Born on St Patrick's Day: Happy 115th Mary

They say that its good luck to be Irish, and that the luckiest of all are those who are born on St Patrick's Day. No doubt this is what was said the day that my great grandmother was born. However, her life was not necessarily filled with the good luck that the superstition had predicted. As much as she had a hard life, her life was also an "ordinary" one of a young British immigrant to Canada. Despite that, the simple life she led in youth was filled with fun. She embrace the changing times, new found freedoms, and innovations. Its the heirlooms from that chapter of her life that fascinate me the most because they show aside to her that none of my relatives knew - a woman who was happy. So today, I am going to share the side of her that one of those heirlooms tells. I have a small black autograph book that was hers.  At almost 100 years old, the book binding has all but disintegrated yet the leather cover is in near pristine condition and the partially bound pages are al...
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Genealogy on a Budget: How to Take Advantage of Ancestry Free Weekends

 

ancestry free weekend, free genealogy

When I first started genealogy I was a broke student (and in many ways I still am) and didnt have the budget for a fancy subscription to ancestry or a similar site. So how did I manage to further my genealogical work without ever spending a cent? I took advantage of as many free resources as I could - one of the most important ones was Ancestry free weekends. I will write a post later on explaining some of the other strategies and techniques that I used to perform my free genealogy research. 

Despite Ancestry widely  advertising their paid subscriptions they also offer free accounts. The regulars functions of a free account are quite limited. You can build a tree, receive hints, comments on message boards, and view free collections. You are only able to view the paid collections on ancestry free weekends. This is a prime time to check all the hints that are waiting to be reviewed in your tree. If a record is a match make sure that you not only attach it to the person but that you also download it. When the free weekend is over you will NOT be able to view the paid records you attached in the tree. Downloading a copy to the computer is the only way to view the records for free later on. 

So how do you know when there is a free weekend and what collections will be included? Generally ancestry offers free access to select collections during holiday weekends. This includes (but is not limited to) the following holidays:

  • Easter
  • Victoria Day
  • Canada Day / Independence Day
  • Thanksgiving
  • Remembrance Day - military collections only
  • Christmas time / December holidays
If you have signed up for a free account you will recieve emails from ancestry letting you know if they have a free trial and what records are included. You may also see news of free trials on TV commercials, their social media platforms, and in pop-up or banner advertisements online. 

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