Suggestions

Is it possible to search census records by first names . There are so many mispelliing of surnames . If you search by christian name birth date and place of birth it is easy to spot mispelt names . Regards Jim

Jim

that is possible on ancestry, I often use it myself


..... although it ends up with you possibly having to scroll through a listing of many names


eg, if you are looking for John, b.ca 1880, Manchester :-D


It works very well if you have an unusual forename ........ and assuming it has been spelled correctly on the image AND in the transcription.



I do not know whether this is possible on GR as I never use the records on here





sylvia

Sylvia, Hi

I am fairly new to all this including the boards

Might I ask why you never use the records on here?

Just curious :-) I have done but am now struggling. I have started using others but will be joining ancestry very very soon - I have read that that is the best ..........

Cheers

Kimmy

Hi Kim


because I find the records to be much better and easier to use on other sites! :-D

I prefer ancestry for census and other historical records. But I am about to join findmypast (a gift from my husband), as I want to see what other records they may be carrying that ancestry does not.

I use the free site freebmd.org.uk for all bmds from July 1 1837 to (currently) about 1987.

I use county, town and parish sites wherever possible.


When GR first started carrying many of the records, they did not actually carry them on this site, they re-directed you to the other site. I'm not sure whether they still do this, but it caused (and still causes) some strange things.

for example, if you are looking at a census and your family goes over onto another page, you could not (and I believe still cannot) move to the next page without some quite complicated manoevres that were worked out by members. It is easy to move from page to page on the other sites. That means you can see neighbours ..... which may well help you find other members of your family.

If you found your ancestor's name mis-spelled, you could not submit a change to GR. You can do that on other sites.


I have not tried to use the bmds, but I hear they are much harder to work with than on either freebmd, or on ancestry, or findmypast.


I find the most useful aspect of GR are the Search Trees, and the Community Boards, where you can get help from other members. I spend most of my time on them!!


sylvia

I do it all the time.

Just today I found an entry on the 1841 census for a George Silverthorpe. It turned out that Ancestry had transcribed him as Geo Thorp.

The trick is to put in info that you are absolutely sure about such as dob give or take a year, residence, place of birth etc, etc to eliminate irellevant entries.

Also dont forget to use wild cards, especially the *.

for example Bag*o* will bring up

Bagod, Bagot, Bagott, Baggod, Baggot, Baggott etc etc

I found my George using Geo* *thorp* plus the location where I knew he was and his approx dob.

IGP

is that possible on GR?



I know it is on ancestry, I use such searches and wild cards all the time.

But I do not know whether GR has the same facility for searching.



sylvia

Probably not on GR as it uses the standard name search screen which always requires a surname.

FMP have just reduced their Subs.
Dearest package; £109.95
Genes Dearest package; £ 109.85
I think that FMP also still give 20% discount on renewal.
Edit
FMP Loyalty bonus,on renewal, reduced to 10%.

I know that a friend of mine chose her platinum membership on here as it was the cheapest around.

But in my humble opinion you gets wot you pays fer!!!!

I consider myself very lucky to be able to afford subs to both Ancestry & Findmypast. Love both sites for totally different reasons and could not imagine using one without the other, I find using them together a very useful tool.

And could not do without FreeBMD, that is a godsend, did not find out about it for at least the frist 6 months of my research but once found wow I went on in leaps & bounds (also went on a BMD ordering fest!!!)

We all have our favourite sites and for me GR is the best for just keeping my tree and hoping that that elusive ancestors family will one day decide to trace their family and find me,

And the Community boards are great (also the boards on Rootschat) :-)