Ian, Yes, I can see your point. For someone who only wants a couple records, ancestry.com is expensive. And in the US, vital records are not centralized, so there is no central database. We have to contact states and local governments individually for that information. My only connection to Scotland at this point is a woman who emigrated in 1836 to the US, so I am looking more at older records. But it does seem that you can breeze through 30 credits in no time, and just be getting oriented to what you may need to look for! For lengthier research, I guess the solution is to order the census microfilm through the LDS library. Holly > -----Original Message----- > From: IACSCOTT@aol.com [mailto:IACSCOTT@aol.com] > Sent: Friday, March 04, 2005 3:04 PM > To: MORAY-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [MORAY] ScotlandsPeople > > Hi Holly > > As I see it you are not comparing like for like. Scotlandspeople allows > you > full access to the registers for Births Marriages and Deaths post 1855 > subject > to the restrictions of 100 years for Births, 75 for Marriages and 50 for > Deaths. It has Census images for 1891 and 1901 and the index for the 1881 > with > the 1841, 1851, 1861, and 1871 projected to follow this year. In addition > the > Old Parish records, some dating back to 1553, can be searched and images > of > those are also in the pipeline. > > I have subscribed to Ancestry.com but have yet to find access to Births, > Marriages and Deaths in the USA. I have used it to look at the 1930 Census > for > the only relative I had who emigrated to USA and found him and his family > but > in relative terms it was expensive. > > It all depends on what you are looking for, and how much, whether or not > $100 is costly. > > Ian A C Scott

> My only connection to > Scotland at this point is a woman who emigrated in 1836 to the US, > so I > am > looking more at older records. > But it does seem that you can breeze through 30 credits in no time, > and > just > be getting oriented to what you may need to look for! For lengthier > research, I guess the solution is to order the census microfilm > through the > LDS library. For any research before 1855, using the IGI and ordering the microfilm is a cheaper and better option, because (for example) you can look at other people's baptisms and marriages in case your folk might have been witnesses, and you can copy all of a family from the same film at no extra charge (assuming they are there, of course). You only need the pre-1855 stuff on SP if you cannot find it using the IGI and microfilms. It's after 1855 that SP really comes into its own - and it wins by a mile. Apart from one US state, there doesn't seem to be anywhere that you can view a complete index and then download images of certificates at a modest additional charge. Everywhere else you have to send away for the certificate. GBP6.50 in England and Wales A$10 in Australia, NZ$30 in New Zealand, I believe?? Once you've found the right one in the SP indexes it costs peanuts to get the certificate by comparison - and you get it instantly. And how much do you have to pay for a certificate in the USA - assuming that you are allowed to buy one at all? Sure, I'd like to be able to have a season ticket for SP. But in the meantime it beats everywhere else hands down. Anne