I have written several times about the research I have done using Ancestry.com (including a full Ancestry.com review). I even have a TikTok series now about some family secrets I recently uncovered using Ancestry DNA. But my Ancestry discoveries this week were so poignant that I had to share because there is no telling what YOU might be able to find if you try! I have been using Ancestry for 14 years now and still have things pop up when I least expect them!
My grandmother, Emma, passed away a little over 3 years ago. Aside from my mom, she was probably the person I was closest to in my whole family. Little things pop up to remind me of her now and again, and those reminders always make me so happy, even if they are also a little sad.
Imagine my surprise when I received an email from Ancestry the other day that said “Tricia, explore this week’s Ancestry Hints about your direct relatives” and then included my grandmother’s name a preview of a picture of her as a child!
When I clicked through the email, I saw a photo that was close to 100 years old but unmistakeably my grandmother. It was listed as a “Member Photo” and linked to the family tree of someone I didn’t recognize. When I clicked further into the gallery, I found another picture of my grandmother as a child PLUS an entire family photo from around 1950.
I immediately spotted my grandmother in the crowd and started sending the pictures to my mom, who confirmed that they were all her mom.
Reaching out to the owner of the family tree, I discovered that she is a distant cousin on my mother’s side. She didn’t know my grandmother, but she was able to tag her in the pictures based on identifications on the photos and her own family tree research.
She had uploaded the picures 7 years ago, but for some reason between her tagging and Ancestry’s algorithms, Ancestry was just able to piece together that they are my grandmother–without she and I having any personal connection at all.
Ancestry Yearbook Hints
In addition to these photos, Ancestry sent me a list of “Hints” from Yearbooks. Hints are when Ancestry thinks that there might be a connection to someone in your family tree for some reason. These hints can come from other people’s family trees or from Ancestry sources.
Apparently my grandmother’s high school yearbooks were recently added to their database, and Ancestry was able to deduce that “E. L. O’Malley” during that timeframe in that city was “Emma Lou O’Malley,” my grandmother. Sure enough when I clicked on the Hints, they were all her.
What a gift to all of a sudden see these photos of my grandmother in her prime! To think about what she was like in high school and the activities she participated in (Journalism and Girls’ Athletic Council!).
Over almost 15 years I have gone back and forth spending time in Ancestry and taking breaks. Every time I go back in, I end up finding new things that make me want to dig deeper and deeper. I can’t promise you what you will find if you create a family tree, but if you are lucky enough to find a little piece of your history like I have, it will be well worth the time and money!
Click here to go to Ancestry and see what you can find!
(I could do another entire post…maybe I will…. on what I found about my grandfather and the Navy!)
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