10 Top Tips for…
Ancestry Hints
Those little green leaves on Ancestry.com are designed to help you find new information about your ancestors, but let's be honest – they can quickly pile up and become overwhelming! It's a classic love/hate relationship for many genealogists.
If you're feeling buried under a mountain of shaky leaves, here are 10 tips to help you manage your Ancestry hints and get back to making real progress.
TIP 1
Ignore the Big Numbers: Don't let the daunting total count of hints bother you! Just like unread emails, seeing that large number on the leaf icon can feel like a chore. Simply click on the leaf icon itself, and the number disappears. The hints are still there, waiting for you when you're ready, but you won't feel the pressure of the count.
TIP 2
Focus on One Ancestor: Trying to clear hints for your entire tree is a recipe for frustration. Instead, focus on the ancestor you are currently researching. Go directly to their profile page. Looking at hints for just that individual dramatically reduces the list size and helps you stay focused, preventing those research "rabbit holes." Ancestry tends to generate more hints for a person when you actively work on them.
TIP 3
Never Blindly Accept! This is arguably the most important rule. A shaky leaf is just a suggestion, not a confirmed fact. Accepting a hint without careful review is the quickest way to introduce errors and misinformation into your tree, potentially adding wrong records or even incorrect relatives from other trees. Always take the time to investigate.
TIP 4
Look at the Original Source: Don't just rely on the transcribed information Ancestry shows you initially. Always click through to view the actual document image when available. Transcriptions can contain errors, and the original record often holds additional valuable details that will help you determine if the hint is a match.
TIP 5
Match on Multiple Points: Does the hint truly match your ancestor? Don't accept based on a name alone, especially for common names. Look for multiple points of agreement – birth year, birthplace, spouse's name, children's names, occupation, etc. The more details that align, the more confident you can be it's your ancestor.
TIP 6
Be Wary of Limited Information: If you have very little information about an ancestor in your tree, be extra cautious with hints. With sparse data, Ancestry has less to go on when finding matches, making it more likely to suggest incorrect possibilities. Take extra time reviewing hints for these individuals.
TIP 7
Approach Member Trees with Scepticism: Hints to other Ancestry member trees should be treated with extreme caution! Other trees are not independently verified and can propagate errors easily as people accept hints from each other. Use them as clues to investigate, but don't rely on them as primary sources.
TIP 8
Filter Out the Noise: If member tree hints overwhelm you or feel unreliable, you can often filter them out entirely in your Ancestry site preferences. This can significantly reduce the number of hints you see, allowing you to focus on record hints first. Some researchers prefer to ignore member tree hints initially.
TIP 9
Prioritise Record Hints: When evaluating hints, particularly if you're unsure, start with "paper" facts from historical records like census, birth, marriage, death certificates, and obituaries. These provide documented evidence and are generally more reliable starting points than information from other people's trees.
TIP 10
Use "Maybe" for Uncertainty: If you review a hint and are not 100% sure if it's a match for your ancestor, mark it as "Maybe" or "Undecided." Don't ignore it completely if it seems plausible, but don't accept it if you're unsure. You can revisit these hints later when you gather more information about that ancestor, allowing you to make a more informed decision.
By implementing these strategies, you can transform your Ancestry hints from an overwhelming chore into a powerful tool that helps you discover your family history effectively and accurately!