Genealogy Chat

Does anyone know if there is anywhere Census CDs can be rented or borrowed, as I have looked into buying census CDs and for the areas and censuses I wish to look up it is going to cost me about £600 altogether. If not why can't we borrow them from the library or Video shop!!!

Hi, The LDS have filmed all of the censuses 1841 - 1891 and your local LDS family history library will order in the film of any census you want for a small fee. It is retained there for a month for you to search it. The price of the census discs reflects the cost of producing them. Family History Societies are charities and use the money they raise from the discs to produce more. The data is gathered by volunteers. The commercially produced discs do not make much of a profit. It can be worth looking on ebay for second hand CDs. There are a few on there at the moment. I have bought several of the CDs produced by Family History Societies - an indexed census saves hours of searching in a record office. Plus there is a saving in travelling costs. At around £12 they are a bargain. I can't afford £60+ for some of the larger sets so order those at the LDS. Most of them aren't indexed so have to be searched page by page anyway - just as I do with films at Record Offices, LDS centres or the FRC in London. There are look up exchanges on the web where people with access to discs offer look ups on them for named individuals. I'm on the Breconshire LE exchange for look ups on the 1851 and 1861 censuses of Breconshire. Your search engine should be able to find the home page. Hope this helps, Gwynne

Thanks very much, that has given me some new ideas Thanks Anna