Hi all,
This post is not to complain about Ancestry.Com but merely to purge the pent up frustration I am currently feeling.
I've been a subscriber now for about twenty months and have obtained loads of useful information from them. Being a south Wales lad I have many family connections in Monmouthshire, especialy the valley areas. When the 1871 census began to appear on Ancestry about the time my subscription was due for renewal I thought, yes another year will be well worth the cost to find all those ancestors in 1871.
Through the summer I waited, and waited and waited. I would log on to be greeted by the message: Monmouthshire coming soon! Okay, patience is a virture as the old saying goes, so I waited.
Through the autumn I expectantly log on, Monmouthshire coming soon! greets me with its usual reminder. Still, cannot be long now surely, but lo and behold I log on one day and what has appeared overnight? Only the complete 1881 census
Did not expect that, but hey, a great bonus nevertheless, will give me plenty to do whilst waiting for Monmouthshire 1871 although I have gleaned most of what I needed from the 1881 from LDS.
Come December and Ancestry promises: Monmouthshire coming soon! and by now I am beginning to think, yeah so is The Apocalypse but we don't know when that will be either.
Then this week I log on thinking, well, must be coming in the new year. But no, there in the list of counties,
Monmouthshire in bright blue letters. At last, patience is indeed a virtue.
I enter details into the search engine with a contented smile on my face, even the piece number, folio and page number.... I was finally going to see the actual census record of these much searched for ancestors.
I click the search button with anticipation and a list of people appear. I scroll through them, but hang on, where's my ancestor? These people are nothing to do with me: wrong age, wrong address, wrong area. What's going on? Come on, i've given you the correct information, give me my ancestor!
So I try the search again, no positive results. There is something not quite right here I tell myself, I go and look at the parish I need and I find only three districts listed for the parish. That's odd, the 1881 and 1891 have eight districts listed, the 1871 has been culled, its now three
I check the description of the now famous three enumeration districts, and yes you've guessed it, mine and quite a few more are not there. Well, i'm crestfallen. Months and months and months of waiting, Ancestries census page just might as well say: Monmouthshire is Here! (Except the part pritch is looking for)
I've e-mailed Ancestry for their explanation, hope to get an answer in the next four weeks, it is Christmas though, better make that six weeks.
Boy, am I unlucky. Seriously though, i'm not knocking Ancestry (well maybe just a little) they have given me good value in the past twenty months. I just needed to vent my frustration after such a disappointment.
Seasons Greetings to all fellow Rootschatters
Keep Smiling
pritch19
