Find my Past---was it a wise thing to do?

[Silvilocks]

I thought that the offer made my FindMyPast during the World Cup was awful.
As a fully PAID UP member it was impossible to access any records during any England Matches.

How strange. When the third match was on, the only time I could fit 90 minutes in meant starting about 10 minutes before kick off. The site came to a standstill 2 or 3 times and was certainly slower than during the second free session, but at the end of 90 minutes I had downloaded 38 images from the 1911 census, which was far better than I expected.

Maybe the problem lies with your internet provider or computer, rather than with FindMyPast?

[marcie dean]

Ancestry....do not always record things correctly, as they have no permission from Scotland to record data they rely on researchers who are tracing their own families, who may well have the wrong information ; so that people who are also looking for that information cannot correct the original mistake by others.

I found it so when trying to reply to someone who only had part of the name correctly marked in their family tree,.  i.e. Muriel Hamilton ne Mays Smith
(Muriel Mays Smith)  I found she had a son James Stanley Hamilton and a daughter called Agnes Hamilton who married a Neill MacDonald.
If the database is not correct it makes genealogy into a myth.  Regardless of who is in charge or charged with the honour of all our family history.
marcie

[Ruskie]

I found the FindMyPast freebie quite good for the 1911 census, but ran out of things to look up by the third free session (and I completely missed the first one). For any other random things I looked up on FindMyPast I got 0 results.

I also really miss Family History Online which I mainly used for burial records. Thanks for the FHO link Anne - that may go some way to explaining the 0 results.

[Plummiegirl]

Silvilocks

I actually contacted FindMyPast and they apoligised for the problems that not only I encountered during all the England Matches.

They admitted that the volume of people using this free access far outstripped what they were expecting.

There is nothing wrong with either my IP or computer it was just the sheer volume that their system was unable to cope with.

I doubt if in the future they will do anything like this again.

[newburychap]

Ancestry....do not always record things correctly, as they have no permission from Scotland to record data they rely on researchers who are tracing their own families, who may well have the wrong information ; so that people who are also looking for that information cannot correct the original mistake by others.

Ancestry are far from perfect - but nor are FindMyPast, TheGenealogist, etc.

When it comes to Scotland Ancestry are far the best subscription site as they have census transcripts (yes there are plenty of errors) - but none of their competitors have anything to match.

Of course ScotlandsPeople (pay per view) have pretty much got Scottish family history sewn up - at a price.

FindMyPast have the 1911 as an advantage (though I expect Ancestry will have it in six months or so). The subset of the FHOL data that they could be useful, but very patchy (my ancestors have pretty much avoided being included).

TheGenealogist has PCC wills as part of the subscription package, and the images are significantly better than those on DocumentsOnline. If you want a lot of these wills its worth subscribing for a period. Their searches are also more flexible.

However, if I was to go for only one subscription it would be Ancestry - they simply have more than anyone else. If Brightsolid include the BL newspapers in the FindMyPast collection I suspect I would opt for FindMyPast, but I suspect there will be a new newspaper subscription site rather than an enhancement to FindMyPast (hope I'm proved wrong).

[mooncatsmum]

I had subscription to FindMyPast but ran into a brick wall when ancestors came from Ireland, they have nothing, but they didn't mention that in the subs page

[Plummiegirl]

Ireland like Scotland has all its own records.

And unless Ancestry and any of the other sites can come to a financial agreement then they will never be available via these sites.

As for the 1911 census, yes of course all the other sites will get that next year, providing they are willing to pay and transribe them for themselves. 

But also next year the records on FindMyPast for the 1911 census will be able to be viewed in full, i.e. last column for disabilities etc., will be opened up as the 100 year rule will come into effect.

[mooncatsmum]

Thanks plummiegirl, got any tips on good Irish sites?

[Plummiegirl]

Do not know of any Irish sites, I have decided that as I am unable to find my grandfathers army records (post WW1 & pre WW2) that I have as much on him as I can get.  I know his dob, where he lived, where & how he died and where he is buried.  I have even contacted his brothers children and although they were initially ok for some reason they seem to have decided that they do not really want to know about me.

Not bothered though, my fathers side of the family is so interesting & complex that this far outweighs the lack of contact with my closest relations.