Frustrated Ancestry.Com Subscriber

[pritch19]

If it takes as long as some parts of the 1871 newbie, you are going to be waiting a long time 

pritch

[nellie d]

With reference to what Tewin said...
I want to get on to one of these subscription sites such as Ancestry or Origins but which site to choose as regards best value
Basically I want census info - British Isles...(maybe Ireland, but from my understanding a lot of Irish records were destroyed...so maybe it's not much good for that)
and the usual B, M and D.
If I sign up for the 2 weeks Ancestry free trial, does that give you a choice as to which subscription to take out once the 2 weeks are up? I see that you can get a subscription for about $199 which gives you U.S. info or $99 for British stuff?

 
Any ideas

Nellie

[AngelaR]

Hi Nellie

I have no experience of Origins, but as far as Ancestry is concerned I have found my year's subscription very useful in order to get census info on all my ancestors from 1871 to 1901.

I don't have many ancestors in Wales though, so the only bits now missing for me are some chunks of 1901 which I've filled in from the government site, which has a better index anyway.

I doubt if I shall renew at the end of the year, but that is because, prior to 1871, my ancestors didn't move about much, so buying census images for a few single counties on CD provides pretty well all I need on that score and there are some very good ones about. (I'm particularly enthusiastic about Gordon Beavington's although he only has 1851 and a few 1891's at present)

As for BMD - Ancestry only has what FreeBMD does, apart from deaths after about 1984 and I've only found that useful once. I've found 1837online most useful to fill in the gaps from FreeBMD.

Ancestry also has quite a few other databases in their UK collection but I've never found anyone in any of them.

I think, if you do a trial subscription, that you have to carry on with the one you started if you carry on at all, rather than change to another one.

Hope this helps - I don't know how typical my experience is, but that's it  - it was very useful indeed for a limited period but only for censuses

Regards

Angela

[Tewin]

Hi Nellie,

I see that Origins now has some Dublin census records, if you're interested in Ireland, and 1837online has just started to publish 1861 census records. London, Kent, Middlesex and Surrey are already online.

Cheers,

Tewin

[sandie]

I admit Ancestry is a great site with lots of info. but am I the only one slightly put out by their new subscription options.
I originally subscribed to Ancestry.com and have happily been researching on their site until last September.  One evening I was a paid subscriber, the next I wasn't.  No warning, nothing.  I checked my subscription and realised it had run out, but why hadn't they just continued it as they had previously?  Why, because you can no longer pay a monthly subscription fee.  I know it's worth the money, but I can't afford one payment every quarter, I could however jiggle things to make the monthly one, and as for the pay to view, this would be fine if you knew the references or were looking for an unusual name etc., but what if you're looking for a 'John Smith' born in a five year time span, what's the chances of you getting the right one within 20 hits?
Sorry about all that, have had a bad day, had to cancel a visit to local studies library at last minute and had to take it out on someone - I feel a lot better now!
Sandie

[Paul E]

I agree with Hack's earlier statement that half a loaf is better than none, and I can't conceive of a period before internet-based access to census data - the time and energy that must have been involved hardly bears thinking about.

Nevertheless, we do come across some pretty shoddy indexing on Ancestry.  I have seen enough images to realise that the transcriber's job is not an easy one.  But surely common sense would tell you that the following may not be wholly accurate:

Name: James Howarth
Age in 1871: 520

By my estimate that puts James' year of birth around 1351.  I bet he could tell a tale or two!

Perhaps some of the indexes could do with a good scrub!

Paul

[Paul E]

James, however, is a meer 'whippersnapper' compared to Isaac Bankard from Norfolk,  who at 890 in 1871 would have been a great source for information on the dark ages - if only his memory didn't let him down.

PS

Obviously, Ancestry does provide plenty of opportunities for diversion!

[Tariana]

to be quite honest, I think anyone who can afford ancestry.com or any subscription is lucky. I'm a college student, so my income is.. well, what income? lol, also I DO NOT use credit cards online.

[Susan41]

In recent months a number of Family History Libraries have obtained subscriptions to Ancestry.com and made it available free of charge to their patrons. I know only about USA but check and see if that is happening in England and elsewhere also.

Susan41