I’m getting close to canceling my ancestry.com account because I feel like I’m not getting what I want out of it (pictures!)

Research Assistance

I have gained great information about my maternal grandfather’s side of the family in particular through ancestry.com, mainly by looking at the census records. It’s actually really impressive to me, because I’ve learned little things I would have never known - for example, my great grandfather lived with his paternal grandmother (my 3x great grandmother) for a bit when he would have been a child because my 2x grandfather let her stay when she was older, widowed, and likely couldn’t find another husband or take care of herself. My 2x great grandmother, whose first name was Rosa/rosie (I had a great aunt named after her!) was divorced before she met my 2x great grandpa, which I found interesting given that she was born roughly 1873 and was a black woman who was a servant. I wonder how bad things must have been for her t have been granted a divorce in Mississippi back then. She is also listed as mulatto in the records though great grandpa is as well so there was likely of course a white ancestor but it’s hard to trace - my great grandpa was described as very lightskinned.

But I’m also really disappointed, because what I had wanted concerning both sides of the family are more pictures, and it is so difficult to find this even on ancestry.com (I spoke to cousin who does remember maternal grandpa’s parents, and they shared a wonderful picture with me of them, but I was told by them that we explicitly don’t have any of my 2x and beyond great grandparents. On that side of the family we don’t really even have any of great aunts and uncles, which is a shame, other than just one great uncle. I don’t know what any of my grandfather’s sisters looked like.

Posted May 2, 2026, 4:13 AM UTC

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