Ancestry.co.uk - Thinking of taking the plunge

[Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond]

Has anyone subscribed?
If so, what was your experience?
How far back can you go (assuming you aren’t part of the royal family 😄)
Can you do limitless searches?

Thanks in anticipation.

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Has anyone subscribed?
If so, what was your experience?
How far back can you go (assuming you aren’t part of the royal family ��)
Can you do limitless searches?

Thanks in anticipation.

The DNA test available may come up with unexpected results that are contrary to the lineages you come across from just official certification from what is otherwise a very good source.

[Enoch Mort]

I have subscribed to Ancestry for a few years. I have found it very good But I ignore the DNA test emails they bombard me with. As a full subscriber you can do limitless searches within the databases they provide - all the censuses 1841 - 1911, all BDMs since registration started plus loads of other stuff. The next big thing is the 1921 census due next year which, I think, Findmypast has got the contract to put into database form. How access to that is going to work I don’t know but but how Findmypast compares to Ancestry is something other posters on here may be able to advise.

[delmbox]

Has anyone subscribed?
If so, what was your experience?
How far back can you go (assuming you aren’t part of the royal family ��)
Can you do limitless searches?

Thanks in anticipation.

Pay Cyclops on here to do it for you, it sounds like he's quite the historical detective

https://www.ccmb.co.uk/showthread.ph...ht=family+tree

[Toadstool]

@Cyclops is your man for this!
1
I've done Ancestry and then Find my Past - at the moment I'm finding the latter better.

Ancestry is good but it has loads of people who have already done research and if one person has made a mistake it gets copied my many others as truth - I went down a leg of my family tree back to about 1500, but then found one my great grand father was adopted so had to start again!

It's really interesting thing to do but can also be frustrating - one one leg I've now gone back pre1500, but on another leg one of my great grandfathers was called Michael McCarthy and came from Dublin - hard to track down the right one!

The interesting thing for me was finding out I have deep family roots in Cornwall and the North East.

[Gofer Blue]

Has anyone subscribed?
If so, what was your experience?
How far back can you go (assuming you aren’t part of the royal family ��)
Can you do limitless searches?

Thanks in anticipation.

If you are serious about tracing your family history, then yes, go for it. I have worked on my family history since the 1980's which was pre-Internet days and I spent hours searching paper documents, microfiche tapes etc in various county archives! It is a lot easier now to quickly get a basic family tree back to the mid 1800's I would say. It depends how far you want to go back. I have traced my family back to the early 1700's and a lot of the the old parish records that I previously had to travel to Wiltshire to see are all now on Ancestry too.

Having done all the basics, I now tend to have periods of sudden interest, usually sparked off by someone in the family mentioning something. Why I mention this is because you can have a monthly subscription with Ancestry rather than sign up to the annual type, although the latter is of course better value for someone like yourself who is just starting out. Beware though if you go down the monthly subscription route that you have to remember to cancel at the end of the month otherwise they will happily take your money for another month and so on...

[Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond]

The DNA test available may come up with unexpected results that are contrary to the lineages you come across from just official certification from what is otherwise a very good source.

Yeah - I have read some reviews saying the DNA tests are way out.

[Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond]

I have subscribed to Ancestry for a few years. I have found it very good But I ignore the DNA test emails they bombard me with. As a full subscriber you can do limitless searches within the databases they provide - all the censuses 1841 - 1911, all BDMs since registration started plus loads of other stuff. The next big thing is the 1921 census due next year which, I think, Findmypast has got the contract to put into database form. How access to that is going to work I don’t know but but how Findmypast compares to Ancestry is something other posters on here may be able to advise.

Thanks. My sister got the 1911 censuses for all four grandparents, but going back to the 1840’s would be great.

[Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond]

Pay Cyclops on here to do it for you, it sounds like he's quite the historical detective

https://www.ccmb.co.uk/showthread.ph...ht=family+tree

Thanks for that. 😊👍

[Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond]

@Cyclops is your man for this!
1
I've done Ancestry and then Find my Past - at the moment I'm finding the latter better.

Ancestry is good but it has loads of people who have already done research and if one person has made a mistake it gets copied my many others as truth - I went down a leg of my family tree back to about 1500, but then found one my great grand father was adopted so had to start again!

It's really interesting thing to do but can also be frustrating - one one leg I've now gone back pre1500, but on another leg one of my great grandfathers was called Michael McCarthy and came from Dublin - hard to track down the right one!

The interesting thing for me was finding out I have deep family roots in Cornwall and the North East.

1500 - wow! Oh, that’s a bummer.
I had a similar ‘discovery’ by seeing the 1911 census. My grandmother led everyone (incl. my dad) to believe she was from a very wealthy family and lived in a big country house. It turned out she was a servant in a big country house. 😄

[Toadstool]

Thanks. My sister got the 1911 censuses for all four grandparents, but going back to the 1840’s would be great.

Census records are good - they have addresses and occupations and give an insight to life back then - FMP has newspapers as well which can help

[Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond]

If you are serious about tracing your family history, then yes, go for it. I have worked on my family history since the 1980's which was pre-Internet days and I spent hours searching paper documents, microfiche tapes etc in various county archives! It is a lot easier now to quickly get a basic family tree back to the mid 1800's I would say. It depends how far you want to go back. I have traced my family back to the early 1700's and a lot of the the old parish records that I previously had to travel to Wiltshire to see are all now on Ancestry too.

Having done all the basics, I now tend to have periods of sudden interest, usually sparked off by someone in the family mentioning something. Why I mention this is because you can have a monthly subscription with Ancestry rather than sign up to the annual type, although the latter is of course better value for someone like yourself who is just starting out. Beware though if you go down the monthly subscription route that you have to remember to cancel at the end of the month otherwise they will happily take your money for another month and so on...

I didn’t know that parish records are on line now, so that’s great.😊

Does the monthly subscription give unlimited searches do you know?

I reckon I’ll probably go with the annual subs as I’d like to take it back as far as I can. In saying that, I’m not working at the moment, so could probably hammer it for a monthly. 😄

[Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond]

Census records are good - they have addresses and occupations and give an insight to life back then - FMP has newspapers as well which can help

How? Births/deaths/marriages?

[Toadstool]

How? Births/deaths/marriages?

do you mean in relation to newspapers? If so - no not just B/D/M also any articles - I found out my great great grandfather was a bit of a poacher ( although not a ver y good one as he got caught a few times! ).

[Taunton Blue Genie]

Yeah - I have read some reviews saying the DNA tests are way out.

I meant the other way around!

[Cyclops]

do you mean in relation to newspapers? If so - no not just B/D/M also any articles - I found out my great great grandfather was a bit of a poacher ( although not a ver y good one as he got caught a few times! ).

Not to mention the mason who travelled to Lifton to pay a bill and, after appearing to be well, suddenly dropped down on the road and 'expired' in 1843......

[Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond]

do you mean in relation to newspapers? If so - no not just B/D/M also any articles - I found out my great great grandfather was a bit of a poacher ( although not a ver y good one as he got caught a few times! ).

So, for newspaper articles would you search by name and location?

[Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond]

I meant the other way around!

😄

Oh. I have read a few reviews where the DNA results are totally off the mark.

[Sir Sidney Ruff-Diamond]

Not to mention the mason who travelled to Lifton to pay a bill and, after appearing to be well, suddenly dropped down on the road and 'expired' in 1843......

It must be hard to identify a relative if all you have is a name and a lifetime timespan. I mean, there were probably lots of John Lewises (😄) in Cardiff between 1900 and 1930, so how would you know if it was YOUR John Lewis that stole a chicken in 1920?

[IanD]

If you sign up for Staffordshire libraries (free/online/can live anywhere) you can currently use Ancestry for free from home. Personally, I find Ancestry a pain as its American and tends to assume you are too. Plus it gives 100's million results per search....or nothing.
A combination of Ancestry/FMP (subscription)/Free BMD and the Mormons free website should cover all bases. Some websites are easier to navigate and search with than others. Over the years I've found lunatics, workhouse inmates, my gramp's illegitimate sister's early life (but not her dad, unsurprisingly) and that we have a real "Sir" in the family. Cant find any connection to the person who raised the Irish tricolour in Dublin nearly 100 years ago, as my mother would insist. Otherwise we'd have IRA in the family, too. Finding out that my great uncle played in the same school football team as Fred Keenor was a high point.

[IanD]

If you know name/age/occupation/address then newspaper articles are a good starting point.....and that black and white photo of your great uncle John Lewis hiding an axe behind his back with a few chicken feathers sticking out the corner of his mouth!

[Taunton Blue Genie]

If you know name/age/occupation/address then newspaper articles are a good starting point.....and that black and white photo of your great uncle John Lewis hiding an axe behind his back with a few chicken feathers sticking out the corner of his mouth!

Fowl play was suspected.

[delmbox]

Fowl play was suspected.

shame on you

[A Quiet Monkfish]

As has been already mentioned, use FamilySearch [Mormon site] first. Absolutely free and unlimited, has census and Parish records, and whilst you can't see 'originals', the information is all there. Suggest you spend a couple of weeks initially on there before splashing out on one of the pay sites.

Re. newspapers, the British newspaper archive is monthly/annual subscription, but would advise don't go there until you've built up a fairly detailed family tree, which will then give you a lot of 'search' options..

[Toadstool]

Not to mention the mason who travelled to Lifton to pay a bill and, after appearing to be well, suddenly dropped down on the road and 'expired' in 1843......

It's a good old walk from Launceston - and uphill as well.