Sally-Ann Jay wrote: > Can I ask why you prefer others over Ancestry? Mainly because I couldn't get access to Ancestry for techical reasons (ie I don't use Windows). Ancestry did try to sort out the problem but it defeated them. I'm now used to using other sites. Ancestry have obviously tweaked their programming and I can get into the site now but I have to say I don't really like it. I mainly use it for the 1851 and 1901 censuses. Once findmypast has both, then I'll not bother with Ancestry again. I'm not impressed with their new layout either. I can find what I'm looking for easily in findmypast. This is why I say you should have a look at all the various sites for yourself and that none of them is perfect.

HI Sparrer, Yes, it could be they didn't get married and pretended to be man and wife. I think a lot of it went on. But why wouldn't they have married unless of course one of them was already married! That could be the reason none of them can be found! Regards Diana

Just thought I would add another reason why you may not find an event recorded in the GRO. Civil registration was brought in during the latter half of 1837 and at first was not compulsory, so another reason you may not find an event recorded. It was not made compulsory until the law was changed to make it so in 1874. When it was first introduced (1837) the registrar would travel around visiting areas so that people could register an event. After the new Act of 1874, the onus was then on the person to report the event by visiting the registrar office themselves. Best regards Heather Visit my Family Tree's at GOODWIN and GORDON http://heatherac.tribalpages.com CARBIS SPARROW ATTWOOLL http://carbissparrow.tribalpages.com JOLLIFFE MOULAND http://jolliffemouland.tribalpages.com/ --- On Tue, 30/12/08, Steve <steveshistory2@yahoo.co.uk> wrote: > > Even if you go to the GRO site it does not guarantee that > you will find > all events since 1837 as mistakes were made or records > lost, and in the > early days people just did not register as they were > supposed to.

Find My Past has images of the GRO indexes, not transcriptions. Just as with Ancestry ( except for the ones which FreeBMD have transcribed which then go to Ancestry) you have to search through images of the GRO indexes to find the one you want. Anne On 30 Dec 2008, at 18:45, Dianadiluca@aol.com wrote: > Hi, > > Just a query - On Free BMD I thought if a marriage, birth or death > can't be > found on there then the marriage didn't occur or the birth or death > wasn't > registered. I thought it was a comprehensive record. Am I wrong? > How is it > that Find My Past has different records? Do they get their > information from > somewhere different? > > Thanks, > > Diana (confused from Romford)

No, FreeBMD is not yet complete. On the front page there is a link to graphs showing you how they are doing. The older the record you are looking for the better chance you have of finding it. Even if you go to the GRO site it does not guarantee that you will find all events since 1837 as mistakes were made or records lost, and in the early days people just did not register as they were supposed to. And even if an event was registered it still may be hard to find. One of my TAYLOR marriages is recorded at GRO as TAYTOR and I only found it through the wife's surname, which I got off a birth certificate. The information comes from the same source, GRO, but perhaps Find my Past have completed their transcription whereas FreeBMD haven't. Hope that helps Steve Dianadiluca@aol.com wrote: > Hi, > > Just a query - On Free BMD I thought if a marriage, birth or death can't be > found on there then the marriage didn't occur or the birth or death wasn't > registered. I thought it was a comprehensive record. Am I wrong? How is it > that Find My Past has different records? Do they get their information from > somewhere different? > > Thanks, > > Diana (confused from Romford) > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message > >

Hello Diana Freebmd is not a full transcription (yet) of all the records so some are missing. The records are being transcribed by a team of volunteers (and a thank you here for the wonderful job they are doing). If you take a look at this page http://www.freebmd.org.uk/progress.shtml you can see what periods have been covered. Hope this helps Best regards Heather Visit my Family Tree's at GOODWIN and GORDON http://heatherac.tribalpages.com CARBIS SPARROW ATTWOOLL http://carbissparrow.tribalpages.com JOLLIFFE MOULAND http://jolliffemouland.tribalpages.com/ --- On Tue, 30/12/08, Dianadiluca@aol.com <Dianadiluca@aol.com> wrote: Subject: Re: [Ess] Which subscription? Hi, Just a query - On Free BMD I thought if a marriage, birth or death can't be found on there then the marriage didn't occur or the birth or death wasn't registered. I thought it was a comprehensive record. Am I wrong? How is it that Find My Past has different records? Do they get their information from somewhere different? Thanks, Diana (confused from Romford)

I would agree with Caroline and choose Ancestry, to which I have been subscribed for a few years now. What I would add to Caroline's information is that you should be aware that there are two Ancestry sites to choose from. One is Ancestry.co.uk which covers just UK records. If you find your ancestors stayed put in the UK without ever emigrating then this part of Ancestry would be the better choice as it is cheaper than the fuller package at Ancestry.com. which has records for not only the UK but other countries, mostly the USA, too. It depends what sort of records you are after, if you want to find your families in all the UK census then it has to be Ancestry as they have all censuses from 1841-1901 and once you have bought a subscription there is no limit to the number of images you can view during that subscription period. This is useful if you are just starting out and need to find many families throughout the various censuses, especially if you have common names such as Smith, Brown or Jones etc. You have to be fairly flexible in your thinking at times with the indexing on ancestry, but then all transcribers should only copy down things as they see them and should never ever make guesses at what something should read as. This is how I see the indexing on Ancestry, it is indexed as it appeared to the transcribers/indexers. I have compared transcriptions of one or two of my families on both sites in the 1861 & 1871 censuses and found there is nothing to choose between them, they were transcribed exactly the same on both site. Ancestry also has the GRO index, as well as the FreeBMD trancription, up until fairly recent times, there is no limit to how many images of the GRO index you can view with your subscription. There are other resources on Ancestry that may be of interest to you. I occassionally buy a few units on findmypast as and when I need to look there but have never subscribed for any length of time as most of their resources are of no interest to me. It is personal needs really. As Caroline said FMP subscriptions will not cover the 1911 census, this will have to be paid for separately by pay per view units, to begin with at least. Have a look at the content of each site to see what they offer and of how much use you think those contents would be to you, then make your choice, only you can decide. Regards Jenny DeAngelis Spain. Caroline wrote. > So, if I had to stick my neck out, I would say subscribe to Ancestry, but > accept that it does not have everything you may need and be prepared to > spend elsewhere when necessary.

Hi Mike, Thanks for your reply. My couple aren't from Essex but as you have asked, the details are as follows: Ellen Marmont born 1887 Hastings Alfred Perry - nothing known about him The couple had a baby Alfred Peter in 1914 in Scarborough In 1915 they had James Frederick in Stoke Newington, Middlesex In 1918 they had Helen Beatrice in Stoke Newington In 1921 they had Muriel May in Stoke Newington All four children are named as Perry on their certificates - mother's maiden name named as Marmont. They lived in Stoke Newington until 1939 when they suddenly disappeared from 11 lordship Park, Stoke Newington. After that the trail goes cold. It would be great if somebody could find something about about this couple. Regards Diana

Planning a visit to Collingdale Newspaper Archives. Looking for details of a couple of deaths in 2004/5 one in Romford and the other in Walthamstow. Which newspapers are best for death notices and do they have a particular day of the week on which they are published. Advice welcome Howard LAVER (GOONS #3175)

>Have decided I really do need a subscription to one of the family history >sites and would like your recommendations. Which do you think represents >the best value for money, which has the widest range of info and which has >the best search facilities? Suspect I will get a lot of differing answers >but I would appreciate your input/experience. > They all offer the basics - censuses, BMD's etc, but they also each have other records such as parish registers etc. I think that you need to have a look to see what extra records eacy site offers that is applicable to your areas of research. For example, I've had a sub to 'The Genealogist' for a couple of years which I've been very happy with, and they do add keep adding new records frequently (although they did have their quota of transcription errors, as do all of them). However, I have exhausted the information they currently have, so I have just cancelled my coming years subscription in order to try one of the other sites that offers some different 'extra' records for a while in case I can find anything new. It certainly makes sense to take out a subcription though, rather than 'pay per view'. It will be interesting to see how my alternative site compares, although I'm not sure which one to go for; but as I said above, it will depend what extra records are most applicable to me. Ros

Hi all, Thanks for your kind replies. There's hope then that one particular couple may have married after all in the family tree I am researching. We always assumed that they didn't marry because no marriage can be found on Free BMD - although on the birth certificates of their children the mother is in the married name with maiden name mentioned. Wish we could find the marriage. It would help a lot to find out more about them! Regards Diana

In a message dated Tue, 30 Dec 2008 10:13:35 -0500 GMT Standard Time, "podnsod" _podnsod@comcast.net_ (mailto:podnsod@comcast.net) writes: If I had to make a choice it would be Ancestry.com. If all you want is UK records, Ancestry.co.uk is cheaper - if you sign up to Ancestry.com and add the UK files you will have to pay for the full worldwide package. DaveD I raise money for charity just by searching the web! www.everyclick.com is an internet search engine with a big difference - it donates half its revenues to charity, please support them too!

Can I ask why you prefer others over Ancestry? S-A -----Original Message----- From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Firebird Sent: 30 December 2008 13:12 To: Essex-UK@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Ess] Which subscription? Sally-Ann Jay wrote: > Have decided I really do need a subscription to one of the family history > sites and would like your recommendations. Which do you think represents > the best value for money, which has the widest range of info and which has > the best search facilities? Suspect I will get a lot of differing answers > but I would appreciate your input/experience. The only person who can decide that is you. Many people will recommend www.ancestry.co.uk but I don't. I prefer www.findmypast.com and www.familyrelatives.com but take out a one month sub to Ancestry when I need to. No single site has every database you are likely to need or want. Take a tour of all the available sites, see what they have available and, if necessary, buy the minumum amount of credits to see what the results of a search are like. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi, Just a query - On Free BMD I thought if a marriage, birth or death can't be found on there then the marriage didn't occur or the birth or death wasn't registered. I thought it was a comprehensive record. Am I wrong? How is it that Find My Past has different records? Do they get their information from somewhere different? Thanks, Diana (confused from Romford)

I have to correct myself and refer to Ancestry.co.uk of which I am subscribed. Sorry for the error. Shirley ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jenny DA" <jennyda@telefonica.net> To: "Caroline Bradford" <caroline.bradford@btinternet.com>; "'Sally-Ann Jay'" <sally-ann@chairwoman.plus.com>; <Essex-UK@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, December 30, 2008 1:02 PM Subject: Re: [Ess] Which subscription? >I would agree with Caroline and choose Ancestry, to which I have been > subscribed for a few years now. > > What I would add to Caroline's information is that you should be aware > that > there are two Ancestry sites to choose from. > > One is Ancestry.co.uk which covers just UK records. If you find your > ancestors stayed put in the UK without ever emigrating then this part of > Ancestry would be the better choice as it is cheaper than the fuller > package > at Ancestry.com. which has records for not only the UK but other > countries, > mostly the USA, too. > > It depends what sort of records you are after, if you want to find your > families in all the UK census then it has to be Ancestry as they have all > censuses from 1841-1901 and once you have bought a subscription there is > no > limit to the number of images you can view during that subscription > period. > This is useful if you are just starting out and need to find many families > throughout the various censuses, especially if you have common names such > as > Smith, Brown or Jones etc. > > You have to be fairly flexible in your thinking at times with the indexing > on ancestry, but then all transcribers should only copy down things as > they > see them and should never ever make guesses at what something should read > as. This is how I see the indexing on Ancestry, it is indexed as it > appeared to the transcribers/indexers. I have compared transcriptions of > one or two of my families on both sites in the 1861 & 1871 censuses and > found there is nothing to choose between them, they were transcribed > exactly > the same on both site. > > Ancestry also has the GRO index, as well as the FreeBMD trancription, up > until fairly recent times, there is no limit to how many images of the GRO > index you can view with your subscription. There are other resources on > Ancestry that may be of interest to you. > > I occassionally buy a few units on findmypast as and when I need to look > there but have never subscribed for any length of time as most of their > resources are of no interest to me. It is personal needs really. As > Caroline said FMP subscriptions will not cover the 1911 census, this will > have to be paid for separately by pay per view units, to begin with at > least. > > Have a look at the content of each site to see what they offer and of how > much use you think those contents would be to you, then make your choice, > only you can decide. > > Regards > Jenny DeAngelis > Spain. > > Caroline wrote. >> So, if I had to stick my neck out, I would say subscribe to Ancestry, but >> accept that it does not have everything you may need and be prepared to >> spend elsewhere when necessary. > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Sally-Ann Jay wrote: > Have decided I really do need a subscription to one of the family history > sites and would like your recommendations. Which do you think represents > the best value for money, which has the widest range of info and which has > the best search facilities? Suspect I will get a lot of differing answers > but I would appreciate your input/experience. The only person who can decide that is you. Many people will recommend www.ancestry.co.uk but I don't. I prefer www.findmypast.com and www.familyrelatives.com but take out a one month sub to Ancestry when I need to. No single site has every database you are likely to need or want. Take a tour of all the available sites, see what they have available and, if necessary, buy the minumum amount of credits to see what the results of a search are like.

All, I have been subscribed to Ancestry for many years now, and am always impressed with the site. You can get a 14 day trial, then sign up for a year, or just a month at a time; or just cancel the trial. I believe different people use it differently. If anyone has a subscription, and wants to do more than just look up their own relatives, I am always looking for transcriptions for the Essex & South East UK Pubs site. This now covers a little more than Essex, e.g. most of London, Kent, Suffolk, Hertfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Dorset, Sussex, and bits of Middlesex & Surrey. I have changed the search engines on the sites now, so that you can search by surname on all of the sites at the same time, e.g. for a surname. This does not just include Pubby people, as there are often lodgers, boarders and the like. If anybody ever wants to help out, has any non-copyright pictures to add, or anything of interest, i am always pleased to add to the site, i.e. here is the entry page - http://londonpublichouse.com/ ; although the site is now hosted on a few different sites. Best for the New Year, Kevan -----Original Message----- From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Michael Allbrook Sent: 30 December 2008 12:13 To: Essex-UK@rootsweb.com Subject: Re: [Ess] Which subscription? Why not contact them and ask for a trial sub. I have been using ancestry very happily but findmypast appear to have added a lot of data which is relevant to my interests Michael Allbrook

I am looking for any information on the FARRANT or FARRAND (or variant spellings)family whioh lived at Hempstead in the 16th and early 17th Centuries. I have a copy of the will for William Farrant (1603) who in 1599 sold some of his freehold including Back House Croft, Trinity land, Terry's land and Byrd's land. He held the land from his father Henry. His son William coninued to lease some of the property from John WESTLEY, to whom the freehold land was sold in 1599. Henry Farrand's father(?) was Stephen Farrand, who attended Cambridge between 1506 and 1531. He became rector of Wendon Parva and vicar of Great Chishall between 1522-1534. He later became rector of Kingham, Oxon and Aynho, Northants. Henry Farrand and both Williams also lived at Kingham, Oxon as well as at Hempstead. One of William Farrand's daughters (Pricislla, Susan or Diane?) married a Richard SELLONG. I'd be interested in any information on any FARRANDs at Hempstead or in the vicinity during that period or later. Also I would be intereested in any information regarding field names and property names at Hempstead. Do any field maps exist? Christopher Farrand

Why not contact them and ask for a trial sub. I have been using ancestry very happily but findmypast appear to have added a lot of data which is relevant to my interests Michael Allbrook -----Original Message----- From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Sally-Ann Jay Sent: 30 December 2008 11:06 To: Essex-UK@rootsweb.com Subject: [Ess] Which subscription? Hello list Have decided I really do need a subscription to one of the family history sites and would like your recommendations. Which do you think represents the best value for money, which has the widest range of info and which has the best search facilities? Suspect I will get a lot of differing answers but I would appreciate your input/experience. Regards Sally-Ann Jay To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Caroline Thanks - Most of my ancestors on the JAY side come from East London/Essex so far, so the London Metropolitan Archives would be good (another source not investigated so far!) S-A -----Original Message----- From: Caroline Bradford [mailto:caroline.bradford@btinternet.com] Sent: 30 December 2008 11:44 To: 'Sally-Ann Jay'; Essex-UK@rootsweb.com Subject: [!! SPAM] RE: [Ess] Which subscription? Hi Sally-Ann You are absolutely right that, unless you are absolutely determined to do your family history the "old fashioned way" - i.e. purely through using original sources in archives around the country (or even the world), you will need to use at least one of the commercial sites. And unless your requirements are very small indeed (and this is unlikely as family history is such an addictive pastime!), subscriptions are very much more cost-effective than pay-per-view units. So far, so uncontroversial (I hope!). But the choice of supplier is trickier, and does rather depend on the nature and scope of your particular research. It would probably be fair to say that Ancestry is the "market leader" in the field, and with some justification. They certainly have the largest collection of data (though it is probable that you may not need a good percentage of it). The quality of their indexing and transcription is, in my view, no better or worse than any other. But the flexibility of their search facilities is extremely good, and this is an important consideration - but you will get the best results by applying your brain to the exercise rather than relying on their dubious claims to find your ancestors for you based on typing in "as much as you know". If you have interests in the London area, you should be aware that Ancestry will be rolling out digitised data from parish registers at the London Metropolitan Archives starting at some point in 2009. FindMyPast has some good stuff too - as well as alternative census transcriptions which can sometimes be helpful, the facility to search by address in certain years, and the ability to use wildcards at the start of names. They will be the first site to provide access to the 1911 census, though to begin with at least this will only be on a pay per view basis on its dedicated site - a FMP subscription with not, I repeat, not, give unlimited access to the 1911 transcriptions and images when it is released early next year. The Genealogist is less comprehensive, but has a wide range of different subscription rates, which can be useful if you don't want to commit yourself for too long. They are also the only site which has the non-conformist registers available to subscribers - a very valuable resources if you have dissenters in your family. There are other useful sites (notably British Origins) where you may need to spend some time and money from time to time. So, if I had to stick my neck out, I would say subscribe to Ancestry, but accept that it does not have everything you may need and be prepared to spend elsewhere when necessary. Hope this helps Caroline -----Original Message----- From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Sally-Ann Jay Sent: 30 December 2008 11:06 To: Essex-UK@rootsweb.com Subject: [Ess] Which subscription? Hello list Have decided I really do need a subscription to one of the family history sites and would like your recommendations. Which do you think represents the best value for money, which has the widest range of info and which has the best search facilities? Suspect I will get a lot of differing answers but I would appreciate your input/experience. Regards Sally-Ann Jay ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message