Ancestry.co.uk

hethmar

When you get the program, you have to put it on your pc to activate the sub by clicking on help and then activate sub, so I guess that it wont work sadly.

Anon

See the following thread for information on free credits for Findmypast.co.uk

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4352307

The recent offer code finished on 2nd January but if you read down it links to elsewhere where you can get quite a few free credits.

The Daily Mail link apparently gives the best start for codes then add in other codes as well.

HTH

Anon

hethmar

Ive never been a fan of FMP - I have got over 200 freebies on there but never find anything when I search that I havent already got from ancestry and ancestry is on tap 24/7 with no time limit or the need to purchase credits so is a much better buy if you do intend to do a lot of research. Buying a family tree program for £30 with 6 months premium ancestry sub is a brilliant buy - you can sit on there all day and night if you want (And I used to 9 years ago when I first started out).

ohdearmy

In my experience of the information on the ancestry website, it can be totally incorrect.

Its like a game of chinese whispers, one well meaning individual posts some incorrect information, then everyone else copies it, making more errors along the way.

You go back and ask to see where the source is, and noone knows.

As an example, one member on ancestry listed one of my ancestors as coming from a different town then moving to another to raise a family, where in truth, although a birth certificate existed for that individual, they failed to note that persons death certificate as a baby. Everyone just copied this misinformation onto their own trees!

As no one checks the information, and takes it as gospel, the whispers continue.

As a note to anyone getting this far, a lot of information is missing and incorrect on official "transcribed for the internet" documents as well. A lot of baptisms were never registered prior to 1855, and if they were these could be up to 8 years AFTER the birth - forget about the birth certificates as these are non-existant. I recently saw a note in one parish register from the 1830s noting that fact!

In transcribing documents for the internet mistakes are made, so you could search for example the surname Greenlaw, and that could be documented as Geenlaw, so any search on Greenlaw will be fruitless. Also some names are missing on searches when they appear on registers.

Death certificates were more about finances for the cost of burial or the mort cloth, and I have seen women unnamed and registered as the "wife of".

It should also be noted that death certificates were often written by the grave diggers themselves.

Marmaduke123

You need to distinguish the various types of information on Ancestry.

Ohdearmy is correct about many of the user submitted family trees - never take the information on there as gospel without verifying it from your own research. You can get useful pointers though.

"Official" civil registration birth death and marriage records only exist from 1837, before that there are only parish or non conformist records, usually of baptisms rather than births, and burials rather than death dates.Ohdearmy appears to be confusing parish records with civil ones. Of course all records can have errors, whether in the original records or in transcriptions of them or both.

Transcriptions will never be 100% accurate but there are ways of overcoming the problems. For example, if you search for G*nlaw in the example he gives, you will cover Greenlaw and Geenlaw.

Researching your family history isn't easy, especially when you get back before the census and civil registration. Don't be put off though, it's fascinating and you soon learn. It's a good idea to join one of the genealogy forums like Rootschat. There are lots of very friendly experienced people on there who will help you a lot.

ohdearmy

Marmaduke123 wrote: »

"Official" civil registration birth death and marriage records only exist from 1837

Rules are different in Scotland! In 1855 civil registration replaced the old system of registration by parishes.

Seeing an 1855 records is bliss compared to an 1854 record, as the 1855 has parents names etc, seeing a 1690s record where a death consists of a year and "wife of *******" is not so good.

Marmaduke123 wrote: »

For example, if you search for G*nlaw in the example he gives, you will cover Greenlaw and Geenlaw.

Unfortunately without knowing how the record was transcribed - ie whats letters are missing, or even the parish (I have seen a minister from one parish bapise a child born in a different parish in the birth parishes church, and the records are noted at the baptising ministers church), its hard to guess - moreso if a search costs money.

All good fun though.

hethmar

Yes, I never take family trees on ancestry as gospel! Ive had people with my ancestors marrying at the age of 7 and one had a child who died age 2 fathering 14 children in the USA

Ditto with familysearch, much of it is submitted by members and can be wildly inaccurate.

The only way is to do it all yourself. Its easier now so much is online and cheaper! Gone are the days when Id spend a couple of hundred quid to get marriage, birth and death certs.

Pre 1837 Ive used settlement certificates, apprenticeship records, court and excise cases, wills, military records (some are extremely detailed back to 16th century) and watermen records which are very accurate and Im actually lucky enough to have got an aristo gateway ancestor who has taken us through very detailed and accurate records back to year dot virtually. Yet on another line Im stymied at 1821 because of lack of accurate info re father - trouble with illegitimate kids if no b a s t a r d y orders then you are stuck with a kid who makes up a name and occupation for dad when they join the military or get married