Genealogy Chat

Hi All Just wondering if it is worth subscribing to the Ancestry site. Are you able to view anything worthwhile or do you get any more information than what is on the FreeBMD site. Have others had success with this site. Thanks

I subscribed to ancestry for the UK census, thinking I could probably find everyone I wanted in a couple of months - but here I am 12months later, still finding people on my tree, distant cousins, etc, which all help to show where my family lived, what they did, where they moved etc etc. (lots of dissenting and independent ministers, funnily). I am now digging deep into the distant cousins, and looking for those born pre 1800, but there are not too many of them. I also love helping other people solve their mysteries, having solved a few of my own. As I have few US/Canada links, I don't subb to the US sites, but have made use of their occaisional free offers to look for strays. The GRO indexes are very helpful, because I would have to go the nearest big library if I needed them. I have also used Pallots index and a few other databases. It may seem expensive, but when I add up the cost of borrowing the individual microfilms from the LDS, bus fares, parking fees etc, and the convenience of being able to search when my kids have gone to bed makes it well worthwhile for me. But everyone is different. Just make sure you follow the instructions carefully if you want to cancel. Diane Diane

Thanks Diane I live in Australia so have to rely on any sites that I stumble across on google. I wish I was in England so I could go to the local areas to look up but I'm not so have to make the most of the net.

Katrina, I wouldn't be without Ancestry ........ it may seem to be a bit expensive, but it covers sooooo much more than freebmd. All the censuses from 1841 to 1901 for England and Wales to name only one aspect. Plus, it also carries the complete Index to bmds .... which means with a bit (or a lot!) of trawling throught the index quarter by quarter you can find all the bmds that have not yet been transcribed. I live in Canada, so have the same problem as you. Sylvia

Hi Katrina I am in Australia too, in Sydney and with 5 kids, time to go the libraries etc are limited, so I love ancestry, I have filled in so many details this past year. Diane

What sort of information should I expect to get from ancestry??

I joined Ancestry after having a free trial period - you may still be able to get that....I think it is a great site and very well organised.I have found people I never knew of in my family thru the census records.....I pay monthly and think it is really good value - it's unlimited access etc. and it's up to you to make the most of it.

Hi Katrina - I subscribe to Ancestry which I find very useful, I also live in Oz and know how difficult it is accessing information. I also go to my local LDSC family centre, they are very helpful and on many occasions I've hired parish records there, the cost is only $5, it takes a couple of weeks for them to arrive, another thing is that the ladies there are so helpful.

My only problem with Ancestry is knowing how far to go with my research. I find myself searching for ancestors siblings and their family too and suddenly have a enormous family tree (not my online one)! I would say go for it, you can always cancel it when you have found everyone, but I bet you don't!!

Ancestry (UK version) has England/Wales censuses 1841 - 1901. Scotland censuses 1841 - 1861 Some.........not much...........Parish info Some Pallots info.......not much survives, anyway. All England/Wales bmd's......although you do not have to subscribe to access them...they are free to all who register with the site. Reg

Ancestry is THE site without it wed all be lost.

It is difficult to see how anyone who cannot spend large amounts of time in libraries or at Family History Centres can do without an Ancestry subscription. Unless your interests are very limited indeed, any of the pay-per-view options are very expensive, and no other content provider (and certainly not GR) offers anything like as much material, let alone at a very modest cost. It is well worth remembering, if funds are tight, or your interest limited, that many public libraries (which long ago stopped buying new books in favour of PCs) have the Ancestry Library Edition available for use free of charge. This is even wider in scope than the usual UK based version, and I use it regularly to research my ancestors that emigrated.

There appears to be a few different ancestry sites, and they all appear to be differently priced. My ancestors from what I have found so far are from England. So would the UK one be better or is the information really the same on both?

Hi, I was going to sign up for the free 14 day trial and then decided against it, and when I clicked out of the site a message came up Don't leave now you can have 30 days. Christine