RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => London and Middlesex => Topic started by: dedted29 on Saturday 17 April 10 15:27 BST (UK)
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I've been struggling with search features at a prominent subscription site where the standard search of country then county failed to show certain records such as London Birth & Baptisms, etc. for my families The majority of my standard searching was for records of family from Lambeth in Surrey or later London yet when I finally did navigate to the databases I was looking for to begin with I did find their records listed there. I was stumped until I discovered that the batches of St. Mary At Lambeth parish records I looked at are transcribed and stored as Middlesex County despite the pages clearly citing Surrey as the county. Using London didn't pull them up either. I live in the States but learned that Lambeth was part of Surrey until the late 1880's when it was transferred to the London Registration district and now the Greater London area. Am I Lost? Is there a Lambeth in Middlesex as well? Has Lambeth moved? ???
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Hi
No, in their "wisdom", Ancestry have lumped many places in London and the surrounding area under Middlesex. It is wrong, but there you go.
It must be very confusing if you don't know.
Kind regards
Gaie
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Thank you Gaie for the reply! Luckily I'm a stubborn researcher who has the time to look for alternate ways to a database, using very broad search parameters or even browse page by page within a database but most people do not have that time. New researchers will not only be confused and have greater difficulty locating records but their citations will be erroneous from the start as well. I wish the the London Archives and Guildhall had chosen a company that values the records and their customers as Ancestry does not.
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I wish the the London Archives and Guildhall had chosen a company that values the records and their customers as Ancestry does not.
Don't we all?
And those true words written by an American too ;D ;D ;D
Ancestry being an American company 'an all !
Carol
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I wish the the London Archives and Guildhall had chosen a company that values the records and their customers as Ancestry does not.
a little harsh on Ancestry, altho they are originally at fault. The Archive holders are supposed to sample the output with a view to overall verification.
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The boundary changes surrounding London in the period 1800 to 1965 is confusing, even to those like us who were born there :)