Genealogy Chat

Hi. I've bought 3 census CD's from Stepping Stones. All of them are as readable as can be expected for 150 year old documents. Very prompt service if the particular set of CDs is released. They seem to be cheaper that S & N. Recently I bought some Trade Directories from Stepping Stones. They came within 48 hours of ordering. One of the cases was empty. I e-mailed them to let them know. They not only sent me the missing disc, but another of the same area for a different year as compensation. The Stepping Stones website also warns that some of those available on Ebay are dodgy copies. Anyone know why Ancestry is going to put the 1881 census on its database? It's free access on LDS. Why don't they concentrate their efforts on a year that is scarce, like 1861. It must be better for their profits? Regards Helen

Thanks to you all. I,ve been looking on Ebay but so far, have not seen the census years that I need. Will keep trying on that one though.

I haven't bought off Ebay (no particular reason) but I would suggest that you find out the retail price of anything you fancy on there as some people get carried away. Some of the stuff on there is being sold by the producers anyway. (eg, If the seller is in Cinderford it is probably "Archive CD Books")

Hi Has anybody bought any off of ebay? Penny

Hi Carol, I hope you are well, It may be worth looking on the Lancashire Family History Society's website, they have recently put more areas on. Speak soon, June xx

I purchased Lancashire 1871 Census from geneology supplies and it is very clear. Andrea

Archive CD Books are certainly the best but they have limited coverage. I am afraid that I would rather buy from S&N now than wait a couple of years. S&N are very good if there are problems, replacement CD in the post by return. Also don't forget that ancestry.co.uk will be completing 1871 coverage around the end of the year. Adding 1881 shortly and completing 1901 sometime in the New Year. They will also be starting on 1861 next year. They already have 1891 covered. It is still easier to search a whole area on CD as you can scan down a page by eye faster than it takes to load even on a broadband connection. Martin

Carol I bought my 1841 census from Stepping stones and they warn you in advance that some pages were written in pencil, and they had deteriorated over the years. Aside from the professional genealogists, who would have thought that millions of people would take this up as a hobby (and its a relatively new phenomenon)and milllions of people would want to read these census, so they were stored away neglected over the years they cannot improve pages as it would be tampering and I think its against the law to do it. I can read most but there are quiet a lot of pages that look blank, but lets remember we are talking about 1841 written in pencil, we are lucky to have the stuff at all. Pat x

Hi Carol, Have you looked at:- TWR Computing - http://www.twrcomputing(.)co(.)uk I have used them several times and found they're service very good. Prices are reasonable and they post anywhere around the world, not a penny extra for the postage. Hope this is of any help...?? Regards, Dawn.

Christine, Joy and Chrissie. Many thanks to you. I,ve tried Googling for Stepping Stones but didn,t have any luck...just too many. Maybe it,s just as well I didn,t after hearing Chrissie's horror story. Lol

HiCarol, Igot my census cd from stepping stones, wish i hadnt as i cant read most of it i did complain to them and they said they would replace it .that was 8 months ago and im still waiting!!!!!!!!! Chrissie

and you can find Stepping Stones site if you "google" search for it. Joy

Also worth keeping an eye on the progress at ArchiveCDBooks: http://www.rod-neep.*co.uk/ (remove asterisk) Doesn't look as if there are any Lancs censuses ready yet, but there's a Cheshire one for 1861, but you'd need to read the info on the site to make sure you were getting what you wanted.. Christine

Martin and Mandy, Thank you both very much. That was a very quick response. xx

Hiya Carol! Their website is at www(.)genealogysupplies(.)com. See you soon, Mandy :)

S&N Genealogical Supplies have almost the complete set of Lancashire and Yorkshire censuses on CD-ROM. The only year not covered in 1881. Martin

I was hoping some kind person could give me the web address(es) where I can purchase Census CD's for Lancashire and Cheshire, 1851/61. Thanks in advance.