Now For My More Rational Side

I have had many hours to think this whole situation regarding Ancestry and the rapid demise of Expert Connect in favor of promoting its acquisition of ProGenealogist as its research base, not all of them good I have to admit, but its time to look at what this change can offer.

I spent some time connecting with family and friends, connected with Thomas MacEntee of Geneabloggers and  High -Definition Genealogy  among his many other activities, and read the blogs of Marian Pierre- Louis (Roots and Branches), Kerry Scott (Clue Wagon), and Amy Coffin (We Tree). I also went to several of my message boards to read the opinions of other researchers (those who used Expert Connect and those who did not), which I must admit was at times insightful and at others quite frustrating.

The very last move I made was to go to the ProGenealogist site and look at it from a professional perspective and as a prospective client. One of the areas I always prided myself on as a strength in my life was the ability to look at an issue from every single angle.This served me very, very well as a Masters Level Social Worker who worked with very traumatic children/teenagers that the world considered were going to be the next serial killers (I'm not kidding. Some of my kids were the ones that have would have been on TV shows today. Working with them and seeing their angle, connecting with their parents, getting along with judges, etc. helped increase that strength.)

Anyway, I have looked at all the angles and now believe I am at a better place with the whole situation, but not completely. Researchers and clients were not treated respectfully or professionally by Ancestry by the way the program was shut down.

 I believe that researchers who worked with and for Expert Connect should have received a more professionally written letter prior to the information being sent to our clients. Would the word have leaked out? Absolutely, but I suspect a great percentage of our clients would have received the word personally from their professional researchers FIRST instead of becoming alarmed or dismayed. 


The more I look at various items from Ancestry it is clear they knew this was coming before Monday afternoon. Further warning instead of 8 days would have been more professional. I know that the bidding situation on Expert Connect probably played a role in how they needed to shut the program down, but I also think they could have simply put up some information for potential clients to let them know that they needed to  look at a shorter time frame.

I do appreciate the fact that Ancestry is allowing professionals the opportunity to make private arrangements with clients if projects cannot be completed within a certain time frame, or even if we choose to do so immediately. That I consider the one positive for researchers.

Expert Connect was not a perfect system, nor is the professional genealogy field itself, and I am sure that allowing a subsidiary to conduct all the procedures, deal with the customer service, etc. is better for Ancestry.  For as many successful stories and situations there were on Expert Connect there were some problems (the Ask a Question to a Professional section comes to mind here).

The Pro Genealogist site still contains reference materials for all of us to access, a newsletter to subscribe to, and the most detailed description of the the research procedures for potential clients that I have ever seen. Costs may be a concern in the future, and I will be interested to see what effect this has on the research profession. For all they can do, unless they hire hundreds (at least) of professionals, not all research can be completed by them nor at Utah. We all know that there are many items that are not microfilmed, or if so, still may need to be viewed in person for many reasons.

What will I do?

Continue with my Pro-Gen class (and catch up with all my assignments)
Complete the work I am currently assigned and do a bang-up job in the process
Continue to do all I can to increase my knowledge of all things Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois, especially in my geographic area given that this region plays such a huge migration role for so many families
Get may face out there in a variety of means
Attend more conferences

In the meantime, consider this:


         There are two ways of meeting difficulties: you alter the difficulties, or you alter yourself to meet them.
                                   - Phyllis Battome 





This is my final word on this issue. Now its time to move on and ahead.

When Ancestry Owns The World Part II

Late last summer I wrote with some trepidation about Ancestry acquiring the professional genealogy company known at the time as ProGenealogy. I questioned why this already well connected organization needed to go out and buy a company when Ancestry had already developed an in house professional research service known as ExpertConnect.

Researchers throughout the United States and the world contracted with Ancestry to provide research services to customers needing assistance beyond the "shaking leaf." I need to admit as I write this that I have provided some limited services on the site since its inception, so I do have some bias, with successes and times of mixed results, however I always felt as though I was treated with respect by the employees working in the department and must say that here as I finish my impressions of the "Big Guy."

Yesterday the bottom fell out towards my impressions of "Mr. World." I came home from a day at a local courthouse (whose records by the way are not all living in Utah) to open my email with 3 frantic messages from clients questioning why Ancestry is closing ExpertConnect! This was before I even knew the news for myself that Ancestry was closing the service. That news came a few emails later.

Yes, with a total of 8 days notice, researchers were honored with an email to state that Expert Connect was closing effective February 3 and we were encouraged to do whatever we needed to close our current projects or make private arrangements.

I could not help but think how curious that date was knowing that the second season of "Who Do You Think You Are" is premiering on February 4th and that I am sure there will be several commercials for the "shaky leaf" as I would expect given the increased interest. After thinking about it a little more, I went to the Progenealogist blog today, and lo and behold (as my grandmother would say)- it has a whole new look!!!

It now is an Ancestry research service! What do you know! What I find interesting is that for Ancestry all the answers are in Utah. It is an interesting site. They list the prices of all their competitors, tell you in absolute detail (and I mean detail) what they cover, etc.

The rest I will let you read for yourself.  However, should you need a researcher for southern Indiana, Kentucky or southern Illinois, let me know.  

My calendar is going to be free soon (and I go to courthouses) (Sorry, sometimes I just can't help myself).

When Ancestry Owns The World

I write this with some frustration, ok, with alot of frustration at Ancestry today, and here is why:

Today I get 2 emails from Ancestry, one to inform me that Family Tree Maker 2011  is now available for me to pre-order, and the second was to inform me that Ancestry.com  is now the proud parents of another organization, ProGenealogist, Inc.  (I apologize for not including the links about both, but my linking skills must be frustrated as well because I couldn't get my linking to work).

Now I do understand that many of you reading this will find no problem with either event, but it just comes at the wrong time for me. Per the Ancestry.com store Family Tree Maker 2011 comes with "more than 100 new enhancemets" including Smart Stories, improvements to their charting and reporting, additions to their timelines, and a way to rate your citation sources. Those all sound great and being a user of the 2010 software I see places where improvements would benefit my research, but it  was the statement that Family Tree Maker 2011 is going to be even more integrated with Ancestry.com that hit my gut a little hard.

I cannot imagine how much more they can be connected. I already get the infamous "shaky leaf" on my family members whenever I open FTM 2010 and when I want to look for some records I have the choice between connecting into Ancestry since I have a subscription, and going onto the internet. Now the description tells me that I will be even more connected to Ancestry and other members.

I have  been trying to decide lately whether I want to stay with Family Tree Maker or go to one of the other programs, such as RootsMagic and Legacy, but I just can't decide. I am pleased that FTM is improving their product and I am sure I am going to like most of them if I decide to purchase the software.

I just wish that Ancestry would surprise me and send an email that says something like this:

"Great news!!! You have been a great customer for the past several years, and since we have taken so much of your money, we thought we would send you some upgrades to your Family Tree Maker program.....just because.  By the way, we, Ancestry.com, will keep our evergrowing domination of the internet world off your program in the process, allowing you to decide when you need our help."

Now---for the other issue, acquiring ProGenealogists, Inc. For those of you who do not know, Ancestry has a service known as ExpertConnect which allows researchers around the country to provide client work ranging from answering  questions, picking up records at repositories, to very intensive research of multiple generations of the clients family. ExpertConnect has been up and running for over a year and I like the process overall, but now I question what role acquiring this company and the researchers that have worked for them is going to have on those who are providing services on ExpertConnect.

I know that not every single record that exists for my ancestors is connected into Ancestry. There are courthouses, libraries, relatives with photos and Bibles, and friends that can tell all kinds of stories about their relationships with my relatives.

I am just wondering when we can expext the announcement that Ancestry has taken over the Family History Library, or the National Archives.