Genealogy Chat

The BMDs are also useful. Same as FreeBMD but not quite as up to date and not as good a search system. But it works much faster. Don't forget the Death Index post 1983. This is in two parts and one of them has the exact date of birth . This can be very useful for people born in the 1900s onwards. Martin

Hi everyone Just wanted to say thanks for all your help and suggestions. I'm finding my way round the site a lot more easily now and discovering all sorts of things I hadn't realised were available. Many thanks! Natalie

I had no idea there were all the extra databases tucked away until the other night. Since then I've been able to locate my ancestors on Trade Directories and find pre-1837 marriages thru the Parish and Probate Records. I was happy with ancestry beforehand, now I'm even more so! Lou

Only the census has been useful to me (very very useful), the best for parish records is the LDS site. It's worth the subscription for the census though - it never manage all that research at the tens of libraries I'd have to vist (and I'd never have the time anyway)!! Jacquie

I very rarely search from the fields on the home page, it much too crude a search. I will occasionally try it for an unusual name. I nearly always select which census year that I want to search though occasionally I got up a level and check all the UK censuses on one search as that will pick up someone who is in Wales, IoM etc. The comment on Durham and Northumberland mixed up. Is that ancestry or the way that the way that the census pieces are organised? I have seen comments from the companies putting censuses on CD-ROM about how some pieces will include more than one county. Also of course county boundaries have changed over the years and you normally use the county at the time that the record was made. Northumberland 1871 has been added but not 1901. I have noticed that the numbers in a county often go down which might them correcting things. Martin

I think it is a brilliant site. You probably just need to play around and learn how to use it and cut down the options, it takes time to learn. This evening I have got the occasional, "unavailable due to maintenance" but thats ok, probably means they are adding or updating. What sort of problem do you have with it. If you just type a name and birthplace it does bring up hundreds of options, although I have found that very handy because you pick up relatives you never knew about. You need to put in a rough birth year to cut it down and also where they are living at the time if you know the county etc..

Thanks! I think I've just hit a bit of a stagnant patch with the family tree. I ordered some marriage certificates at Christmas, which didn't come up with anything exciting, so was hoping that Ancestry UK would wave a magic wand for me. Trouble is that I'm now trying to track down people with very common names, all born in London!! Ah well, back to the drawing board......!!! Natalie

Natalie Ancestry is worth the money for the census alone. During the next two years they intend having the full 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 census online. Nowhere else will all that be available with a name index. 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 is available now with a few exceptions that havent been transcribed yet. If you are refering to the parish register info, then little of that has been transcribed. Have you subscribed without knowing what is available? I have been a subscriber of Ancestry for 2 years now and will continue to subscribe. Its the best deal on the net. Compare that to what you can spend on the government 1901 census site and 1837online. At least with ancestry you pay your money and get unlimited access. Think again Margaret

Natalie, I live in Canada, have subscribed to Ancestry UK since about last April. Have found it very useful and wouldn't be without it. However, have you tried Rootsweb . com? I have found a lot on there as well. Typed in my surname in the surname search and found my way to Family Trees which had 2 full trees on it taking my family all the way back to 1540. Plus message boards dealing with several of my surnames. And i is free. Sylvia in Canada

Hi natalie, Try somthing that you know is right, then you will find the rest easier.

Finally got around to paying up for Ancestry UK, only to find it a bit of a let down. First thing is that it seems difficult to pinpoint my ancestors from the hundreds they offer when I type in a name and birthplace. Also having struggled on for about half an hour to find my way round the system, it has just informed me that the search is 'currently unavailable'. Not what I expected for my hard-earned £70!! Has anyone else found similar? Perhaps I'm just having a bad day! Natalie

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