ANCESTRY yet again!

[Phodgetts]

Glad it's not just me  ......... vote with your feet, I am  . What are the alternatives?

Philip

[O1dgobbo]

Hi

For England and Wales, the main competition comes from Findmypast.  Unfortunately there are gaps in the FindMyPast census records so it is a balance between a different (better?) transcription on FindMyPast with the risk of missing someone for lack of data or continue with Ancestry, which should have a complete set of images albeit concealed behind some strange transcription and search procedures.

Otherwise, it's back to the pencil and paper and long days in the relevant record offices or peering at the LDS microfilms.

I am sticking with Ancestry.

Good luck

Gobbo

[O1dgobbo]

Hi

I think I have been unfair about the new Ancestry search.  For ages I have moaned because they gave most of the weight in a search to the names and almost ignored things like birthplace.  I was using new search yesterday and discovered that in the advanced options I could select almost any bit of my data to be exact - for example look for a woman whose first name is Mary, born in 1837 and living in Woolwich at the time of the 1861 census.  This gave me a quite manageable list of Marys and it was just disappointing that I could not spot my particular Mary among them.  With the old search I would have been offereds an enormous list of Marys born in loads of years and places and not all living in Woolwich.  So I have to confess that the new search is worth trying and sticking with even if it does seem slow and awkward at first - it should save you time over the whole search.

Merry Christmas

Gobbo

[mig]

I agree with you, Dolly Dimples, that the new Ancestry set up is so frustratingly complicated. 

It claims that you will need fewer clicks of the mouse ...... but this is not true. I have found myself on a long clicking journey just to find the Wales Census/Scotland Census. Previoulsy they were one click away. The quick link of UK Census is not 'what it says on the tin' ..... it is a quick link to England only!
I also tried to customise my home page. In fact I tried 3 times and every time I logged back on all my hard work had disappeared. Similar problems with BMDs.
I sent my grumbles to Ancestry. They were receiving 'a high volume of emails'  ...... wonder why!? They eventually replied telling me to delete temporary internet files and all would be well. I would be able to customise.  Didn't work! and it still doesn't.

[dolly dimples]

  Well! it appears that I am not the only one to complain about Ancestry, I have complained before, but they always seem to give out a lot of gobbly gook that never solves anything!!   I did try as Newf suggested and it did appear to be somewhat quicker...
   As Gobbo said tho'   the days when it was  pencil, paper and record offices is no competition , so I suppose that closes the thread!   Thank's all and Merry Christmas ..  Cheers Dolly

[O1dgobbo]

Hi

For more than two years I have wondered where my Drawbridge family were on the night of the 1861 census.  Eventually I had assumed because Samuel was a ship's carpenter that they were out of the country and had missed the census.  Now with the help of new search I can put in their Christian names and specify their birthplaces as exact and behold there they are hiding as the mis-transcribed Lrawbridge family.  Well  done new search.

Merry Christmas

Gobbo

[Charles]

Ancestry are a disgrace. Some time before Christmas, they were putting up "no result" notices on BMD searches - even for names like "Smith." That took them several days to put right. Then the slowness started - at first intermittent, now apparently all the time. This has been going on since well before Christmas, and the site is all but unusable. How do they have the cheek to take people's money for such garbage?

Charles

[O1dgobbo]

Hi

Ancestry can be a pain - they are obviously trying to accomplish a major re jig of their data and search and they do seem to be making a bit of a dog's dinner. But the new search will evenutally be seen as a great improvement on the old and - unlike the FindMyPast 1911 data - Ancestry has got North Yorkshire, Durham and Northumberland for every census from 1841 to 1901 - and you can have a subscription.

Don't give up yet

Gobbo

[forthefamily]

I'm not having any problem with slowness. I'm not crazy about the new setup but I've worked around it and have no complaints at the moment.

mab