Archives.com

[Squigy]

Hi, all. Just found a site claiming to have birth records I am looking for. Its name is Archives.com. I'm guessing it's a scam, but I wanted to see if anyone on here knew anything about it.

[johnnyonthespot]

My impression so far is that the site contains a subset of the same records available on ancestry.com.

While reviewing the list of "Over 115 Data Collections & Growing" ( http://www.archives.com/resources/collections.html ), I could not help but notice "Connecticut Marriage Records Years: 1959 to 2005". My first thought was, hey, that would include my marriage! My second thought was, hey, why is this sort of current information being made available in this manner? Whatever became of privacy?

But, it got me curious enough to go back to ancestry . com and look for my own marriage record. Interestingly, although my wife's maiden name is listed correctly, the "Jr" is missing from my name. The marriage date and location are correct, but our places of residence are wildly wrong - we were both living in Florida at the time (married in Connecticut because that is where wife's family/friends were located); the state is given correctly, but the cities shown do not even exist in Florida.

Weird. Is it just our record, or is the entire Connecticut marriage database screwed up?

PS: Our actual marriage certificate has the correct data on it, so this is a database error, not a document error.

[acupxpa]

I agree with you J O T S, I joined then cancelled a subscription to Archives.com when I realized they had no more than ancestry. The difference being that you could pay per view a few bucks for a document, with a low annual fee. I guess if you knew you only wanted to see a few specific things it might be worth it. However, as those of us who like genealogy all know, one document leads to another and another.....

As far a privacy--one could look up on ancestry just about every address I ever had. Part of the public record I guess.

I happened upon a website that actually did have original digital copies of historical documents free of charge and some that are paid for but the registration is free. Footnote.com. They have an agreement with the National Archives and I was quite surprised to see they had digital images of my grandfathers naturalization papers for about $ 2.50!. I think I read that most documents were going to be free of charge after about 5 years... NARA is digitalizing their archives and putting them online. I also heard the LDS church is digitalizing all their microfilm and planning to put it online for free. What will ancestry do?

[Squigy]

I agree with you J O T S, I joined then cancelled a subscription to archives.com when I realized they had no more than ancestry. The difference being that you could pay per view a few bucks for a document, with a low annual fee. I guess if you knew you only wanted to see a few specific things it might be worth it. However, as those of us who like genealogy all know, one document leads to another and another.....

As far a privacy--one could look up on ancestry just about every address I ever had. Part of the public record I guess.

I happened upon a website that actually did have original digital copies of historical documents free of charge and some that are paid for but the registration is free. Footnote.com. They have an agreement with the National Archives and I was quite surprised to see they had digital images of my grandfathers naturalization papers for about $ 2.50!. I think I read that most documents were going to be free of charge after about 5 years... NARA is digitalizing their archives and putting them online. I also heard the LDS church is digitalizing all their microfilm and planning to put it online for free. What will ancestry do?

Hi, guys. Thanks for responding. Thanks to your advice I decided it wasn't worth it. I did, however, sign up for Footnote's free trial (I've seen it a few times but didn't pay much attention to it) and found a few interesting records about Civil War ancestors.

[jhill]

To everyone on this thread - I'm an official representative of Archives and wanted to reply, and give you some additional information about our service. Archives.com launched in July 2009, and is a simple, affordable option for folks who want to research their ancestors or build a family tree online. An annual membership to Archives costs up to 80% less than other sites, and provides opportunities for members to purchase additional records or discounted memberships from our partners. Archives has created easy-to-use tools that allow you to search over 1.2 billion records.. and new collections are added to the site regularly. Archives has grown a tremendous amount in less than a years time, but really we have just begun. Archives will continue to add new features, enhancements and resources to help members trace their trees back farther than ever. Anyone can sign up for a seven day free trial, which allows you to try out the service risk-free. If you have additional questions about Archives, please don't hesitate to contact us at feedback@archives.com. - Julie Hill, Archives.com

[PeterTimber]

Dear Jill with whom can we compare your services?? =Peter=

[jhill]

Peter, Archives.com is unique in that we have created a product that is simple to use, with an interface that is easy for beginners to navigate but powerful enough for the pros, and affordable.. as I mentioned above, up to 80% less than other family history websites. Since you can sign up for a 7 day free trial, I'd encourage you to give it a shot and see if the service meets your needs. - Julie

[PeterTimber]

what will I miss that I currently receive from Ancestry.com from your website? You want people to join and can try for 7 days free of charge which for people who are knowledgeable may be OK but there are many "journeymen genealogists" who are not fully versed and may not know what they will be missing. There are severasl good websites out there already so competiton is keen and decisions are hard to make..please bear with us and come up with something compelling for us. =Peter=

[jhill]

Peter, an Archives.com membership gives you access to 1.2 searchable international and domestic records, the ability to build a family tree, participate in the community forum, and view search guides, videos, and expert articles. I encourage you to visit the Collections page: http://www.archives.com/resources/collections.html and the Family Tree overview: http://www.archives.com/GA.aspx?_act=familytree for in-depth detail about what is included in an Archives membership. For further information, please feel free to contact one of our customer support folks at support@archives.com. Best of luck!

[PeterTimber]

Thank you very much. =Peter=

[jhill]

you're welcome!

[acupxpa]

Hi Julie,

Is Archives owned by the same company as Ancestry?

Gina

[jhill]

Gina, Archives is a separate company not affiliated with Ancestry. You can visit our About Us page here: http://www.archives.com/aboutus.shtml. - Julie

[suz1154]

Please be cautious. Archives.com has several complaints against them:

http://www.complaintsboard.com/?search= ... Everything

I started checking into them more after noticing they had taken money out of my checking account. I was thinking I had done the trial period and then cancelled before it was over--because I did not find their site very useful. I'm not sure, and I don't have anything written down to prove that I had cancelled, so maybe I forgot. I called them up and told them I didn't want their services, and they were nice about it, saying they'd cancel and refund my money (although the refund doesn't show up on my account yet).

[jhill]

Hi suz1154, I'm glad you had a positive experience talking with the Archives.com customer support team. Archives also allows users to manage their membership and billing options online - to learn how to do this visit the FAQ page: http://www.archives.com/faq.shtml. The refund may take a short period to appear in your account. Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions. Thank you, and have a great day.

- Julie, Archives.com Product Manager