Friday, October 21, 2016

Mining Ancestry.com Hints by Specific Record Collection

I wrote Mining Ancestry.com Hints by Specific Record Collection - Updated on 2 May 2016 after Ancestry.com changed their Hinting system.

I occasionally go in and mine one specific database to add content and sources to my RootsMagic database.  I'm sure not everyone knows that this can be done, so I am repeating it.  

I did note that Diane Gould Hall wanted to review Hints from the Social Security Claims and Applications Index, 1936-2007 database, so I will focus on that database.

1)  The general form of the URL to see all of the existing Hints for a specific database in your Ancestry Member Tree is:

http://hints.ancestry.com/tree/treenumb/hints?hf=record&hs=last&hdbid=dbas 

where "treenumb" is your Ancestry Member Tree number, and "dbas" is the Ancestry database number.
See Tuesday's Tip - Search Ancestry.com Hints by Record Collection for specific directions on how to find your Ancestry Member Tree number and the Ancestry.com database number.

Using my Ancestry Member Tree number (treenumb
=71134866) and the database number (dbas=60901) for the Social Security Claims and Applications database, the URL for my Ancestry Member Tree Hints for that specific database is:

http://hints.ancestry.com/tree/71134866/hints?hf=record&hs=last&hdbid=60901

Note that that specific URL will not work for anyone but me because my Ancestry Member Tree is usable only by me.  But once you know your own tree number, you can edit the URL to add your own tree number.  


Here is the list for my Hints for this database now:



2)  To help readers use this process, here are some of the Ancestry.com database numbers (the "dbid") that can be used:

*  1940 U.S. Census:  dbid=2442
*  1930 U.S. Census:  dbid=6224
*  1920 U.S. Census:  dbid=6061
*  1910 U.S. Census:  dbid=7884
*  1900 U.S. Census:  dbid=7602
*  1880 U.S. Census:  dbid=6742
*  1870 U.S. Census:  dbid=7163
*  1860 U.S. Census:  dbid=7667
*  1850 U.S. Census:  dbid=8054

*  Social Security Death Index:  dbid=3693

*  Social Security Claims and Applications Index, 1936-2007:  dbid=60901
*  California Birth Index, 1905-1995:  dbid=5247
*  California Marriage Index, 1960-1985:  dbid=1144
*  California Death Index, 1940-1997:  dbid=5180
*  Texas Birth Index, 1902-1997: dbid=8781
*  Texas Death Certificates, 1903-1982:  dbid=2272
*  Pennsylvania Death Certificates, 1906-1963:  dbid=5164
*  Pennsylvania and New Jersey Church and Town Records, 1708-1985:  dbid=2451
*  Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988:  dbid=2495
*  U.S. Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935: dbid=2189

*  U.S. Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current:  dbid=60525
*  U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989:  dbid=2469
*  U.S. School Yearbooks, 1880-2012: dbid=1265
*  New York Passenger Lists, 1820-1957:  dbid=7488
*  U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925: dbid=1174
*  U.S. World War I, Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918: dbid=6482
*  U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942:  dbid=1002
*  U.s. World War II Army Enlistments, 1938-1946: dbid =8939
*  U.S. World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949: dbid=1143

*  1911 England Census:  dbid=2352
*  1901 England Census:  dbid=7814
*  1891 England Census: dbid=6598
*  1881 England Census: dbid=7572
*  1871 England Census: dbid=7619
*  1861 England Census: dbid=8767
*  1851 England Census: dbid=8860
*  1841 England Census: dbid=8978

*  1921 Canada Census:  dbid=8991
*  1911 Canada Census:  dbid=8947
*  1901 Canada Census:  dbid=8826
*  1891 Canada Census:  dbid=1274
*  1881 Canada Census:  dbid=1577
*  1871 Canada Census:  dbid=1578
*  1861 Canada Census:  dbid=1570
*  1851 Canada Census:  dbid=1061


I looked through my Hints for the Social Security Claims database and found several Hints that had death dates for persons I did not have, and in one case a mother's maiden name that I did not have. 

3)  I hope this helps readers mine the Ancestry databases effectively.  I find it much easier to use this method than to search a lot of persons for a specific census year.  

Of course, Ancestry.com seems to never be finished with finding Hints for my Ancestry Member Tree persons.  I have 42,932 persons in my tree, and there are Hints for only 8,581 at the present time. They keep finding the Hints for a number of persons (about 3-10 each day) for me, and i'm falling behind in using them.  


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Disclosure:  I have a fully paid Ancestry.com subscription at present.  In the past, Ancestry.com has provided travel reimbursement to me to attend meetings in Salt Lake City.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2016/10/mining-ancestrycom-hints-by-specific.html

Copyright (c) 2016, Randall J. Seaver

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8 comments:

Alex Daw said...

Ooh this is really interesting Randy. Thank you for posting. I had not head of this before so might give it a go.

Michigan Girl said...

And this is the reason you have thousands of readers Randy. Thank you so much. This is definitely my preferred way to search and now you've given me all these database numbers. WOW!

Cousin Russ said...

Randy,

I have a list of many DBID's here

http://bit.ly/CousinRuss_DBID

I update this list from time to time.

Russ

SuzAnn said...

It doesn't work for me. It takes me to my tree's "All hints". doesn't matter which browser I use, chrome or firefox. :<

Cousin Russ said...

SuzAnn,

Did you enter the Tree Number AND the Ancestry DBID ?

Look at the number of Pages of Hints when you just go to your Ancestry Member Tree, then look at the number of Pages of Hints when you use the String of information that Randy shows in the Blog Post with your Tree Number and the DBID that you are interested in.

Russ

Marian said...

This is a great trick! Very useful! Thanks

Marian

Celia Lewis said...

Very helpful Randy! I've already made myself a 'better' research to-do list from this more organized way of researching. Merci!

Unknown said...

thanks! this is a good tip!