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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: Wulfsige on Tuesday 24 October 23 12:25 BST (UK)
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If it is acceptable to ask this question, I'd be grateful for some advice. I subscribed to FindMypast and to MyHeritage for a trial year, and soon I need to decide which one to remain with and on which to end the subscription. My research only concerns Britain. I asked for the same advice on the 'ancestry discussion' Facebook group (which has no connection with ancestry.co.uk), but admin refused to post it, yet offered no explanation that I could find for declining the request. (A message came later saying that advice would be subjective.) Thing is, my research has reached a point up to which findmypast and myheritage have both been helpful, but (a) two subscriptions are costly and (b) I have reached a point at which I need to dig more deeply into on-line resources (such as these sites) as well as paying for travel and accom to county record offices as far apart as Durham and Somerset, so prior advice - however subjective - would be valuable. I shall be grateful for any suggestions.
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I know nothing about My Heritage, so I am unable to comment on that site.
I have had a FindMyPast subscription for a number of years and am very satisfied with it. My main interest is in English records and I do like the fact that there are new records and/or additions every week. There is also access to newspapers, again with additions every week. I also have a yearly subscription to Ancestry UK and find that site helpful as well, with additional records added regularly.
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I had to make the same decision as you quite a long time ago.
At the time findmypast did not provide images of, or provide records of, all the areas where my ancestors lived, thus I do not have a tree on, or subscribe to, that website.
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Like BumbleB I have no experience of MyHeritage, so cannot comment on that. I subscribe to Findmypast, the Genealogist and Ancestry.
I always suggest looking at the list of holdings on each site, then choose the one that has the most records pertaining to the ares of your research. None of them will provide all the records you want.
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Don't forget that many public libraries offer free access to Ancestry and/or FindMyPast on library computers; or that for some counties quite a lot can be found for free at FamilySearch.
Also remember family history societies and their publications and online databases. Their transcripts are generally produced with a lot more care and local knowledge than the ones that have been done for the major pay sites.
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Also remember family history societies and their publications and online databases.
Hmmm... that sounds good. I hadn't thought of that. Maybe join the Somerset FHS and the Gwent FHS, the two counties where my studies are concentrated from about 1720 to 1930. Thank you.
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I have subs to both and use them for different reasons.
I've been with FindMyPast since it was launched as 1837 Online many years ago. It has added to its collection over the years and I think it is the best site for British records (esp. Welsh).
I joined My Heritage primarily for DNA analysis and don't use their collections very often. It was a great help with US info and a range of European collections (but see Family Search)
This is a link to their collections to see if they are of use to you.
https://www.myheritage.com/research/catalog?s=515642581
I also use many other online collections - Family Search, Scotland People, the Irish sites, Varios counties national archives, etc, etc. add - also Durham Recods Online
Gadget
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I also use many other online collections - Family Search, ...
Yes, I make good use of Family Search, assuming we mean the same thing. It's free, if we are talking of the same one, and has proven interesting and useful.
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Yes, I make good use of Family Search, assuming we mean the same thing. It's free, if we are talking of the same one, and has proven interesting and useful.
I meant the whole list that I gave plus many others :D
Gadget
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PS
Comparing just the two that you asked about, I would always choose FindMyPast over My Heritage.
Gadget
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In making a decison, if you find one seems to have more useful records than others, have a deeper look to see if it covers the years and places you want, and check the number of records it holds.
In the past I have found that although the record set seemed like it would be useful for the area I was researching, but wondering why I wasn’t getting the results I expected, after looking into it, they only held minimal numbers of records.
This was years ago (and things would have improved since then) so I can’t offer specific examples, but I hope that make sense.
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I'm not ssure but it seems that the My Heritage chromosome browser has been wothdrawn/vanished/removed ??
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=877563.0
Gadget
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I meant the whole list that I gave plus many others :D
Gadget
Hitherto I have used ancestry (my daughter subscribes), findmypast, myheritage, dustydocs, familysearch, freereg, freebmd, your-family-history.com (for the maps). Most of course are free; my question relates to which subscription I should decline to renew: the decision must be made within a few days. The weight of opinion suggests I should retain FindMyPast and close MyHeritage.
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There seem to be various random problems with My Heritage at the moment. If they continue, I shall unsubscribe to it.
I did say FindMyPast was my preferred option:
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Comparing just the two that you asked about, I would always choose FindMyPast over My Heritage.
Gadget
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Comparing just the two that you asked about, I would always choose FindMyPast over My Heritage.
Gadget
Yes: your advice was part of the weight of preference for FindMyPast. Many thanks.
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Hi, I have been in the same boat. I went with Findypast. Myheritage was "OK". I did not use their DNA system or to run a tree. I have also take a subscription with Ancestry but may not continue it once that expires, at the moment, it assists with my DNA research. I use Familytreedna for my research into yDna etc. I use many other online tools such as FreeBMD, FreeReg, Durhamrecordsonline etc etc
I have found that Familysearch can be of help, but is messy for me. The ONLY tree site i trust is Wikitree, so many others are error laden. If it helps, I have just renewed for Findmypast, but cancelled myheritage......
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Hi, I have been in the same boat. I went with Findypast. Myheritage was "OK". I did not use their DNA system or to run a tree. I have also take a subscription with Ancestry but may not continue it once that expires, at the moment, it assists with my DNA research. I use Familytreedna for my research into yDna etc. I use many other online tools such as FreeBMD, FreeReg, Durhamrecordsonline etc etc
I have found that Familysearch can be of help, but is messy for me. The ONLY tree site i trust is Wikitree, so many others are error laden. If it helps, I have just renewed for Findmypast, but cancelled myheritage......
"When I were a lad" as they say, Biology was one of my worst subjects, though I did get a Grade C (or was it 3?) in General Science O Level. (Chemistry was even more impenetrable.) This means that though I have had a DNA test with two of the sites, and uploaded them wherever I can, and although I get notified of many matches, I can never made head nor tail of it all.
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My primary use of findmypast, Ancestry, familysearch etc etc is for research to gather family data as I build my family "tree/s" and not for my DNA research. The DNA info is quite new for me and I am still trying to understand how to make use of it where surnames do not match etc.
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I have just finished a Three Month subscription to Find My Past and in that time I extracted all the information I wanted. I did not find it a particularly useful site to belong to, the filtering is poor and the Newspapers simply did not provide the results that I knew where available online elsewhere. They are a miserly company who only give minor discounts and certainly IMO they do not provide VFM. I had a long conversation with a sales rep who could only offer the 15% discount and they failed to see that a £100 subscription is fair and reasonable, hence I will not be returning to FindMyPast.
My Heritage, I have a one year subscription which I only took out for DNA and for the DNA tools that they have, searching and the hints I find poor. This subscription will not be renewed.
Ancestry works for us. We have been with them since 2012 and the sheer size of their DNA database means that it is the Must Have site if you are going to take a DNA test as theirs is in reality the Industry Standard. My annual Worldwide subscription is only £89 and I believe a UK only can be found for about £60/65 via the available discounts.
If you have not done so then I suggest that you look to have your Family Tree on software such as Roots Magic, Family Historian or Family Tree Maker.
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:o Crikey Biggles you have a Worldwide Ancestry annual sub for only £89! Mine is £179.99 :-\
CD
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:o Crikey Biggles you have a Worldwide Ancestry annual sub for only £89! Mine is £179.99 :-\
CD
There are a few chats in the Common Room about Ancestry discounts after your subscription expires, such as
www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=832955.msg7418262#msg7418262
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Also remember family history societies and their publications and online databases.
Hmmm... that sounds good. I hadn't thought of that. Maybe join the Somerset FHS and the Gwent FHS, the two counties where my studies are concentrated from about 1720 to 1930. Thank you.
Is there a FHS that has meetings near where you live, even if this isn't an area where you have ancestors, as by going along to their meetings (or over zoom if they do that) you will learn lots about how to do family history - it's not all online - and how others have solved brickwalls etc.
Is there a U3A family history group local to you as talking to others can give you ideas of how to progress.
Also have a look at the Family History Federation Explore Your Genealogy site as there are some useful leads in some of the articles there, and the site will continue to grow:
http://exploreyourgenealogy.com/
And sign up for the free FHF monthly email newsletter the Really Useful Bulletin https://www.exploreyourgenealogy.co.uk/bulletins
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Also remember family history societies and their publications and online databases.
Hmmm... that sounds good. I hadn't thought of that. Maybe join the Somerset FHS and the Gwent FHS, the two counties where my studies are concentrated from about 1720 to 1930. Thank you.
Is there a FHS that has meetings near where you live, even if this isn't an area where you have ancestors, as by going along to their meetings (or over zoom if they do that) you will learn lots about how to do family history - it's not all online - and how others have solved brickwalls etc.
Is there a U3A family history group local to you as talking to others can give you ideas of how to progress.
Also have a look at the Family History Federation Explore Your Genealogy site as there are some useful leads in some of the articles there, and the site will continue to grow:
http://exploreyourgenealogy.com/
And sign up for the free FHF monthly email newsletter the Really Useful Bulletin https://www.exploreyourgenealogy.co.uk/bulletins
Some good ideas here. Thank you.