ERO going Pay-to-Browse for online PRs etc

[lizdb]

Sounds brilliant to me - and I only live about 8 miles away!

It costs over £3 to park there for a day - add on petrol and it probably costs £5 for me to go there just from here, per day..

So I would imagine that unless you live on the doorstep, these charges make accessibiltiy to the records cheaper for everyone.

So it will be even quieter there - it is already the quitest Record Office I have ever been to, no need to book readers etc as always plenty spare.
I do wonder if this means that the in-person service there will be cut as a result, if even less people will use it, and that would be a shame.

[Hazel17]

I took a short holiday to Chelmsford for the purposes of going to the records office there and I have found it one of the easiest to use records offices. I have not been back simply as the distance is too far to travel there and back in  day and finances mean that I  can't afford overnight stays so I have been using the online SEAX images. Whle it is a shame they will no longer be free it is fantastic they are online at all. I haven't worked on my Essex lines for some time but when I return to them as I normally do fh mainly in the holidays I shall happily buy 1 week's worth of subscription and do mass look ups and have a concentrated fh week to make the most of what I have paid for. I assume you will be able to save the digtial images to your hard drive once you have paid to view them.

It's a pity more subscription services (such as FindMyPast) don't offer an option to pay for a month. Sometimes I don't buy a sub becuase I know I won't get my money's worth out of an expensive year's sub but a month's sub would be cheaper (although I know rarely are they one twelth of the cost of an annual sub) and I would get more value for money out of it as I could use it intensively in the holidays.

[coombs]

I have been to Chelmsford Record Office as well and the staff are very helpful. I went in February.

[findem]

Hi all,

Further info from the ERO in response to my query "will the later year PRs currently not online, be online at the commencement of Pay-to-Browse?"

They’ll all be published and available online from 30 August if all goes according to plan, 1538-1837 as a minimum and I think most likely 1837-date for the front of the alphabet.

Regards.

[coombs]

I shall be willing to pay as it will certainly help me track down some elusive Essex ancestors.

[geno500]

Hi as one of the people who do look ups for people at the ERO ,I thought something like this would happen,they signed up with Ancestry some time ago and I always got little info from ERO when I asked them when they were putting more records online .
I am both sad and pleased that this is happening ,I do like to do what look ups I could for people and this will now end but I am pleased that requests for PR's on Essex rootschat will no longer slip down the lists with no relpies as they could not be answered by the people with lots of subscriptions to pay per view sites,I would think that if you had a sub to Ancestry you would be able to use the new records coming online free,well sort of free.
I surpose we should be pleased that ERO are without doubt the best records in the entire country,one can only hope that the others will drag themselves into the modern era quickly ,but I still cannot feel completely happy about it,I surpose having started my family history some time ago when visits to records around the country was the only way, and the excitement of finding something made the trip worthwile,still time marches on .

[stonechat]

Interesting Geno

One of the things that make family history interesting is that everything is different in each county

Cheshire - where I have a number of ancestors - has a fantastic Cheshire BMD website
It was however always under-represented on the IGI as one of the bishops did not want to give records to the mormons!

To some extent this is now a bit improved, though I dn't really have most of my Cheshire lines traced far back

I can quote lots of examples how other counties are different, but you get the picture

Essex is where some of my wife's ancestors come from
She is not mad keen on FH so my efforts are fairly limited
If it's not on the net I won'y pay much

However so much more is available now that some dead ends may eventually fall
I might find my Varnden ancestors and pigs might fly!

[geno500]

Hi   stonechat I have been to some very poor records Haverford west in wales is a small castle like structure with a room the size of a average lounge to do look ups ,a few years ago Dorset and Somerset were quiet poor as well,they may well have improved by now,but Essex has easily been the best I have used,it's strange your wife not being to interested in FH  nearly 80 percent of the people who do it are women,you can nearly always tell if male or femail just by looking at the rootschat postings the ones with lots of names at the bottom are nearly always women they research all the female lines so very soon are researching half the world  still it makes Ancestry happy,just thinking that last comment may well light up the switchboard

[findem]

Hi geno500,

A bit of advice, take to the hills! 

Regards.