Subscribing to Ancestry or other similar sites

[Ann]

I've been using the computers at the Local Studies library to access Ancestry, but would now like to subscribe to a site at home. Is anyone able to advise on a good, reliable, reasonably priced site to subscribe to? Most of my ancestors are from the UK, so I don't need access to US or worldwide records.
Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[sandra]

Personally I would reccommend Ancestry. I think, in time, Find My Past may end up the better site, but I feel that time is some way off yet.

Sandra

[Ann]

Thanks for the advice, Sandra.

Ann

[Ann]

Are the transcriptions on Ancestry and Findmypast the same?

I've been trying to find out when my ancestor Thomas Kevins (born approx 1853, in Ireland) came to England. On Ancestry, he appears first on 1881 census under surname Kevins, on 1891 he is transcibed as Kerins, and on 1901 as Bevins. After reading a post on this site about tracing Irish ancestors using familysearch, my investigations lead me to Findmypast, showing a Thomas Kevins on 1861 census (not mine I think!!).

I'm sure when I've been on Ancestry, that the first appearance for any Thomas Kevins is in 1881. I'm at a complete standstill with this ancestor, as his marriage cert showed his surname as Keevins.

My other troublesome-named ancestor's surname is TOY (found under Joy, Fay and Foy). I'm still looking to subscribe at home, so knowing if one site has more accurate transcriptions than the other would be really helpful. What have other users found?

[Gerard Lodge]

As far as I am aware, transcribing of the indexes was done by two different groups of people, so therefore they are bound to be differences.

Incidentally MCL now has free access to Find My Past so I have been using it quite a bit recently.

Gerard

[Woody]

Hi Ann

I’ve tried both these pay-sites, but eventually opted for Ancestry.

My own experience is that neither pay-site is anywhere near 100% reliable on transcriptions so, as Gerard says, although they’re invariably very similar on the respective sites, transcripts can sometimes be wildly different. Neither is the census information fully transcribed on either site, whatever they advertise.

Like Sandra, I think Findmypast will eventually become the top UK site, but not yet. I favoured Ancestry for two main reasons.

Findmypast is designed to focus mainly on UK records and, although it does that very well indeed, my own need to search for ancestors spread around the globe can’t be met through Findmypast. You wouldn't need this facility.

However, the major failing of Findmypast is the total absence of huge chunks of the 1851 census (and until recently, the 1901 census), whereas all of this stuff has been available on Ancestry for some time.

I think the problems for transcribers include the poor literacy of both enumerators and the population at large, coupled to a tendency to spell names and locations as they sounded. People also gave the wrong information because they either didn’t know, or just told porkies about exactly when or where they were born.

It did strike me that the evident frequency of change affecting Thomas Kevin’s surname could mean that he didn’t actually start out in life with any of these surnames. However, when I looked at the original census documents for 1881 and 1891, and the transcript for 1911 where they’re all in Chorlton, I’m pretty sure it’s transcriber error. The exception is in 1901 where it’s quite definitely ‘Bevins’.

That said, I know ‘Kavanagh’ sometimes evolved into ‘Keevan’ so it might still be worth having a look at one of the Irish Surnames sites to get a broader handle on possible alternative surnames. Gay’s put some useful Irish Research links on the ‘History Links’ section on the main page menu, or Googling ‘Irish Surnames’ should produce a fair selection of choices.

The final thing I found was a reference on Ancestry to a Thomas Kevins who appears in Griffith’s Valuation, 1848-1864 at ‘Tipperary, Monsea, Grallagh‘. The main problem with this reference is that Tipperary is nowhere near Dublin, which is where Thomas Kevins says he was born but, of course, that doesn’t mean he didn’t live elsewhere.

If you want to explore that reference, there’s plenty of information if you Google either ‘Griffith's Valuation of Ireland’, or ‘Tipperary, Monsea, Grallagh‘. If you feel like making a personal trip, the original volumes of the survey are held in the National Archives, Dublin and Public Record Office, Belfast.

Hope you get lucky

[Gerard Lodge]

Just to add a (very) little to Woody's comments. My subscription to Ancestry is due on the 13th of this month. I shall be renewing the subscription.

Gerard

[Ann]

Gerard & Woody,

Thank you both very much for your advice. I think based on all the advice I've been given, I will plump for Ancestry when I do subscribe. I'm a bit worried that I'll spend all my time on it when it's 'on tap', though!!!

Thanks for looking into my Thomas Kevins, Woody. I had found the name on Griffiths Valuation, and his father's name was also Thomas, but as you say, he could be from anywhere in Ireland really. It's at times like this when I wish I'd paid more attention when my Gran was reminiscing.

Ann

[Woody]

Don't we all wish we'd taken more notice, Ann ?

A couple of years ago, I was helping my mother to clear out some 'odds and ends' in her attic and unearthed a battered suitcase packed with Victorian memorium cards, wedding invitations and family photographs that my grandmother had squirreled away.

The problem is that she'd only identified 5% of the people in the photographs, so I'm now left with virtually a whole photographic family archive (over 500), but not a clue about who the individuals are. And worse, there's nobody left alive to ask. C'est la vie.

Can I suggest a way of approaching potential Ancestry membership ?

There's a constant offer of a 14-day free trial where, in exchange for your credit card details, you can access everything - a try before you buy deal. If you get your research organised beforehand, you can spend that 14 days searching and then decide whether you actually need to join full-time. If you then decide not to bother, just remember to cancel your free trial well in advance because full subscription is automatic if you don't.

The second thing is that many of us use the search facilities of Findmypast and Ancestry in tandem - search both concurrently to pin down the possibilities more exactly, but only join one of them to get at the original documents. The originals are identical on both sites.

I suspect you're about to say goodbye to a fair bit of free time, but it's good fun !!

[Ann]

Ouch... a painful story about the photos!!! Thanks again.

[brian]

ann, one suggestion for Ancestry etc.once given by someone far more knowledgeable than I was to use the first name for an unfound census year if you know the general area. This can take time but I found it can work and you get the required result.

Brian