A few days ago I wrote a post about whether I should subscribe to Ancestry.com. My concern was a recent search of the site produced naturalization documents for my paternal grandfather, but since I did not have a subscription, I couldn't access them. I received a lot of great comments suggesting I only subscribe for a month instead of spending all that money for an entire year. I haven't subscribed yet, but I did get my hands on those documents from Ancestry (my source shall remain nameless), and I couldn't be happier.
Above are two different copies of the same document. The one on the right is what I had. It's a horrible copy, but I was able to use it...barely. I tried all sorts of sources to get a better copy (NARA, INS, Colorado Archives, etc.), but all told me they couldn't find it. Maybe I didn't provide the right information, but I figured better copies didn't exist.
The copy on the left is the recently received Ancestry.com version. I didn't realize how bad the other copy was until I saw this one. I can now clearly see the street and town where my grandfather and his family lived; I can clearly determine the dates and places of birth of his children; I can clearly read the names and occupations of two men who witnessed the document; and I can clearly see how he described his immigration route to the United States. There's now a gold mine of info for me to explore.
I'm also impressed with the scanning quality of the document from Ancestry. I just might buy myself a month's access and see how it goes.
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