Nigel,

Before you go for a subscription to Ancestry, does your library offer free access to it? Some do. You might be able to save some pennies that way.

nigele2

I speak as one with vast experience of family history research over many years....much of that time (and money) enthusiastically pursuing the wrong people because I omitted to get certs in the beginning.

If I were starting my research again, I would ALWAYS get the certs. Certificates have a surprising way sometimes of undermining your "known facts".

Census records are good, but only as far as they go. They are not a primary source and record only the transcription of what someone said on one given day in 10 years.

Certificates often have lies on them too, of course, but at least with a certificate you know that you have YOUR liar, and not some one else's liar!

Until you have firmed up your findings back to 1837 with certs, there is not much point in spending any money before that. Believe me, it is uniquely infuriating to have to tear up several years of research and records all because you followed the wrong family by census.

Incidentally, in my opinion, the best value for money in FH research is a Will, costing between £3.50 and £5. My best one ever gave me 35 names, most of whom I already knew, but only speculatively, and several marriage partners I didn't know at all.

Wills have also thrown up the unexpected gems like "and to my natural son" - something you will probably not ever find on a census record.

OC

Welcome to FTF Nigel, nice to 'meet' you .

Sorry to labour the point, but are you positive these people are yours if you haven't got the certs between you and them? Not sure if it has been said already, but if you look in the Wiki you may find someone who is willing to do record office look ups. For marriages in particular you will find the bride's maiden name there for free (or the price of a photocopy if you want to see it for yourself, you would need to reimburse the person though). It will have the happy couple's signatures (or marks) and also the names and signatures of the witnesses. Someone will need to remind me if the fathers' names are listed?

You really do need to go back one generation at a time (nag nag nag lol)

Oh, and don't ever think you are a parasite! If you ask for a look-up the person/people who do it will do it more than willingly.

Happy hunting :D

[QUOTE=nigele2;
"My folks are all England based and the four I want to go backwards with are:

HOATH - Henry (b1805 Tonbridge, Kent) and Ann (b1828 Lingfield, Sy).
DUNT - Joshua (b1819, Halstead, Essex) and Susan (b 1819, Sudbury, Sufflk) "
[/QUOTE]
Hi,

As you only have forenames for the 2 ladies above, sounds like you need a couple of marriage certs at least.

Save you subs at present and look into the location of your nearest LDS family history centre. (Haven't used them myself, but I know lots of forum members have and will give you advice on ordering films.)

You will be able to look at a LOT of films of PR for the price of a sub to Ancestry etc, AND to spread the cost out over the year.

Jay

Thanks once again folks. I'm making my first steps guided buy you all and I think with my £120 I can do a couple of months Ancest. a few certs and odd other bits - and make good progress and have some fun.

The four people I mentioned above I am confident about due to numerous cross checks and a lucky consistancy on addresses.

I have today started a 14 day trial of Ancest (impetuous as ever) and already I have surprised myself. Looking at original census docs I found the mother of my great grandmother living next door - and all because I got so excited I didn't notice the house number had moved on. With luck like that what can go wrong ;)

Well I'm opening the wine and settling in for a long night. You never know maybe I can look something up for someone else - that would be good. Sleep well

Pleeeaase! Make a note of your sources. This will prevent you racking your brains later wondering where you got the info from lol. And print off your census pages if you can.

You sound very excited!

Nigele2,
Having read through this I wasn't sure if you knew how to find a maiden name from looking at the page number of a possible marriage for the husband, always providing it occurred after 1837. If you haven't tried this all you have to do on ancestry is look at the record for the man then click on the page number quoted and you will get 4 or 6 names 2/3 men and 2/3 women, if you're lucky your female name will be the only one and voilà! you have her maiden name BUT you would still be best advised to get a certificate if you can't find any other corroborating evidence from censuses.
I hope this isn't 'teaching granny to suck eggs' but thought I'd say it in case you didn't know.
Margaret

Rosie yes I am. What fun this all is. Must remember that I need to work for a living every now and again

Margaret forget the eggs and give me everything. I didn't know that so cheers.

Nigel

Margaret, sorry to say this but I know a lot of people who have gone wrong with their trees by using your method. Quite often people will come up with a name like that and later it turns out not to be the right person at all.

Oh no, here he goes again.
It has never been cheaper and never been easier to research one’s family history than it is today.
Not only are there so many online resources a number of them are totally free, others may be used free as a trial or at a library or family history center.
There are vast libraries of e-books free online and a growing number of CD producers are submitting their CD to organisations that give free trials.

In addition there are thousands of enthusiastic individuals who have either compiled their own websites containing free transcripts or assist on mailing lists and forums.

In addition if you happen to live near to the relevant archive tons of useful material is stored away just waiting for the researcher to breathe life into it again.

Some cost is always involved but family history need not cost the earth.
Cheers
Guy

I agree with most of what you say Guy - but certs are still £7 each and when you are starting your research, that can be a daunting amount of money.

Once you have the backbone of your tree though, there are many free or nearly free resources to pad it out.

OC

The other problem is that for many people doing the bones of their family history is a lot quicker than before, so a large expense hits all at once.

I'm still buying my direct line certs after 20 plus years......!

So am I Merry - especially deaths

jay

And I'm still LOOKING for some certs!

OC

Kiterunner,
I accept that, but it can be helpful if you use the information carefully and in context to everything else you know. I would not advocate using information obtained this way without thinking around all the possibilities of it not being your relative.
It is true though that depending on the whole picture this method is a reasonable alternative to getting a certificate.
Margaret

Guy, I think we are entitled to think about value for money. The information is largely in the public domain so we are talking about paying for storage, retrieval and delivery. On that basis £7 per cert without prior vision or system of return seems expensive. Vast profits are being made by organisations and these are quite happy to milk the efforts of volunteers and good natured individuals. Don't get me wrong I know it is the way of the world and some organisations like certain universities have made good contributions as side benefits of research projects, but the commercial world will take what it can get and have no thoughts of value.

Rant over :D , now two or three more look ups and off to bed. Goodnight one and all.

I don't think that £7 makes the GRO a profit, Nigel, just covers their costs. (Sorry, I know it isn't actually the GRO any more, but I can't remember what they're called now). If your "organisations milking the efforts of volunteers" refers to ancestry, findmypast etc asking for volunteers to do transcriptions or indexes for them, then you will find that usually those transcriptions or indexes are made available for free searching so that the company is not actually making a profit from that but providing their resources to benefit people. If any particular website is charging what you consider to be too much then you are best not to subscribe to it, but they do have high costs of computers etc and of course we want new content added all the time.

nigele2

Just a teeny correction - the GRO barely breaks even, no vast profits being made there!

OC

You're right but I'm referring to the suppliers to the GRO, IT companies and the like, who reap big rewards. Grrrrr don't get me started but I work alongside dozens of such organisations and the wastage grrrrrrrrrrr - Now look what you have done

Anyway I've decided to go Ancestry for a while, my mum, her attic, kind friends here, and all free resources. When my tree is a mighty oak I will consider validating it with certs when better times come along.

Yes I take heed of the danger of researching the wrong people but I think with cross references and avoiding the temptation to drop in names based on one fact (; the danger is limited, and in any case just discovering how they lived is great fun.

Only now do I realise the bleak start to life my Devonshire frenchies had. Many away from home working as maids and servants before they were 14. And after that the girls gave birth until they died. We really have never had it so good. :D

Prediction England 38 Scotland 14.

If you do not want to waste either money or time then the last thing I would do as a newcomer to family history is join Ancestry!! I do not even belong now to Ancestry after 30+ years doing family history though I have made use of the past Ancestry freebies plus library usage.

First I would get my certs to establish I have the correct tree, and until correct tree is established then census will get you nowhere. To save money I would use Ancestry at my local library. Your births, marriages and deaths (BMD) are the START of a Family History journey and you can obtain usage through Free BMD up to 1930's and then use free fiche for the rest at any major library, although yes you will have to purchase the actual certs once you have the references. There is no other way to do the job properly. If you do not start the job properly then nobody will be very interested in your haphazard research, anymore than you would try to build a table without using some carpentry tools.

Incidentally, I am still purchasing certs and each time I purchase one I am sent off on another trail, but I am happy to consider this FH as a hobby for life, not just a five minute wonder.

It is your solid base of built up BMD which will lead you then into the Census returns, which is where Ancesty or FMP come into the equation, with possible siblings/nephews,grandparents/stepchildren etc leading to city/town/village/hamlet interest leading you back to pre 1837 parish records through a CRO/Family History Societies and CD's Free Reg etc.

Believe me Family History/Genealogy is a lot easier now than it used to be! Cheap no, never has been, but then what can you get for free?? I was very much brought up on the old saying: "There's no such thing as a free lunch!"

Janet