The short version: search the records and read the histories for your own family research, free. Old records and our computer-made matches can be wrong, so check the original before you rely on anything. Please don't scrape or bulk copy the site. If you want a record taken down, email us and we'll remove it.
Who we are
HeartlandAncestry is a small family-history business in Iowa. It runs this website, heartlandancestry.com, and a paid research service. "We" and "us" on this page mean HeartlandAncestry. By using the site you agree to these terms and to our privacy policy. If you don't agree, please don't use the site.
What's on the site
Records about people who lived and died in Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. They come from public records and public-domain books: death and burial indexes, including the Social Security Death Index; state birth and death indexes, including the causes of death on Minnesota death certificates from 2011 to 2020; the 1950 census; newspaper death notices from 1836 to 1925 in the Library of Congress collection; county histories published before 1931; the Veterans Administration's death file; the 1920 World War I honor roll; and the historical photographs listed on our image credits page. We also show family trees put together by computer from the names on those records, family trees from our own family's research, and short profiles of well-known Iowa families and companies.
Using the site
You're welcome to search, read, print and save records and pages for your own personal, family or classroom research. Linking to any page is fine, and so is quoting a few records or a short passage with a link back to the page you took it from.
Check before you rely on it
- Old records contain mistakes, and indexes and scanned text add more. Names, dates and places can be wrong.
- Many links between people are made by computer. Brothers and sisters are grouped when their records name the same parents, and a person is linked to a record when exactly one record fits the name, state and ages. We call these possible matches. A possible match can be a different person with the same name.
- Causes of death come from four kinds of source, and each one names its source: Minnesota death certificates from 2011 to 2020 (the certifier's words, plus the manner of death when it wasn't natural, such as an accident, suicide or homicide, and whether tobacco use contributed); the category in the Veterans Administration's death file; the wording of old newspaper death notices; and our own family's tree. They aren't our words and they aren't medical advice. Any of these sources can be wrong, and certificates are sometimes corrected later.
- Military service comes from the Veterans Administration's death file, matched by name, birth and death years and state. That match can be wrong too.
- Many short biographies are put together by computer from the records, and some text was drafted with the help of AI tools working only from the records we cite. Machines make mistakes too.
Check the original record before you use anything here for a legal, medical, inheritance, citizenship or lineage-society purpose. If you spot an error, email us and we'll review it.
Not for screening people
This site is for family history. Don't use it to make decisions about anyone's credit, insurance, employment, housing or other eligibility, and don't use it to harass, stalk, deceive or steal anyone's identity. We aren't a consumer reporting agency, and nothing here is a consumer report.
What isn't allowed
- Using bots, scrapers, crawlers or scripts to download the database, the search and family-tree data files, or our pages in bulk.
- Copying the database, or a large part of it, into another website, app, product or dataset, including data used to train AI models.
- Republishing our own writing, maps or family trees without our written permission.
- Trying to get around the limits and security that protect the site.
We may block any visitor or network that does these things.
Our work and public-domain material
Facts aren't owned by anyone. The old books, newspapers, records and photographs we reproduce are in the public domain, and you're free to use them from the original sources we cite on each page. What's ours is the work we add: our own writing, summaries and guides, our maps, the way we select, arrange and link the records, and the site's design and code. That work is © HeartlandAncestry.
Removing a record
Most people on this site have died, and their families come first. If you'd like a person's record, a newspaper notice, a biography or just a cause of death taken down, email us the page link and we'll remove it from our pages. You don't have to prove you're related. If something else bothers you, such as a photograph or a link between two people, tell us and we'll look at it. The details are in our privacy policy. If you find a record about someone who is still living, tell us and we'll take it down right away.
Living people
Our records and family trees are meant to be about people who have died, and we follow set rules to keep the living out. Our profiles of well-known Iowa families and companies are the one exception: some of those people are living public figures, and those profiles draw on what has been publicly reported about them. The rules are in our privacy policy.
Copyright complaints
We use only material that is in the public domain or that we made ourselves, and each photograph's source is listed on our image credits page. If you believe something here infringes your copyright, email us with your name and contact details, the work you own, the link to the page where it appears, a statement that you believe in good faith the use isn't authorized, and a statement that your notice is accurate and that you own the work or are authorized to act for the owner, signed with your full name. We'll take the material down while we look into it and tell you what we decide.
Links to other websites
We link to archives, record websites, payment pages and other sites we don't control. Their own terms and privacy policies apply there. When a link pays us a commission, we say so right beside it, and it costs you nothing extra.
Buying research
Prices and packages are on our research page, and each project is covered by a written research agreement. Here's how it works:
- A deposit of half the package price starts the work and is credited toward the total. Bring Your Own Tree is $495, paid in full up front. Paying the whole price up front saves $100.
- Right after you pay, we email you our research agreement, which repeats these terms. Changed your mind? Tell us in writing before we begin the research and we'll refund your deposit in full.
- After that, if you cancel before the balance is paid, your deposit covers the work done so far and you owe nothing more, but detailed findings and files are released only with a fully paid project. If you paid in full and cancel before your preview is ready, we refund everything above the deposit amount.
- The balance is due when your preview is ready, before the final files are released and before any hardcover book is printed.
- Turnaround times are estimates. If we're running behind, we'll tell you.
- We can't promise to find any particular ancestor or record. If a line can't go further, we tell you plainly, and the flat price doesn't change.
- Payments go through Square, or Venmo if you ask, and their terms apply to the payment itself.
- You must be 18 or older to buy research.
If anything in your research agreement differs from this page, the agreement applies.
No warranty
The site and its records are provided "as is" and "as available." We work hard to get things right, but to the extent the law allows, we make no promises or warranties of any kind, including that the site is accurate, complete, current or always online.
Limits on our liability
To the extent the law allows, we aren't liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential or punitive damages, or for decisions you make based on the site. Our total liability for any claim about the website is $100. For paid research, our total liability is limited to what you paid us for that project. Some states don't allow some of these limits, so they apply to you only as far as your state allows.
Children
This site is for a general audience and isn't meant for children under 13. If you're under 13, please don't send us a form or an email. If we learn a child under 13 has sent us personal information, we'll delete it.
The law that applies
These terms are governed by the laws of Iowa. Any dispute about them will be handled in the state or federal courts for Polk County, Iowa, unless the consumer laws of your own state give you the right to bring it where you live.
Changes and the fine print
If these terms change, we'll update the date at the top of this page, and using the site after that means you accept the new version. A research agreement you've already accepted stays as it was. If any part of these terms can't be enforced, the rest still applies. If we don't enforce a part right away, we haven't given it up.
Questions
Email [email protected].