previously unknown matches to my family tree. Once confirmed, I add appropriate census records to my Lost Cousins account in hopes of finding additional cousins. There are several really informative You Tube videos available that provide tips and techniques for maximizing your analytical results chances. Just this morning I messaged a FIFTH cousin, once removed, about our common Piggott ancestor born in 1744. My problem is that I am now confirming so many matches that I find myself giving short shrift to some due to a serious lack to time. I hope others find my experience interesting enough to take another look.

 

[At home in NZ]

I find the new hints, color dots and Thru Lines to be exciting new changes.

Each to his own I guess.

I have 2,648 hints in one of my trees which I will never catch up with.

There is a new Hint occurring which I find quite intrusive and have completed the feedback to ask for it to be changed. It looks like this and appears on the Facts tab:


I now wonder what others participating in this discussion think about the method Ancestry are using to duplicate Hints.

 

[Helen7]

I have 2,648 hints in one of my trees which I will never catch up with.
There is a new Hint occurring which I find quite intrusive and have completed the feedback to ask for it to be changed.
I now wonder what others participating in this discussion think about the method Ancestry are using to duplicate Hints.

I have over 10,000 hints in my main Ancestry tree. I have no intention of trying to catch up with them, though I do look at them when researching a person - and then dismiss most of them as spurious. They seem to proliferate at an alarming rate, but it's easy just to ignore them.

I haven't come across the new type of hint that you illustrate. I too would find it rather intrusive.

 

[At home in NZ]

I haven't come across the new type of hint that you illustrate.

I think you soon will, I now have the most ridiculous Marriage Hint. The man in question is a Monsignor in the Catholic Church.
I won't provide a screen shot because he is alive, his name is in the middle of the horrible box which is in the middle of my screen.

I only found it because I have another Monsignor to add and wanted to be consistent with the way I use the Monsignor title.

 

[CloozJoe]

I don't think we are all talking about the same "hints". I am talking about my Ancestry DNA matches and how valuable the latest colored dots and Thru Lines can be. Using the filters, groups and surname search, the number of actual matches that I want to work on are reduced to a minimum, focusing on what I want to learn. Again, the Larry Jones blogs on You Tube are a great place to start.

 

[At home in NZ]

I don't think we are all talking about the same "hints".

The opening thread was about people Hints and that is what I am talking about.

 

[jorghes]

I am just wondering, At Home in NZ whether or not this could have to do with the “potential ancestor” hints option (the one which adds possible parents to anyone without them).

I ask because I haven’t seen those new type of hints either, but I know I have switched off the “potential ancestor” hints, which appear in a similar way in the “Father” or “Mother” slot in a persons page.

to check, the potential ancestors hints check box is in “site preferences” along with all the other options about hints.

 

[At home in NZ]

I have switched off the “potential ancestor” hints

jorghes
I have switched mine off too, as soon as I found out that they were all from other trees I went looking for the off switch. That was ages ago.

It might appear for you if you can go to your Hints pages and find a death or a marriage record,then go that person and see if you've got the new blue window.

 

[LynneWK]

A recent Ancestry hint possibly linked to my 4x g.grandfather offered he had joined the 69th Regiment of foot in Sept 1806 and shipped to India in 1808. He was discharged in 1813 having lost his left arm. These records are from Royal Hospital Chelsea Pension Records 1760-1920. The only child I have found for this couple was baptised in 1807. I have never found a marriage for him and his wife Mary.
There doesn't seem to be anything on the National Archives website for this regiment. I would like to find out who his next of kin was so as to prove this information is for my ancestor. Any idea's as to where I might get any more information

 

[peter]

A recent Ancestry hint possibly linked to my 4x g.grandfather offered he had joined the 69th Regiment of foot in Sept 1806 and shipped to India in 1808. He was discharged in 1813 having lost his left arm. These records are from Royal Hospital Chelsea Pension Records 1760-1920.

Presumably you haven't looked at the images because they're not at Ancestry, but at Fold3?

But did you realise that they're also at Findmypast?

 

[LynneWK]

Thanks Peter, Yes I did look at the Fold 3 image which gives his correct place of birth and a guessed age which is in the right ball park. Nothing on Find My Past though

 

[peter]

Nothing on Find My Past though

Findmypast supposedly have the same records, but on most of the TNA records sets that both companies have there are differences between the two - often two files end up together and only one of them gets indexed.

They do have a lot of records for the 69th Regiment of Foot from the right period, but when you search by regiment you have to be very careful, because the regiments can be described in very different ways, eg



I got over 3000 results by searching for *69th* but a search specifically for '69th regiment' only produced 3 results.

 

[LynneWK]

Thanks Peter. The FMP information is of the same images as Fold 3. The document does not have enough specific information for me to be sure he is the father of my 3x g g grandfather. Only the place and age fits.
I am not sure on enlisting in those days (1806) you would have to name a next of kin. Assuming that documents exist. There doesn't seem to be anything listed on TNA website and I don't want to have a wasted journey down to Kew

 

[peter]

Thanks Peter. The FMP information is of the same images as Fold 3. The document does not have enough specific information for me to be sure he is the father of my 3x g g grandfather. Only the place and age fits.
I am not sure on enlisting in those days (1806) you would have to name a next of kin. Assuming that documents exist. There doesn't seem to be anything listed on TNA website and I don't want to have a wasted journey down to Kew

Sometimes there is more than one file for the same person, and sometimes there will be pages that have gotten incorporated into the wrong file - so it's worth having have a good look through adjacent records.

If you're not sure what would normally be recorded in this era take a look at the files for other soldiers who served during the same period - you'll soon find out whether something is missing that would usually be there.

 

[bkirkconnell]

Re the usefulness of Ancestry "Hints" - I find them very useful and I don't worry about how many I have. When I add a new person to my Ancestry Tree, the first thing I do is check the hints, and assess them. If they pass the "research test" I add them. Even if they don't, I am reluctant to delete them - as I figure Ancestry might be trying to tell me something. Recently I was researching a Frederick Robert White. Found him and the family in a few censuses then - nothing. But, Ancestry was giving me hints for a Robert White, which I had nearly delated. When I looked closer at the records, the 2 men were the same person with the same wife and children. Ancestry WAS trying to tell me something!

 

[At home in NZ]

I am reluctant to delete them

They aren't deleted, they are added to the Ignored Hints. The unfortunate part about this is Ancestry does not have a reporting program. I would love to be able to run a report to identify all my Ignored Hints, I have made the suggestion to Ancestry but it has probably fallen on deaf ears.

 

[LynneWK]

I did as you suggested Peter and looked more closely at other records. I found his brother Samuel had enlisted a few days later and put into the Coldstream Guards. Four generations later my grandfather did the same for WW1. I have the WO reference so can try looking for William in the main enlistments at Kew. Thanks for the tip

 

[peter]

I did as you suggested Peter and looked more closely at other records. I found his brother Samuel had enlisted a few days later and put into the Coldstream Guards. Four generations later my grandfather did the same for WW1. I have the WO reference so can try looking for William in the main enlistments at Kew. Thanks for the tip

Well done, Lynne - you never know what you're going to find!