Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Changes to Mining Ancestry.com Hints by Specific Record Collection

I last wrote about this subject in Mining Ancestry.com Hints by Specific Record Collection on 21 October 2016 after Ancestry.com changed their Hinting system.

Ancestry recently changed their Hinting system URLs again, and the URLs using the previous "formula" to find Hints in a specific database no longer work.  

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.  

As of 15 May 2018, here is what works (if it no longer works, please comment on this post or email me!):

UPDATE:  I updated this process on 12 June 2019 - see Changes to Mining Ancestry.com Hints by Specific Record Collection - Updated!

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

https://www.ancestry.com/hints/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=113002012) and the database number (dbas=60901) for the Social Security Claims and Applications database, the URL for my AncestryMember Tree Hints for that specific database is:

https://www.ancestry.com/hints/tree/113002012/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 in  my Ancestry Member Tree now:


The number for "Records" in the left-hand column on the screen above is for ALL Records, not just for this one database.  On the right-hand list, just above the first match, is an indicator that I am on page 1 of 54.  So there are 54 pages of records for persons in my Ancestry Member Tree that are not resolved (Added, Ignored or Rejected).  At 20 Hints per page, I have over 1,060 entries on this list.

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


What other databases do you want the " dbid" for?  You can find them for yourself using the directions in 
 Tuesday's Tip - Search Ancestry.com Hints by Record Collection?

I looked through my Hints for the Social Security Claims and Applications database and found some Hints that had death dates for persons I did not have, and in several cases, a mother's maiden name that I did not have 
 (including the first two on the list!)

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 49,944 persons in this tree now, and there are 61,796 Hints for them at the present time. They keep finding the Hints for a number of persons (about 3-10 each day) in the tree for me, and I'm hopelessly behind in using them.  I need a trained Hint Butler to catch up!



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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:  https://www.geneamusings.com/2018/05/changes-to-mining-ancestrycom-hints-by.html

Copyright (c) 2018, Randall J. Seaver

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4 comments:

Steve K said...

Randy, thanks again for your help on this wonderful tool on mining Ancestry’s databases. I find this approach to be an efficient way for this task. By limiting a session to a single database I can be better at pulling the information from a complicated set of records. For example, for a specific year’s census record, I adjust my thinking to the uniques questions in THAT set of records. All saved files I save to my computer are sim8larly named etc.

Again, thank you.
Steve

Deb said...

Something changed somewhere. This is the first article that I have been able to read from your web page in AGES. Remember, my system was saying there was something funny about the site and blocked me from it. Whatever the change, yours or mine, I'll take it. Good article btw.

Randy Seaver said...

Ancestry changed their URL system in early 2019. I updated this blog post in https://www.geneamusings.com/2019/06/changes-to-mining-ancestrycom-hints-by.html

Sue said...

I love this tip, I use it over and over. Today I can not find the "dbid" for U.S., Obituary Collection, 1930-Current. Has something changed again? Thank you for your help.