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

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

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.

Jenny DA wrote: > What I would add to Caroline's information is that you should be aware that > there are two Ancestry sites to choose from. There's also Ancestry Australia which I've used for convict ancestors and Ancestry Canada as well. I could use Ancestry AU before I could use Ancestry UK. They all offer different databases.

Ancestry.co.uk because it gives access to all of the UK censuses that are available and (nearly) all of the BMD records. In my opinion its VFM just can not be beat. Slarti Sally-Ann Jay wrote: > 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 > >

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

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.

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

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.