Genealogy Internet Websites

[fitzjohn1001]

Hi All,

As there is a number of Websites which now cater for the family tree reseacher,............ but which is the best for census and BMD's.

I have had some bad results from one leading wedsite, who states they have to complete database.

Steve.

[Cloggie]

Hi Steve,
For England & Wales censuses, I would say Ancestry, as FindMyPast doesn't have complete census coverage yet.
Ancestry has good coverage of BMDs too, and of course there is FreeBMD. But FindMyPast has overseas BMDs, and BMDs at sea, which Ancestry does not have. And for Scotland there is Scotland's People. Having only a few Scottish ancestors, I haven't used Scotland's People very much, so can't really give a proper opinion on it.

[Mary from Italy]

Personally I think Ancestry's still the best, but FMP's catching up fast.

What were you looking for that you couldn't find?

[clematised]

Steve

Using a Family History Website takes experience of using it whichever one you use.
All the information you need may be there but its knowing how to use the site to its best advantage comes with experience, so I would tell you to go to the research Q& A board and ask the experienced people here to look up the information for you until you get the hang of using those websites, as it is very easy for inexperienced users to follow the wrong lines.

Edna

[Richard in Perth]

Ancestry is currently the only site which has the births and marriages indexes fully transcribed from 1837-2005. A fully-transcribed deaths index has been promised too - hopefully before the end of the year. Also Ancestry has all censuses 1841-1901, including Scotland and images for all the England/Wales censuses (including 1881). There is some useful stuff on FindMyPast (e.g. outbound passenger lists) - but if you had to choose between the two, I think Ancestry is still the better one.

Incidentally - whilst Ancestry doesn't have overseas BMD's, these are available for free on Familyrelatives.

[fitzjohn1001]

Thanks for all your comments.

I'm currently using Roots UK which has a different layout format to the other sites available.

I've been with both Ancestry and FMP and found that the search tools are not delivering the requested information that I've asked for.

Steve.

[Durham Lady]

Steve

Using a Family History Website takes experience of using it whichever one you use.
All the information you need may be there but its knowing how to use the site to its best advantage comes with experience, so I would tell you to go to the research Q& A board and ask the experienced people here to look up the information for you until you get the hang of using those websites, as it is very easy for inexperienced users to follow the wrong lines.

Edna

I agree with Edna, I have full membership to Ancestry and if I need too I buy credits for FMP.
Why don't you ask on Research for some help and if members find what you can't get them to explain how they found the information. That way you'll get the information you need and learn how to find things using the sites. They do take a while and sometimes the less information you put on the site the better the results.
We've all had to learn the hard way and probably wasted money in the process.

[Elaine ..Spain]

Steve, one of the reasons for not getting the results you are looking for is that you may be putting too much information in the search request. You are far better off using a small amount of 'vague' information rather than too much 'exact' information.

As has been suggested, give us some examples of what you are looking for, and cannot find, and we'll see if we can help.

[Glen in Tinsel Knickers]

Results depend largely on the search criteria used, the search engine and quality of indexing/transcriptions to actual entries.

None of the sites have 100% coverage for a particular set of records, the GRO bmd index itself for example isn't 100% complete so the sites used to search the bmd can't give you a reference every time. There are instances where the local bmd sites have an event registered but it won't be in the GRO index (Lancashire has many examples of missing GRO events).

[Mary from Italy]

I can't say I'd ever heard of Roots UK. Is anyone else familiar with it?

[Elaine ..Spain]

I think it must be this one - Roots UK - Search our records - but I've never used it.

[Elaine ..Spain]

It appears to be part of S&N Genealogy Supplies.

[Mary from Italy]

Yes, I found the website, I was just curious to know if anyone else had used it. It appears to be credits only, not subscriptions, unless I've missed something.

[Cloggie]

They claim to have complete census transcripts with images for 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1891 and 1901. But I've tried their quick search, entering an ancestor's name who I've found on every census from 1861 on Ancestry, yet Roots UK brings up "None" for all of them.

[Mary from Italy]

Their quick search doesn't seem to allow wildcards.

[Glen in Tinsel Knickers]

I have one name that should appear 12 times in the 1901 but apparently there are none at all, as with most things family history it's the combination of several sites and sources that brings results, no single site will ever be complete or fully accurate.

[fitzjohn1001]

Hi All,

I have also have full membership to Ancestry and credits on both FMP and Roots UK.

I feel the ancestry have changed their search tool over the past 14 months and it's seems harder to find the person your looking for.

Someone told me about Roots UK, and yes it's a credit based search, but with the miss persons which I could'nt find on Ancestry, found them first time on Roots UK.

The format is different in the way; for a census search you tick the date and then enter the forename in one box and surname in the other, click search.

Each search will bring the number of persons with that name by County, so if you know the county the person's census was taking in can make the that bit easier.

You pay 5 credits to view the named persons in the county which gives DOB, birth area and occupation, you then can pay another 5 credits to view the census page.(which is in PDF format)

You can buy credits for £5.00 +100 credit or £14.95 for 400 credits
Each BMD record cost 1 credit.

I asked the question about Genealogy websites just to find out what everone was using........looks like Ancestry and FMP, but just maybe....there another one out there!!!

I have just found a person on Roots UK which I can't find on Ancestry for James who requested a search (within this forum)

The link to many websites are also on "My Genealogy" tool bar if you use it.

Steve.

[Mary from Italy]

I feel the ancestry have changed their search tool over the past 14 months

Yes, that new search is useless - just click on "Old Search" to go back to how it was before.

[Mary from Italy]

I have just found a person on Roots UK which I can't find on Ancestry for James who requested a search (within this forum)

I've just had a look at that thread, but having checked the image, I think in that particular case, Roots was wrong and Ancestry was right.

Ancestry certainly does have some awful transcriptions, though.