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Census Lookups General Lookups => Census and Resource Discussion => Topic started by: arabrab on Wednesday 07 November 12 12:54 GMT (UK)
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Not sure whether this has been posted elsewhere but Findmypast now has the newspaper archive as part of its package. More to come apparently
Barbara
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Brilliant - I knew they were coming as I had an e-mail some time about them. Now to see if I can break down my brick wall.
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Thanks for this! Unfortunately it's not really coping at the moment - timing out or just very very slow.
Anne
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Yes . The search seems to be more accurate than The British Newspaper Archive and has thrown up some extra names of mine. Which seems strange as they are both owned by Bright Solid. But as you say it is running very slowly at the moment.
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The search timed out for me.
It looks too name oriented for me - I do a lot more searching for places, address, pubs etc than people's names.
However, if it settles down and can cope with demand it could save me a subscription to BNA - which I won't complain about.
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I tried to access records as I have a subscription, I was told my results were witheld as demand was high. As I hadn't even received one good result I was not happy!!
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I tried it earlier today but I think it was already having problems as there was a banner saying server error and the results did not load properly.
I also found the search a lot less accurate than BNA as there was nowhere to make an exact search so was getting tens of thousands of results, but maybe this was due to overload problems as everyone was trying to use it at the same time! ???
Also I could find no way of downloading the image to my PC other than using the snipping tool and pasting it into paint but when I saved it the image ended up tiny unless I enlarged it before saving.
I'm going to leave it a few days and hopefully some of these problems will have been resolved
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I managed to see a few things earlier on today (thanks for the info arabrab), before it all got overloaded and ground to a halt. I think this happened to the search sites when the 1911 census was first released. No doubt it will settle down after a few days :)
Also I could find no way of downloading the image to my PC other than using the snipping tool and pasting it into paint but when I saved it the image ended up tiny unless I enlarged it before saving.
When you have got the image, go into
File (at the top of the screen)
Save page as
You should be able to save it as a .pdf file
Linda
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I managed to view a few snippets earlier, but when I tried to open a specific result further, it said there was an error. As others have said I think there are too many people trying to use it at present.
Glad to see newspapers up to 1950 can be accessed too, that will help with some queries I hope (not brick walls, I think that might be too much to ask for).
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Thanks for the instructions Danuslave but that was the problem...there wasn't anything at the top of the page!
Obviously FindMyPast are having some teething problems, hopefully it will settle down over the coming days.
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Not the page from FindMyPast - the browser screen
This is it on Firefox (top LH corner - nearly visible!)
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Glad to see newspapers up to 1950 can be accessed too,
I doubt there will be many that recent - most of the scanning has concentrated on the 1800s. They still have many millions of pages to go before they have the complete BL collection digitised (if their initial estimate was accurate they are about 10-12% done).
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Interestingly, when you find something interesting and click on view, you can see a page where the beginning of an article appears and then lower down an image of the appropriate page. It is surrounded by a frame which has Download Image and a down arrow, also previous page, Page x of x, and next page as is usual with searches. However, if you click on Download Image, it tries to download an A4 PDF image, but that doesn't work, it just brings up an error box showing "format error, not a PDF or corrupted". Whether the words Download Image around the image is a misleading title or whether it's just not working I don't know. What I do know is that the newspaper images are not very clear.
Lizzie
ps. newburychap :'(
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LizzieW ...Funnily enough the day the British Newspaper Archive launched it had similar teething problems with images not downloading, blurred or links not working....I ended up loosing all the credits I had purchased as there was no point in trying to download anything.....I contacted the company twice via the email address posted on their page but they never responded so I was not very impressed.
However I have used it since with no problems so I am guessing its going to take a while for FindMyPast to iron out the wrinkles.
Danuslave....thanks for the snip...I do use Firefox but didn't try using file. Will have to investigate if its the same. for me
Added: Just checked and realised my Firefox header doesn't look like yours! However I have managed to save a page as a pdf
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Have managed to do a search on FindMyPast - same results as with BNA (not a surprise). The FindMyPast image is the pdf you can download from BNA - not as high quality as the on screen images from BNA, but perfectly legible in the few I've tried.
Far to biassed towards a name search but I have put a pub name into the name boxes and the search worked reasonably well. Too many results because it doesn't tie the forename and surname together as a phrase.
I prefer the BNA but will find it hard to justify renewing both subscriptions.
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You can now see newspapers on FindMyPast, although the system is crashing tonight as we all go searching!
There is a PDF showing the newspapers available with dates. Looks like the British Library collection which is also managed on line by Brightsolid
Topics merged
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Hi,
I was very excited to hear this news and joined the world and it's wife searching for information last night....which didn't work too well!
Today, the search produces results and the images are clear I think they're clearer than on BNA but I'm having trouble downloading.
Also, having a major problem after using the filter option and trying to turn to page 2, 3 or whatever. It decides to go back to the unfiltered results...so you never get past page 1.
I think when they sort out the teething troubles it's going to be brilliant and I've already found more information about an ancestor than I managed on BNA....for no extra fee as it's included in my membership instead of pay as you go with BNA.
Best wishes HL
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I have been able to download successfully this afternoon, in PDF format.
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I am finding this very frustrating :(
I entered just Clulo, one of my family names. I was told there were 500 plus results. When I tried to refine them to Manchester papers, I could not clck in the relevant boxes. Also I downloaded the image for one result put 'Clulo' in the 'Find' box result, not found!
I need some very precise, one step at a time instructions on how to use this information :o
Kooky
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I have a yearly sub to Find My Past but when using this today it took 5 off my credits off me, does a yearly sub not cover this ?
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Must admit, I could not find under the name I was searching, (but it was italicised in the article) I knew someone elses name that appeared in the same article, searched on that and it came up immediately. So yes, a bit of refinement necessary.
I have a sub and didn't have any problems, I also have 3 credits from when I used the PAYG system bu that was not affected
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Cheers, I'll drop them a email....
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I think it depends on whether you have a Britain Foundation or Britain Full subscription, apart from GRO Indexes and Census, everything else isn't included in a Foundation Subscription.
Like Mavals, I've some credits remaining from previous PAYG and they've not been touched but I do have a Britain Full subscription.
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I used it yesterday and although I have a sub I also have 5 credits from way back when FindMyPast used to give you credits for notifying them of a mistranscription, (although what I'm supposed to do with those credits is another thing) but like Mavals I didn't have any problems with searches.
My problem was that having find an article I wanted to check out, I couldn't read it when I clicked on view. I tried enlarging the image but that made it less clear. I'll try again today and then look for the same image on 19thC newspapers, which I can view via my library card. If it's still difficult to read but the one on 19thC newspapers isn't, I'll send them an e-mail.
Lizzie
Modified I just did a random search and opened an article it is working perfectly now. ;D
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My problem was that having find an article I wanted to check out, I couldn't read it when I clicked on view. I tried enlarging the image but that made it less clear. I'll try again today and then look for the same image on 19thC newspapers, which I can view via my library card. If it's still difficult to read but the one on 19thC newspapers isn't, I'll send them an e-mail.
I found even on the BNA site when I paid for a week's subs earlier in the year that some of the articles weren't very clear to read.
The search engine is even poorer than the one on the main site though, I've tried some search terms that I brought up a few articles on the main site but ended up with several hundred! It also doesn't like some surnames, tried Fennings (of which there are some articles) and got everything under the sun included Fen. But then it did that on the BNA site.::)
I could try emailing them about it but in the past I've never found them very helpful when you queried something not working properly. ::)
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I could try emailing them about it but in the past I've never found them very helpful when you queried something not working properly
Oh I've always found FindMyPast staff very helpful.
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Have to agree with Lizzie and please persevere because in the past I have FindMyPast staff some of the most helpful and friendly.
Tried yesterday evening to do some searching on one the counties that has coverage but it was so frustrating I am going to leave it a week or so till things have calmed down and the site works a bit better.
Well that's the plan anyway. ::)
Kerry
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I finally managed to get in first thing & was able to get some articles relating to OH's family where there's a very unusual surname - still got some other stuff due to OCR misreads I suppose. When I started on more common names I hit the problem others mentioned that it isn't treating the name as a whole so John Smith gives results for Smith, John, John Thomas Smith, Smith Road etc etc.
As others have also said the "refinements" don't stick beyond the first page of results. I had one where after the refinement to one paper I went from 400+ to 60+ results - got to page 2 of these & back to 400+. I did find by then selecting the same paper I got the next batch from that paper - had to do it 7 times to see all the results. Some tweaking (at the very least) would improve things!
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it isn't treating the name as a whole
That's because (implicitly) you're not asking it to :)
Try one of these in the search field
"John Smith"
'John Smith'
John+Smith
Hopefully one (or more) of them will work
Linda
Retired computer programmer :)
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I suppose it's because it's asking for first name and surname as in other searches, so I suppose we should just be putting John Smith in the surname box. There is a box to put another word, so for instance you could look for John Smith, death. The problem arises if it can't find the newspaper you want. For instance I was looking for Lancaster and it kept giving me Preston newspapers - although there is a Lancaster paper and sometimes it showed results from that paper too.
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It works better if you put "first name surname" in the keyword box (with the quotes), I've even managed to get it to almost always give me entries for Fennings rather than everything beginning with Fen. ;)
Just wish it wouldn't reset everything most times when you hit the refine button. ::) Perhaps I'm being too picky since at least haven't had to purchase an additional subscription to access them. Mind you I've found some BMD announcements that have been useful. ;D
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Well, I'm blowed. Having seen this thread this morning I (thanks Barbara) I just logged on to look out of curiosity.
Until I searched with the fairly unusual name of my great great grandfather in Kent, I had his death date in 1874 but absolutely no idea that he, a respected local farmer, managed to drown in 18" of water on the way home from the local hostelry after, I quote, "becoming rather excited over the election, though still perfectly sensible". Even more fascinating was the rider that it was the same spot where he had fallen in 2 years before - but on that occasion he'd managed to pull himself out. And there was me under the impression that branch of the family was totally temperence.
The family certainly kept that one quiet...
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It works better if you put "first name surname" in the keyword box (with the quotes), I've even managed to get it to almost always give me entries for Fennings rather than everything beginning with Fen.
Thanks smudwhisk :) I'd overlooked the fact that you have to fill in specific fields! I was thinking of something more general like searching on google
Linda
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Interesting: the search system has much reduced options compared to the Newspaper Archive website. I wonder why?
Perhaps an approach could be to outflank FindMyPast - do the initial searching on the Newspaper Archive site, then when you know what you are looking for, move to FindMyPast?
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It works better if you put "first name surname" in the keyword box (with the quotes), I've even managed to get it to almost always give me entries for Fennings rather than everything beginning with Fen.
Thanks smudwhisk :) I'd overlooked the fact that you have to fill in specific fields! I was thinking of something more general like searching on google
Linda
It's also worth limiting the search using a specific county and/or date range. ;)
I've managed this evening to prove that my Aunt's ancestor was the one convicted of horse stealing in Berkshire in 1847 even though at the time he was living in Middlesex. ;D Got even better 'cos one of the articles mentioned him disappearing to Brighton and having to be brought back. Mentioned his son in law (well step son in law) which gave the game away. Both of us always thought it was him but couldn't prove it. ;D Mind you managed to find out about a court case from one of the horse stealers cousins in Carmarthen in 1884 which I'd known about for some time and that the defendents were acquitted, but now got all the juicy details and he certainly lived up to the reputation of that family I can say. :D
It has it's frustrations, such as having to use the up and down arrows to navigate around the image (unless you download the full page which is easy to navigate round), but am having some fun.
Nicola
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It works better if you put "first name surname" in the keyword box (with the quotes),J
Thanks for that tip. I'd been using the boxes & not thinking laterally :( though as Danuslave suggested am well used to using the "" method elsewhere.
Adding - just tried this with "Thomas surname" & still got a lot of other Thomases, so doesn't seem effective - just wish I'd a few more unusual names......
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Will try it at the library next week
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It works better if you put "first name surname" in the keyword box (with the quotes),J
Thanks for that tip. I'd been using the boxes & not thinking laterally :( though as Danuslave suggested am well used to using the "" method elsewhere.
Adding - just tried this with "Thomas surname" & still got a lot of other Thomases, so doesn't seem effective - just wish I'd a few more unusual names......
Further tries with a particular firstname/surname combination & no other refinements - using the names boxes 194514 results; using "" to enclose the names in the keyword box 70 results - some which were one or other of the names but a lot less than with the name boxes. So thanks again to Smudwhisk as it is a definite improvement even if something is not quite working the way it should.
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Finally managed to isolate the first of all the references 8)
It became much clearer when I had downloaded the page.
I had entered William Clulo 1880, because that was all I could see properly. William was my 2xgt gr father, a glassmaker, died1884.
The snippet was at the extreme left of the page, on the top 2 lines.
It read -"Shakespeare Lodge - Brother William Clulo. Posponed until Saturday July 17th"
This was in the M/c Evening News Mon. 28th June 1880.
What does this mean? Was he a Mason or an Oddfellow? How can I discover more?
My mother always used to tell me that my grandfather was an Oddfellow, but I could never find any proof of this.
Kooky
or was it the BUFFALOES? ???
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It works better if you put "first name surname" in the keyword box (with the quotes),J
Thanks for that tip. I'd been using the boxes & not thinking laterally :( though as Danuslave suggested am well used to using the "" method elsewhere.
Adding - just tried this with "Thomas surname" & still got a lot of other Thomases, so doesn't seem effective - just wish I'd a few more unusual names......
Yes I have the same problem with the surnames Read and Pledge, even if I limit to county and date range and add a place in the keyword box with the surname. I think I shall have to search for them including a first name in quotes with the surname. ::)
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It read -"Shakespeare Lodge - Brother William Clulo. Posponed until Saturday July 17th"
This was in the M/c Evening News Mon. 28th June 1880.
What does this mean? Was he a Mason or an Oddfellow? How can I discover more?
My mother always used to tell me that my grandfather was an Oddfellow, but I could never find any proof of this.
Kooky
or was it the BUFFALOES? ???
Kooky - I just Googled "Shakespeare Lodge" + Manchester and the results indicate it was part of the Oddfellows (Manchester Unity) - they seem to have some online archives:
http://www.oddfellows.co.uk/Site/Content/Gen_Content.aspx?contentID=4d937b78-25f3-48bb-92e6-bfaa46b534d1
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Thanks for that!
I joined up for a free trial. Entered William Clulo - no results!
I have e-mailed, asking for suggestions 8)
Kooky
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Thanks for the link to Oddfellows mshrmh, I have at least one cousin who was a member!
I have searched the FindMyPast newspapers last night, no problem and have a lot more names to go ;D
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Had a reply re William Clulo.
Have given him more detail as requested. He said he would investigate further!
Kooky
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Afraid though Surrey Libraries have FindMyPast subscription obviously this does not included the Newspaper subscription
Grr....
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Do they not have a separate subscription to the British library collection? My local library does
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YEs but this omits the British Newspaper Archive now on find my past
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I have been trying the newspaper archives on FindMyPast and the pages downloaded were not the ones in the preview. Good thing I have a subscription, could be expensive on pay as you go.
Salvia
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I have been trying the newspaper archives on FindMyPast and the pages downloaded were not the ones in the preview.
Salvia
I have noticed this as well, I can't see a way to report it either.
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I have been trying the newspaper archives on FindMyPast and the pages downloaded were not the ones in the preview.
Salvia
I have noticed this as well, I can't see a way to report it either.
I found this with a few on the main BNA site when I'd taken out a week's subscription. It didn't happen on many but I've noticed one since it became available on FindMyPast.
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I have been trying the newspaper archives on FindMyPast and the pages downloaded were not the ones in the preview. Good thing I have a subscription, could be expensive on pay as you go.
Salvia
I found the same thing yesterday - the report I wanted was in a section that ran to the next page - the bit I was looking for was on that second page, but I couldn't find a way to download that page. I did another search for an item that was on the second page, but outside the highlighted area that continued from the previous page and then tried a download from that - still got the first page. I ended up doing a screen print & cropping out the section in Paint (on XP so don't have the snipping tool of Windows 7). Frustrating!
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I too have found this problem, the article you want comes up on the search and then when you download it's the wrong page. And I did "print screen", but I just pasted it into Word, and cropped and saved from there.......... seems to be ok, the image is good enough for research.
Perhaps we ought to report these blips, but on the whole I have enjoyed trawling around. Found my parents marriage photo and the report, which was nice to see, even though I have most of the information
Anne
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Some good search technique advice on the Lost Cousins newsletter:
http://www.lostcousins.com/newsletters/midnov12news.htm