Some of the new features at Ancestry

Trying out a few of the new features at Ancestry that were announced at RootsTech 2026.  I had the Ideas button for a bit but it is no longer showing on my account.  It didn't work very well for my tree and kept suggesting things I already had.  I do not have access to the Transcription tool because my level of subscription is US Discovery(I'm Colonial American on both sides & that level works better for me)   I do have several other of the new tools that were announced at RootsTech.

Ancestry's new Census Hint Comparison feature.
My 2nd Great Grand Uncle Henry Frizzell's census records

Discover Insights of Gallery Images

Hoping this new feature will catch on and help folks add descriptions, dates, image type and locations to their images.  If you have any of the fields blank it will offer Insights generated by clicking on the Insights Button(shown below).

  

Once the insights are generated the user has the option of saving or removing the generated text. I like that it explains how it came up with the location.  It was correct so I chose to save it.

The generated description was also correct.  The picture was of my Dad, with a hospital gown over this clothing so that he could hold his first child.  It did a very good job on this.  You can get an Insight to any of the fields if you clear them and then refresh the page.

The Insights Tool will be a good function to have if you plan on using their new digitization service,  AncestryPreserve. Ancestry delivers those digitally preserved files to your gallery. You will be able to add info to them just as you would any other uploaded files.

Ancestry has also streamlined the adding source citation process.  Hopefully this will encourage folks to add a source since it is a lot easier to do.  It is better to have some type of source citation than NO source citation.  I'm so happy to see this. I've never done change well but this change is something I am all for.

Also the Ancestry AI has been around for awhile.  You can ask it questions and have it interrupt 1950 census data and a number of other files.  The issues I run into with it are when the transcription is riddled with errors and / or my ancestor just out right lied.  Then some of the things it comes up with a not so great because they don't match what I know was happening within the family.  As far as I could tell any corrections I had added were not considered when generating the AI insights.  For me it was better on what was going on in the general area rather than within the family. 

Documenting an Ancestor Through Land Deeds

In December of this past year,  I began crafting full reference notes for each of the deeds involving my ancestors, regardless of their role in the deed.  I arranged all the deeds for each ancestor in chronological order and also wrote notes of importance with the Reference Note.  The listing can be saved as a PDF and attached to that person's profile at Ancestry.  It really makes it easy when you start writing about your ancestors as well, because you already have these citations and can copy and paste them to source your work.  I use Google Docs and then save/download a copy of the PDF, but you could create the PDF on-site at Ancestry.  I do that sometimes.

I completed this process for the profile of my 2nd Great Grandfather, Wm Clifford Cook as well as the profile of his maternal 1st cousin, William Green Hight.  While researching Wm G. Hight's deeds, I also found additional information on his marriages and divorces that occurred after his first wife's death and his move to Arkansas.  He lived in Washington County, Arkansas, before moving to Franklin County, Arkansas(the location he was living at when he passed). Sometimes, I also create a PDF with information about my research that I want to preserve (e.g., notes on Census entries, conflicting evidence, proof statements, or proof arguments, etc.)