* Find my Past... or Ancestry ?

[Woodg]

Check out your local library or family history group. I don't know how it works in the UK, but here in Australia (Orange, NSW in particular for me, but other local libraries have similar facilities), the library provides free access to Ancestry and FindMyPast from PCs in the library.

And the Society of Australian Genealogists (SAG) provides members with access to MyHeritage from your own PC at home (and Ancestry, FindMyPast and The Genealogist from within the SAG library in Sydney - so not very practical for those not near Sydney). But maybe the UK equivalent to SAG offers a similar service.

Glenn

[tatewise]

Yes, there are often similar subscription benefits available from UK libraries but varies from county to county.

[rfj1001]

You probably know this already but look for a good discounted price first and then go via a cashback site (i use a browser plugin that gives me the headsup that one is available).

That reduced the fmp cost by £30 and ancestry (where there is usually a 50% link on this site) by £10.

Every little helps

[Tony Jones]

I do have access to both via my local library but only at certain times, plus I'm rather spoiled by better internet access at home. I also don't have a laptop, so any trip involves bits of paper and retyping later. I also tend to work on my tree at odd hours when they aren't open.

I am planning to run a few comparison queries there to compare FMP and Ancestry. So far I'm getting no sense of preference for either, probably as expected. My current feeling (60:40) is I will go Ancestry just to make a change, and see about a short term sub.

[Mark1834]

A potential game-changer for those of us who hop around between sites to get the best deals according to our current areas of research is FMP making the 1921 Census available on shorter subscriptions.

I took advantage of an excellent FMP offer back in the summer that essentially gave me 3 months upgrade to "all site" access for about £16. That expires in 28 hours time, but I've downloaded a lot of records that I will transcribe and enter into FH over the winter.

It's also worth keeping an eye on upcoming record releases. Ancestry have already announced new datasets of East Anglian parish records (Suffolk and Cambridgeshire) for 2024, so they will keep me very busy when the time comes.

So at the moment, I'll stay with my half-price global Ancestry (similar to above references) as my base case, and probably dip into another 3 month FMP sub sometime next year.

[jelv]

Do you want the 1921 UK census? If so it's only on FMP.

[fhtess65]

Just to clarify re Ancestry Library Edition. It is NOT the full version of Ancestry and can only be accessed in the library. While it has decent access to the major collections, it doesn't have all of them. More significantly, you can't access your tree via ALE - if you find records, you have to either download them while at the library or email yourself links to access/download at home.

Finally, Ancestry's T&C forbid you to re-upload records found via ALE to an Ancestry tree. You can, of course, attach them directly in private genealogy software.

At some libraries you have to use a library computer, while at others, you can use your own device but have to be connected to their wifi to ensure access.

All that said, ALE is a huge boon for many who can't afford a regular subscription. Over the last 8 years I've shown many, many patrons how to use ALE and they have been thrilled by what they've found.

There are many more research sources than Ancestry and FMP. See [kb]research:useful_research_web_sites|> Useful Research Web Sites[/kb].

Many public libraries subscribe to Ancestry making it free to library members.

<SNIP>

[fhtess65]

I have a sub to both as well - definitely need them as each has record sets for different branches of my family, plus I love the newspapers on FMP. I also maintain trees on both, but find Ancestry's tree far easier to use.

I would love to get TheGenealogist as well, for some of their unique databases, but can't afford the added expense.

I'm confused, though, by people saying the 1939 Register is only on FMP - I also have access to in on Ancestry with my Worldwide sub:

ALE1939Register.jpg (31.53 KiB) Viewed 1619 times

It's very convenient as if I can't find someone in 1939 on one service, I can usually find them on the other.

<SNIP>

It would be good if FH also found hints from Ancestry - is there any prospect of that happening ? Any views on the pros and cons of FMP versus Ancestry would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

[tatewise]

Teresa, the references to the 1939 Register only on FMP were posted 6 years ago in Sep 2017.

[Mark1834]

This is an old thread, so was true when posted. FMP have a couple of years start in return for doing the digitising, but record sets become available to other providers later. Think I remember reading that the 1921 Census won't be on Ancestry until at least 2025.

[fhtess65]

Ah - I missed the fact it was an old thread *sigh*... not enough caffeine in my system, apparently...

[brianlummis]

t's also worth keeping an eye on upcoming record releases. Ancestry have already announced new datasets of East Anglian parish records (Suffolk and Cambridgeshire) for 2024, so they will keep me very busy when the time comes.

Sorry Mark but the latest news on the Suffolk release date is late 2025!

[Mark1834]

Yes, it looks like nothing will be released until all the scanning and indexing is complete. Oh well, better late than never…

[Tony Jones]

Just to follow up, I ran some queries against Ancestry and FMP, quickly deciding the way I want to work suits Ancestry better.

Following tips elsewhere in this forum I managed a 12 months Uk Premium sub for £60, which I'm happy with. Just need to remind myself to review hard before it autorenews

[ColeValleyGirl]

Just to follow up, I ran some queries against Ancestry and FMP, quickly deciding the way I want to work suits Ancestry better.

Following tips elsewhere in this forum I managed a 12 months Uk Premium sub for £60, which I'm happy with. Just need to remind myself to review hard before it autorenews

Why not cancel the renewal straightaway?

[jmurphy]

I have a sub to both as well - definitely need them as each has record sets for different branches of my family, plus I love the newspapers on FMP. I also maintain trees on both, but find Ancestry's tree far easier to use.

I would love to get TheGenealogist as well, for some of their unique databases, but can't afford the added expense.

I'm confused, though, by people saying the 1939 Register is only on FMP - I also have access to in on Ancestry with my Worldwide sub:

ALE1939Register.jpg

It's very convenient as if I can't find someone in 1939 on one service, I can usually find them on the other.

<SNIP>

It would be good if FH also found hints from Ancestry - is there any prospect of that happening ? Any views on the pros and cons of FMP versus Ancestry would be much appreciated.

Thank you.

Re: 1939 Register -- Ancestry's version updates much less frequently than at findmypast, so its version seems old and stale. As always when two sites have "the same" records, there are some households which turn up easily at Ancestry and some which are impossible to find on Ancestry and must be searched on findmypast.

FMP regularly updates the 1939 Register and opens records that have become eligible to view because of the 100-year rule that closes records depending on birthdate. I use custom MyTreeTags at Ancestry to flag the heads of households where someone in the household has a closed record so I can find them and review the records on findmypast from time to time.

Re: hints.

AmericanAncestors.org has a companion site AmericanAncesTREES at https://www.americanancestors.org/tools ... ancestrees
Public trees are free and you can get hints from many different websites. When I did a trial, I think we got hints about what Ancestry databases might be useful to search but not the specific hints. That may have changed since I used the site; after testing I took my test tree down (private trees require a paid subscription).

Re: search prompts:

This isn't the same as getting hints directly from a tree, but I use ORA (Online Repository Assistant) which allows you to define 'search targets' that give you a 1-click option to do a global search at the targeted site. If I am looking at my Ancestry tree, I can search for a person at findmypast (or on Ancestry itself in a new tab) with one click. If I am looking at a record at findmypast, I can click a button to search at Ancestry, and so on. More info at https://ora-extension.com/en/intro.htm#/ and at Terry Rigel's website https://tmg.reigelridge.com/ORA.htm

FamilySearch's Family Tree has a similar one-click function to search FamilySearch, Ancestry, findmypast, MyHeritage, Geneanet, Filae, and Google. If any of your people are in FamilySearch Family Tree, you could make use of those prompts and of the research prompts there (gaps that might mean children are missing, etc.)

I also have GenSmarts, http://gensmarts.com/ an old-school utility which reads a GEDCOM and offers suggestions for items you might search to fill gaps in research. It doesn't work quite as well with a GEDCOM as it does with the supported progams, but you can go through and mark in GenSmarts the items you've already found. You can tell it what sites you have subscriptons to, and you can generate to-do lists based on repository.

Their FAQ http://gensmarts.com/faq.html says:

GenSmarts has many more free sites in its inventory than pay sites. You can configure GenSmarts to know what you have access to (the default is free sites only) and what you don't, then each is clearly marked red or green to indicate your ability to access them. If you don't want to see any suggestions you can’t access, you can simply turn on a filter so they’re not displayed. Many users who don't subscribe to pay sites use GenSmarts to print lists of things they want from pay sites, and then do their research at a local library or Family History Center where they have access.

also note:

GenSmarts comes with a known records inventory that supports research for the USA, Canada, and the UK. There is also a little content for Australia. You can add your own known records inventory definitions for any country.

There are a couple of threads here in the forum about using GenSmarts. In one I talked about using GenSmarts for prompts from information we had in our own libraries. Theoretically I could tell GenSmarts what CD-ROMs and books I have on hand, and it would prompt me to look in them, but I'm behind on adding the info there.

[jmurphy]

The question of findmypast vs. Ancestry - it depends. Just like real estate: it's all about location, location, location.

It all depends on what record sets you need to search and where the records are on offer. If you need clear census images, The Genealogist has recently updated their entire collection. Do check with your local societies and Family History Centers to see what you can access there.

I tend to use Ancestry trees as online Sandboxes. When I find information on other sites I add Weblinks to the person's profile for ease of access. I can see things at a glance and it keeps things organized until I can get caught up with my data entry in Family Historian. I do make some uise of the tree hints at findmypast but I'm more comfortable adding information on Ancestry's online tree system, especially for items which occur on a person's profile multiple times like residences.

For searching records, I much prefer findmypast over Ancestry. I especially appreciate the radius search on findmypast and the ability to sort records in chronological order. If you are tracking a person through electoral rolls and directories, it is so much easier sort chronologically and work your way through the results on findmypast. As a work-around on Ancestry, I open each directory in a separate tab and arrange them chronologically to work through them.

Ancestry has a feature to filter out the records already attached to your tree from global search results, which seems to be active about 20% of the time these days. I use ORA (Online Repository Assistant) which provides tick boxes to show what I've already looked at on Ancestry.

The big difference between now and when I wrote my older (2017) remarks has to do with the newspaper collection at findmypast. The search interface has been changed drastically. The US newspaper collection is no longer there.

[sbell95]

Re: search prompts:

This isn't the same as getting hints directly from a tree, but I use ORA (Online Repository Assistant) which allows you to define 'search targets' that give you a 1-click option to do a global search at the targeted site. If I am looking at my Ancestry tree, I can search for a person at findmypast (or on Ancestry itself in a new tab) with one click. If I am looking at a record at findmypast, I can click a button to search at Ancestry, and so on. More info at https://ora-extension.com/en/intro.htm#/ and at Terry Rigel's website https://tmg.reigelridge.com/ORA.htm

FamilySearch's Family Tree has a similar one-click function to search FamilySearch, Ancestry, findmypast, MyHeritage, Geneanet, Filae, and Google. If any of your people are in FamilySearch Family Tree, you could make use of those prompts and of the research prompts there (gaps that might mean children are missing, etc.)

I also have GenSmarts, http://gensmarts.com/ an old-school utility which reads a GEDCOM and offers suggestions for items you might search to fill gaps in research. It doesn't work quite as well with a GEDCOM as it does with the supported progams, but you can go through and mark in GenSmarts the items you've already found. You can tell it what sites you have subscriptons to, and you can generate to-do lists based on repository.

There is also a browser extension called WikiTree Sourcer which can be used independently of WikiTree but works way faster for me. You also don't need to manully set up the search targets unlike with ORA.

[jmurphy]

There is also a browser extension called WikiTree Sourcer which can be used independently of WikiTree but works way faster for me. You also don't need to manully set up the search targets unlike with ORA.

Oh, that's good to know, thanks, Sarah!

I forgot to say, one advantage over using search targets over hints is that you avoid crazy Ancestry hints like hints for wife #1 on wife #2's profile, hints like the one where my maternal uncle's record was hinted on my father's profile (!) and so on.

[fhtess65]

I too recommend the WikiTree Sourcer...it's not pretty or perfect, but it does capture the main details quickly and works with a variety of sources, including (happily for me) Geneteka (a site that indexes Polish records).

<SNIP>
There is also a browser extension called WikiTree Sourcer which can be used independently of WikiTree but works way faster for me. You also don't need to manully set up the search targets unlike with ORA.

[kimgroothuis]

Tony, one change in the last 6 years is that Ancestry does have the 1939 Register, and has had for a few years now, so if you prefer Ancestry (as I do) don't let that put you off. I have both, as their coverage is different (as others have said) but I realise that's not an option for everyone.

[Tony Jones]

Tony, one change in the last 6 years is that Ancestry does have the 1939 Register, and has had for a few years now, so if you prefer Ancestry (as I do) don't let that put you off. I have both, as their coverage is different (as others have said) but I realise that's not an option for everyone.

Thanks. As I did say somewhere above, I went for Ancestry and so far am pleased. I'm working back through some core people from a slightly different angle, and finding out new things about moderately close relatives (g grandmother)

So far, so good!

[ississi]

Most of my relatives are in Yorkshire/Lancashire (and a Scottish contingent too, so I mostly use scotlandspeople for them).
I've found FMP the most useful, and it is supposed to be better for Yorkshire, but I did find some missing info in Ancestry which FMP didn't have when I added a subscription to them for a while. I find Ancestry a lot harder to usefully search than FMP.
Using familysearch.org can lead to transcribed sources which you might then find the copies of in Ancestry or FMP.

[Tony Jones]

Most of my relatives are in Yorkshire/Lancashire (and a Scottish contingent too, so I mostly use scotlandspeople for them).
I've found FMP the most useful, and it is supposed to be better for Yorkshire, but I did find some missing info in Ancestry which FMP didn't have when I added a subscription to them for a while. I find Ancestry a lot harder to usefully search than FMP.
Using familysearch.org can lead to transcribed sources which you might then find the copies of in Ancestry or FMP.

I also use familysearch to get a different set of results here and there. So far I'm getting a lot from ancestry as it's taking a different look at records and I'm filling in some spaces. In my particular case, I found a lot of London parish records giving me lots of baptism data. Of course I now have a new set of people I need to find in 1921, so a trip to my local library will be in order soon!

It's not without problems (all sites seem to have), and really pushes user trees towards you in the hints. They more often than not amplify mistakes in original transcriptions — five people all use a mis-translation for the same record and the hint system seems to thing that makes it more likely to be true. Early days though, and I have picked up some information I'd never seen before.

Overall I'd say it's worth switching between FMP and Ancestry occasionally, just to keep it fresh.

[jmurphy]

I've said this before, but if you can't keep a subscription to everything at once, consider keeping a 'records wishlist' of things you'd like to see, and sign up for e-newsletters to get news about what's happening on the sites you don't have a subscription to.

Then you can take advantage of free access weekends like this weekend at findmypast:

https://www.findmypast.co.uk/?utm_conte ... um=twitter

Findmypast is free this weekend
Honour your ancestors’ legacies with free* hints, records and newspapers, from 9–13 November

*Exclusions apply

Much of findmypast is free this weekend. The 1921 Census is one of the exclusions.