HeritageQuest, "powered by Ancestry," has a lot to recommend it to genealogy researchers at all levels. Most libraries offer HQ as part of the free ProQuest databases available for access to cardholders, in the library or from home. It is so convenient to fire up my laptop at any hour, log into HQ using my library card number, and search whenever I wish! Did I mention it's FREE?
At top, a brief list of what you can find from the search page on HQ. The site is uncomplicated and easy to navigate. Anyone who's ever used Ancestry will find the search interface familiar. Even if you've never used Ancestry, it will take about five seconds to figure out the HQ search forms. And remember, this is FREE.
What I find especially helpful is that HQ offers quick access to targeted genealogy databases without digging down through catalog listings. This is how I get the most out of Heritage Quest, by searching only one database or set of records at a time to narrow the results to the more likely possibilities.
Here's an example: I wanted to look for one of my husband's ancestors who I believed had served in the Civil War. He died in 1924, so I decided to search in the 1890 Veterans' Schedule. Yes, this special schedule did survive, even if nearly nothing else from that 1890 US Census survived! So not only will I find out whether this guy served in the war, I'll also find out when--and get his 1890 location as an important bonus.
I plugged in his full name (Benjamin Franklin Steiner), date/place of death, and added his wife's name. It wasn't necessary to have all those elements, but it helps narrow my search, at least in the beginning.In fact, only a few results popped up--but one was exactly what I needed.
The schedule lists Benjamin F. Steiner, living in Oceola, Ohio, in 1890. He served as a private in Company L, 10th Ohio Cavalry, from 1862 to 1865.
The "remarks" section had nothing about him, although others were noted as being disabled due to various ailments. But now I know he was in Oceola in 1890, and I can look for city directories, newspaper stories, and other sources of additional information from that time and place.
FREE, easy to use, loaded with valuable databases--lots to like on HeritageQuest!
Well then, let me go check it out. A very helpful post. Thanks ~
ReplyDeleteWe get frequent requests to purchase Ancestry Library Edition at my library. It's too expensive to justify, but we do have HQ, and I refer the requesters to it. Thanks for a great post!
ReplyDeleteDid you know that Heritage Quest is now powered by Ancestry's search engine? That happened a while back, which I was sorry to see, because if someone is terribly mis-indexed in one, he/she is now terribly mis-indexed in both.
ReplyDeleteLadies, thanks for reading and commenting! I'm aware that Ancestry is the engine behind HQ and I'm not happy about it either, because I used to like having the HQ indexing and scans different from those on Ancestry AND those on Fam Search. Oh, well.
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing out the benefits of HeritageQuest, Marian. As Amanda said, many libraries that can't afford an AncestryLibrary subscription do offer HeritageQuest. Being able to use it from home in a snow storm is a special blessing. It's also more approachable for new genealogists than the long list of search results that Ancestry can produce in a general search.
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