MILLENNIUM FILE ON ANCESTRY - HAVE YOU USED IT?

MILLENIUM FILE ON ANCESTRY.COM 

This is a source that I had never seen before today.  I discovered it when I looked at the posts of recent activity on the home page of my family tree on Ancestry.com. 

What that tells you is what other members on Ancestry have saved to their own trees.  Sometimes you can learn who else is researching the same family by checking these posts.  In this case it was a post regaring Dorothy Hill in my tree.  It's the last one listed on the image above. 

I clicked on that link to view Dorothy Hill in this particular tree.  That led me to some information from a source on Ancestry that I had never seen before.  This link was attached to her father, Samuel Hill's record. 

This source, The Millennium File, contains information that has been done by genealogy researchers.  Here is the description from Ancestry about this source. 

About Millennium File

The Millennium File is a database created by the Institute of Family Research to track the records of its clients and the results of its professional research. It contains more than 880,000 linked family records, with lineages from throughout the world, including colonial America, the British Isles, Switzerland, and Germany. Many of these lineages extend back to nobility and renowned historical figures. In fact, one of the things the Millennium File focuses on is linking to European nobility and royalty. A good way to have success in using this database is identify at least one Gateway Ancestor. A Gateway Ancestor is an early American immigrant who has been identified as having roots in British or European nobility. In this database there are about 300 Gateway Ancestors, or in other words, there are about 300 individuals who have proven ties to nobility or royalty. Source information is also provided in this database, making it easier to verify the accuracy of the research done. The Millennium File is a compiled source and is similar in form to other linked databases, such as Ancestry World Tree. Databases like these are great starting points for beginning your research. It is always good to find out what others have already learned and compiled about your ancestors.

This was completely new information for me.  In fact, as I continued to research this family I noticed that the Millennium File does not show up in the "hints" about each individual. 

However, if you go to the card catalog on Ancestry.com you can type in Millennium File and do directly there to begin a search. 

Here is what the Millennium File showed for Samuel Hill:

Name: Samuel Hill
Spouse: , Hannah Twitchell
 Birth Date: 1654
Birth City: Medfield
Birth County: Norfolk
Birth State: Massachusetts
Birth Country: USA
Death Date: 24 Mar 1723
Death City: Medway
Death County: Norfolk
Death State: Massachusetts
Death Country: USA
Parents: John Jr Hill, Hannah Johnson
Children: Hannah Hill
Other information: Notes

Look at the leads you now have from this one entry.  I didn't know when or where Samuel Hill was born, or when or where he died.  I certainly didn't know his parents' names, nor that he had another daughter besides Dorothy. 

Another cool thing about this Millennium File entry are the links for each person in the entry.  If you click on the other names, such as his wife or parents, you are taken to the file entry for that person.  WOW!  Even more information.

NEXT STEP: Follow up on each and every name, date & place.  Find your own sources and confirm that what is given here is true.  Just because another researcher has made this entry, does not make it a fact.  Because there are no specific sources from the researchers for these entries, we have to find our own.  But...what a great place to start!

I'm off to follow some leads.

Until next time,

Michigan Girl



Copyright ©  2013   Diane Gould Hall