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FMP vs Ancestry - very quick question

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  • FMP vs Ancestry - very quick question

    Hi folks not posted for ages but Santa was very good and got me a worldwide ancestry package and managed to get some FMP credits today - are there many differences between the 2 and can FMP get me any stuff that you can't get on ancestry? Now looking for some new angles in my research and wanted to know if there are many advantages or anything new I maybe missed before I go gung ho into some new research

    Thanks

    Steven

  • #2
    They both have census & BMDs - what you possibly need to look at is the different parish register collections and military records which each site has.
    Also FMP has just started publishing the British Newspaper collection - that's certainly worth looking at.

    Take a look at this link which gives you news items (recent additions) to FMP - http://www.findmypast.co.uk/content/news/2012
    Elaine







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    • #3
      The two are quite similar in coverage now. I tend to use FMP for immigration and overseas births as well as for 1911 census. 1911 census is on Ancestry as well I just prefer the indexing on FMP. someone else who has done more research recently may be able to give you a better answer as to the merits of each.
      Barbara

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      • #4
        I have lost count of the number of people I did not find in the census records on FMP but found them on Ancestry or visa versa so both are really useful to me ,also the people leaving the UK records have been very handy.

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        • #5
          Thanks for the link Elaine and thanks Barbara and Val - just getting my book and notes back out and looking for some gaps!!! Can't wait got the buzz again

          Steven

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          • #6
            FMP has cheshire and westminster parish records and the national burial index. they have london docklands registers and all the welsh parish records on familysearch are from FMP originally.

            ancestry has the dorset, liverpool, london and lancashire parish records.

            but you should check the coverage of the counties, as they don't have all the registers and certainly don't have a majority of the dates.

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            • #7
              Hi Steven - I have the same dilema ... FMP or Ancestry

              Using the free credits on FMP gives an idea of what records are available and also the search results ... I've lost a few credits due to insufficient results info being displayed e.g. one army record where birth year clearly stated on image but not included in search results, so turned out to be someone born decades prior to the one I was looking for. I like how FMP lists potential sources of information.

              I presume if you take out a full subscription you can search as often as you wish without losing credits.

              However, I find Anc'y very frustrating and time consuming too, mainly the mistranscriptions which when you look at images are, on occasions, nothing like the original written names etc. However I prefer Ancy's search form, although not had very much experience with the FMP one yet!
              Last edited by LeicestershireLass; 30-12-12, 12:23.
              Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today ~ follow your dream!

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              • #8
                When searching censuses, I prefer FMP searches so long as the person is easy to find! You can move quickly from year to year without having to fill in the form over again.

                BUT ... if you are not sure where your person will be it is easier to look on Ancestry as the display of results is wider and contains more information.

                Ancestry's parish records are often the actual image but most of those on FMP are transcriptions. The areas covered are different though so it would depend on where your people are as to which would be the most useful to you.

                Anne

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Anne in Carlisle View Post
                  When searching censuses, I prefer FMP searches so long as the person is easy to find! You can move quickly from year to year without having to fill in the form over again.
                  Anne, you can do the same on Ancestry by using the UK Census Collection link ... http://search.ancestry.co.uk/group/u...ollection.aspx
                  Elaine







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                  • #10
                    It is very difficult to decide whether to have a sub to FMP or Ancestry.

                    I have worldwide subs to both as each one offers me different research areas. FMP is good for early Military, BMD, Census and I prefer FMP for BMD and Census over Ancestry. FMP also offers me Irish information which is far superior to the Ancestry Irish info and will be vastly superior to Ancestry Irish in a couple of years time as more Irish records come on line. I also like FMP with its access to many British newspapers with more coming on to the site daily. I also prefer FMP parish registers, but mainly because a lot of Northants is on there. FMP have emmigration records from about 1890 through to the 1960's which are invaluable. Ancestry has the LMA records, all the American Census, army records for First W War and passenger lists up to about 1900, all of which I need.

                    So getting one or the other really depends on what you want in the way of records for your own FH needs, but getting free credits from FMP should help you to decide. At present I cannot do without having subs for both.

                    Janet
                    Last edited by Janet; 30-12-12, 15:29.

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                    • #11
                      There is one problem with the indexing of the British newspapers.

                      Search for Poole and it has 29,000+
                      Filter it to a specific paper and you still have 3000
                      Because............. it keeps refering to the place Poole :-(

                      Worse still, search for LOWING and it gives you thousands, because it gives references that have a word that contains lowin, such as FOLowing
                      :-(
                      Avatar is my Gt Grandfather

                      Researching:
                      FRANKLIN (Harrow/Pinner 1700 to 1850); PURSGLOVE (ALL Southern counties of England); POOLE (Tetbury/Malmesbury and surrounding areas of Gloucestershire and Wiltshire (1650 to 1900); READ London/Suffolk

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by TrevorFranklin View Post
                        There is one problem with the indexing of the British newspapers.

                        Search for Poole and it has 29,000+
                        Filter it to a specific paper and you still have 3000
                        Because............. it keeps refering to the place Poole :-(

                        Worse still, search for LOWING and it gives you thousands, because it gives references that have a word that contains lowin, such as FOLowing
                        :-(
                        Not sure that is just limited to British newspapers!
                        My surname is Wareham - you do a google search for that and you get Wareham as a surname and Wareham as a place name.

                        You might find it useful to do an initial search on the British Newspaper Archive site where the search facility is better. If you find a hit then at least you have a newspaper title + date which could be used on FMP.
                        Elaine







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                        • #13
                          I used Ancestry for about four years before picking up FMP.com for cheap last fall. I did that to access some of the parish records Ancestry didn't have, but can't say I like FMP at all. That's likely because I am so familiar with Ancestry, but a couple of big issues for me are that FMP has no Canadian records, and I can't upload an existing gedcom.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Elaine ..Spain View Post
                            Anne, you can do the same on Ancestry by using the UK Census Collection link ... http://search.ancestry.co.uk/group/u...ollection.aspx
                            What I meant was ..... if you fill in the form on FMP for (say) 1851; look for the person; then bring up the 1861 census form it will still retain the search criteria. Then you can quickly move on to the 1871, 1881 etc without having to continually fill in the name.

                            Anne

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Prairie Chicken View Post
                              I used Ancestry for about four years before picking up FMP.com for cheap last fall. I did that to access some of the parish records Ancestry didn't have, but can't say I like FMP at all. That's likely because I am so familiar with Ancestry, but a couple of big issues for me are that FMP has no Canadian records, and I can't upload an existing gedcom.
                              This is why I have to have both FMP and Ancestry because what one has, the other has not got and vice versa! These sub sites have us over a barrel! But it is the best reason for looking very closely at what you want from the site before making up your mind which one to go for.

                              Janet

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                              • #16
                                A point that nobody has made is that you have an open ended subscription to Ancestry but just a bundle of credits for FMP which disappear quickly. So you should use Ancestry whenever possible and use FMP only when you can't find what you want on Anc.
                                People: Canton, Wiseman, Colthup, Scrace
                                Places: Pembrokeshire, Kent.

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                                • #17
                                  or just an FMP sub, and use your local library for ancestry, if you need both.

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                                  • #18
                                    I'm starting to get annoyed with FMP ... gobbling up credits unnecessarily :(

                                    e.g. I keyed in person's first and last names, year of birth, where born etc.

                                    4 results appeared but only one in the right county, 3 of the results showed the year of birth/age but neither shown for the county I was looking for. 3 question marks (???) appeared in the year of birth section and nothing in the age part.

                                    It cost me 10 credits to ascertain the person's age, which was clearly stated as 27 on the image .... nowhere near to the age of the person I was looking for.

                                    I'm glad the credits I'm using were free
                                    Last edited by LeicestershireLass; 31-12-12, 16:17.
                                    Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today ~ follow your dream!

                                    Comment


                                    • #19
                                      Originally posted by webwiz View Post
                                      A point that nobody has made is that you have an open ended subscription to Ancestry but just a bundle of credits for FMP which disappear quickly. So you should use Ancestry whenever possible and use FMP only when you can't find what you want on Anc.
                                      That's not true. FMP has a subscription service that allows unlimited searches.

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                                      • #20
                                        My library has a sub to FMP. It's worth checking what your library subscribes to, and also remembering that many family history centres/archives etc may have subs. Perhaps stick with Ancestry and save up your FMP queries for a trip - or vice versa of course.
                                        ~ with love from Little Nell~
                                        Chowns, Dunt, Emms, Mealing, Purvey & Smoothy

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