With so many genealogical sites available online, it can be overwhelming to decide which ones to conduct genealogical research on. When you throw in the fact that many of these services are open to members with subscriptions only, some of which can be priced fairly steep, it can be even more difficult to determine the good and bad of each site. Join me over these coming posts as I review Fold3, Newspapers, and Ancestry.com, discussing current pricing, researching tactics, and whether or not the membership price is truly worth it. Let’s get started by analyzing Fold3!
First, you might be wondering what content Fold3 provides. A branch of Ancestry.com, Fold3 offers military information about veterans from past conflicts, ranging in eras from the Revolutionary War all the way up to the Vietnam War.
As of May 2022, Fold3’s yearly membership option is priced at $79.95, while monthly payment plans cost $7.95 a month. However, I receive emails fairly frequently about sales, and I’ve seen yearly memberships have a sale price of just under $50 a year. What’s more, for as long as I’ve been a Fold3 member, I don’t believe the price has ever went up. Hopefully the price won’t increase!
When I helped a history friend research veterans for his book about the lives of around 1,000 Civil War soldiers, I was a new researcher on Fold3. That said, now that I’ve gained experience using the site, I’ve found a few researching hacks that can be helpful.
First, and probably most important, is to be flexible with your ancestor’s name. Oftentimes, these military records feature misspellings that can make finding accurate information especially difficult. For example, a grandfather whose last name was “Carneal” had his Fold3 military documents labeled under “Carmeal.” Be willing to try lots of different name variations until you find your family member.
Second, if you know your ancestor’s regiment, try researching that way! See the images and bold text below to find out how to implement this researching method.
If you want to research your ancestor by regiment, start by searching their state’s records. Try looking up something like “John Smith Kentucky.” (See below.)
Next, click on the first return or a return that matches the records you’re hoping to search (see below).
After clicking on the veteran’s name (above), you’ll see a heading that looks like this at the top of the page:
Click on the heading (above) to navigate to a dropdown list that will look something like this:
Click the arrow (<) on the far left-hand side of the screen to find the names of various regiments. Your screen should look similar to this:
Using the scrolling bar under the heading “Military Unit,” navigate to the regiment you desire to search. Since I want to find the 11th Kentucky Infantry, I’ll scroll the blue bar down until I find the desired regiment (see below).
The section “Military Unit” is arranged by military regiment and by surname. Since I’m trying to locate the records under “Skipworth,” and I know these men served in the 11th Kentucky Infantry, I’ll navigate to “Eleventh Infantry, S-Tr,” clicking on that heading. I will now see the option to look under “S” or “T.” I’ll click the “S,” then use the blue bar under “Name (Age)” to find my grandfather’s records (see below).
Now that I’ve successfully located my grandfather, “Darius H. Skipworth,” I can click on his name to view the muster rolls pertaining to his service. Using this method alleviates having to guess how my ancestor’s name might be spelled, and it gives me the options to easily navigate from regiment to regiment, person to person. This method, which might take a bit of “tinkering with” to get used to, has become my go-to way to search! While the example I used is for searching a Civil War unit from Kentucky, you should find the same general rules–and examples–will apply as you research other regions and/or conflicts.
What are some pros of Fold3? Military documents galore! Purchasing the records of my Civil War ancestors from the government would cost a small fortune, but many of the same documents are available to view on Fold3, for just under $8/month! Even though getting used to Fold3 might take a bit of time, it’s fairly easy to navigate once you get the hang of it.
Plus, since Fold3 spans multiple conflicts, you can expand your search to encompass records from the 1700s all the way up to the 1970s. I’ve found out plenty of interesting information about my ancestors via Fold3, exploring documents I didn’t have access to on another genealogical sites. I even found out one grandfather was a “Patriotic Kentuckian” in the Civil War, while another was an “excellent soldier.” Finding primary documentation such as that is a HUGE pro of Fold3!
TSGS member, Dan Reigle, shared two areas in Fold3’s favor. He notes, “Since Ancestry has long had the alphabetical index to Civil War pension files, Fold3 has had the organizational index to those files. The Fold3 cards were done later, so they may have information that is not reflected on the pensioner’s alphabetical file, such as the pensioner’s date of death or a widow’s name. In addition, it provides another way to get around name problems.”
Reigle also adds, “Originally Fold3’s Civil War ‘Compiled Military Service Records’ was only an index, but I have recently found a full set of CMSR cards for some individuals in some units. I think Fold3 is doing this by organization, so they don’t have all organizations, but as you know, they are sometimes a gold mine!”
The name variations can be a hassle of Fold3, but that’s pretty common when conducting genealogical research. Therefore, the biggest con of Fold3 is that certain states, at least when researching the Civil War, don’t yet have documentation uploaded. For example, if I’m hoping to research a veteran from Illinois, Indiana, or few other states, I won’t find any documentation except one record that lists their name, regiment, and rank. I’ve been a Fold3 member for years, and anytime I hope to research an Illinois or Indiana veteran, I run into the same problem. Considering how long Fold3 has been in business, it seems like they should already have documentation from every state uploaded.
Further, if you’re hoping to research your World War II veteran on Fold3, don’t expect to find a lot of information. In fact, any time I search Fold3 for World War II veterans, I normally only find the veteran’s draft card. Since the same document is viewable on Ancestry, Fold3 doesn’t really have a lot of new information on veterans from the Second World War. I’ve found Fold3 works best for searching Revolutionary War and Civil War veterans, although cases do vary, of course.
Is Fold3 worth the subscription cost? The answer is both a yes and a no.
Fold3 is great if you’re looking to research veterans from specific states or conflicts. In fact, I’ve rarely let my membership lapse because I use it to so often. However, I mainly research my ancestors who lived in Kentucky or Tennessee, where plenty of documents have been uploaded.
If you’re not interested in diving into a deeper search of your military family, then Fold3 might not be for you. This is also true if your ancestors served in World War II or select states in the Civil War, as you might find that Fold3 would be a waste of money and/or time. (If you don’t want to become a Fold3 member, check out a few other ways to find information about your military ancestor by heading here.)
As with most aspects of life, the answer of “Is Fold3 Worth It” isn’t so simple as saying yes or no. However, because of how much information I’ve found on my family, I would definitely say paying $7.95 to give Fold3 a try for just one month might be worth it. If you don’t like it, simply cancel your subscription and realize that such a program might not be for you. But if you don’t give it a try, who knows what amazing information you could be missing out on?
I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my review of Fold3. If you decide to give the program a try, I wish you the best of luck in your search. Also, be sure to read my review of Newspapers.com and Ancestry!
In the meantime, keep the history alive!
Disclaimer: This review is not funded by Fold3, Newspapers.com, or Ancestry.com, as TSGS is not affiliated with any of these businesses. The opinions found within this review do not reflect the views of TSGS as a whole, and cases of the program’s pros and cons will vary.