Genealogy Chat

Have you noticed that if you click on 'Search Records' on the left of this page, it takes you to a page where you can sign up to the 1901 census and BMD indexes. GR have the cheek to charge for indexes that are FREE to all on http://www.ancestry*co.uk/search/rectype/vital/freebmd/bmd.aspx I have emailed them to complain. I think it will confuse newbies who will not know about the beta index on Ancestry. Can you all please contact GR to complain about them charging for something that is available for free. I know 1837 online charges, but they were there before Ancestry was FREE. Margaret

Is Ancestry Beta still free? I've just tried to get in and couldn't but didn't worry until I read this.

Have you got the 'available credits' in the list on the left. It keeps appearing and disappearing for me. GR are up to something!

FR now have a link to the 1901. GR have been planning to have BMD for a while,check the 'my account' details on the left of the page. Glen

Helen Yes, it is still free, you just have to register with them. I just logged out from Ancestry and then registered with my hubbys email addy. I could still view the image. Margaret

Glen They may have been planning this for a while, but their timing is way off. Ancestry beta has been free for a while now. I think they are trying to con newbies who dont know any better when they sign up to GR. Margaret

I'll try again, hubby might have been deleting cookies again. He causes me all sorts of probs getting back in to sites when I can't remember passwords etc.

Hi Just a note of caution. Although Ancestry BDM index is free, some pages are missing and some are difficult to read. I've no complaint about this since it is free. At that time I fall back and check those pages out on 1837online for which I pay. I'm happy to do that rather than have a niggle that the info I was seeking may have been on the missing or unreadable page(s). I've never used GR's BDM index but perhaps they also have the missing pages or clearer images available. Cheers Paul

Margaret I think the same. It's quite unfair as you don't know any better when you first start out. I spent a fortune downloading pages from the PRO site before I sussed out ways to get the info for free.

Anyone serious about this hobby (ok then obsession) would take out an ancestry sub anyhow,but many people are still unaware of ancestry beta,no matter how many times it gets mentioned in threads. I'd better stop there,before i turn it into a rant. Glen

Let's just hope any revenue GR do make goes into better servers,then no more error messages and missing photographs in trees. Just to make a serious point though,i bet only a very small percentage of people who join GR ever look at the 'getting started' type info and similiar threads that there are. A typical day will see the same questions appear often in quick succession,and the number of lookups someone asked for recently,then came back two days ago asking for the same (they mislaid all the info they had been given) makes you wonder what some people really can/can't/will or won't even try to do. Glen

Hi Glen Can I just amend your statement to: Anyone who has managed to take their family back to 1901 will find Ancestry useful to take it back a further sixty years. Unless you can correctly identify at least a couple of individuals on the 1901 census, Ancestry is of little value while the beta index remains free. Before 1837, the information Ancestry has is decidedly dubious, consisting largely of indexes of transcripts, without, so far as I am aware, proper explanations of how each one was compiled, from what, by whom, and what any abbreviations mean.

'i bet only a very small percentage of people who join GR ever look at the 'getting started' type info' Well since GR in their wisdom have buried the Getting started section way down on the homepage - and as a computer newbie a few years ago, I didnt even KNOW you could scroll down a homepage, I'm not surprised. I think they should have a big button labelled 'NEW?' at the top of every page of their website which takes you to a relevant section. But what would I know?!

Hi Phoenix I suppose i just find it suprising that there are some people who despite using the boards for a while (a general view,not a dig at anyone in particular)have never heard of Ancestry. Aside from that though i think a popular misconception is that everything is on the internet and at the click of a mouse you can get your whole line down 250 years. I link into three other trees,all cousins and not one of them knew the names for grandparents,i had the most info,and admittedly have more time than most to look at this,but i was adopted FROM the family. I found out more in four months prior to joining ancestry,than the rest had in a combined 6 year membership of GR. Sometimes i just wonder..... Glen

I'm starting to rant. Just call me Heather,and give me a slap Glen

well let's hope they don't make the decision that in order to enhance their own revenues from their BMD index they need to start to monitor posts requesting look ups on ancestry and delete the requests/replies so people are forced to use the GR indexes **just speculating - NOT scaremongering*** Zoe

I reckon Helen/Nell's idea about a button at the top of each page for ''New?'' would be a great idea. Almost every post I pick up from the names-match seems to be folks asking questions for which a lot of the answers could be found by following up the Getting Started ideas. Christine

Hi, there is something else, am I right in thinking that you cannot search through the original entries at the main records office in London now or is that a misconception? When you simply have a name, possible year and place of birth and have around 10 or more entries who fit that description you cannot just order certificates for all of them... It may sound rather daft, but without wasting credits, how do you know pages missing from Ancestry are definitely on 1837? According to some of 1837 records...known relatives of mine are not on there, some of them are not on Ancestry...just on the BMD records. I have spent hours, going backwards and forwards on the free BMD. through years of records, trying to trace births and marriages, when I had no idea of the date, just names and place. If I had to pay per page viewed all the time, I could not afford to do it.. Best wishes Cristina

Reading an article from the man who runs Ancestry uk, the beta index will be free for the rest of 2006, but i think it will be charged for once got right, i am still wondering what the extra UK content i will get free will be for paying £200 for the world delux membership, will it be the bmds, i have already saved hundreds on 1837 cost with the beta, maybe next year you who pay £69 for the standard uk will have to pay extra for the bmd indexs, it said when sigining up at £200 you get US/UK sites and extra UK content not charged for as this was about £80 more than the seperate UK and US sites i had, there is going to be something you cant acess for your £69 membership and my guess is it will be the BMDs which is worth hundreds at 1837 prices

Cristina - if you mean, can you search the actual birth marriage and death certificates, no you can't, but as far as I know you have never been able to do that in London? Maybe at some local register offices. You can search the indexes in London at the Family Records Centre, the same indexes that have been microfilmed and then scanned in and made available online on various websites. Can you imagine if you were allowed to search through the actual books of certificates? I can't see that working somehow. But the government are working on bringing in a new law so that the certificates can be scanned in and viewed online like the Scottish ones already are. Kate.