bigpigeon.us webpage Home > Resources > Ancestry.com Use, updated by RAC 3 Feb 2020.
Ancestry.com is the most widely used subscription service for genealogical and historical research. Below I've listed, in alphabetical order, my common ancestry searches.
​
Search all major collections (except for family trees): http://search.ancestry.com
​
Birth, Marriage and Death records for Iowa: Commentary:
  • As of 2016, Iowa marriage records in ancestry.com often include images of the entire marriage document.
  • Iowa, Births and Christenings Index and Iowa Marriage Records are from Iowa Department of Public Health records.
  • Iowa, Select Marriage Index and Iowa, Deaths and Burials are from familysearch.org.

Census Data for the United States and Iowa:
  • United States census data through 1940 (the 1890 data was destroyed in a fire).
  • Iowa census data for 1885, 1895, 1905 and 1915 plus 1850s censuses for Pottawattamie County.
Commentary:

Directory and Public Records Data: Commentary:
  • To confine the search to Council Bluffs, enter Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County, Iowa in the any event row. This database contains numerous Council Bluffs directories, the first being 1869 and the last 1959.
  • Public records are in two databases. Thus its easier to do a search all.

Family Trees: Commentary:
  • To access official ancestry.com family trees, click on the first hotspot above, enter data and do a search, and finally click on Family Trees at the bottom of the left column.
  • The rootsweb family trees, collectively called the worldconnect project, probably tend to be older than the ancestry.com family trees. Anyone can access these trees.

​Government:
Iowa-Specific Databases: (more to add) Commentary:

Military Data Including Draft Registrations: Commentary:
  • The 1863-1865 Civil War Draft Registration produced lists containing little personal data.
  • I know of two World War I draft registration dates.
  • The 1942 "old mans" draft was done proactively in case labor shortages required directing men into certain defense-related jobs. This was never done.
  • The Navy muster rolls were for crews on Navy ships.
  • The Iowa legislature awarded a bonus of up to $500 for Iowans who served in World War II.

Passenger Lists: Commentary:
  • The New York passenger lists database contains ships' passenger manifests; expect many misspellings of immigrant's names. 

Religious Organizations: Commentary:
  • To search for St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, Boomer-Neola, enter Neola, Pottawattamie, Iowa in the any event row. However, most of this data is not indexed so you may need to browse the 500-1000 pages of St. Paul's data. You might find more-complete instructions in the St. Paul's History area of my website.

Social Security Administration Data: Commentary:
  • The Social Security Applications and Claims data base is still being populated. 
  • Older Social Security Death records do not include the death date, rather only the year and month.

General Commentary on the above:
  • Above I have listed the ancestry.com databases that I use frequently. Most have national scope but a few are specific to Iowa.
  • Non-ancestry.com members can still access these databases through ancestry.com. However, you will not see all the information they provide.
  • I usually search ancestry.com by first selecting the Search option and then clicking on All Selections in the drop-down menu. This is what the first hotspot on the body does.
  • Each database is identified by a four-digit code. I have added hotspots for most of these databases that are of interest to me.
  • familysearch.org, the LDS analog of ancestry.com, accesses some of the same data as ancestry.com. I want to spend more time investigating vital records for Iowa available through familysearch.org. Unlike ancestry.com, anyone can look at familysearch.org data without membership. However, I don't believe familysearch.org databases are searchable by county. In ancestry.com, one can search by county and even by township or city.
  • A newer alternative is myheritage.org. It is a subscription service and seems to be strong in the Danish information it provides.