12 th Mar 2014 U3A Family History Group Programme for 21th Mar 2014 Welcome to any new members Comment – A reminder about the visit to The National Archives – a £5 deposit and for those needing one, the Reader Ticket Application Form This Month – “Family History Websites ”

12 th Mar 2014 Family History Websites What are they and why do we want to access them What can a Family History Website give us and what does it cost Which one is the best value? Other useful websites This is my personal opinion, so I shall also take opinions from the floor to give you a wider perspective on the options.

12 th Mar 2014 What are they and why do we want to access them Provide the essential Family History data. Provide a tremendous amount of background information and social history. Provide access and communications to other people researching theirs ancestors. Provide a means to draw up Family History Charts. Enables us to access this data from our own homes at any time we want.

12 th Mar 2014 The Essential Family History Data Census Data, Electoral Role and Tax data Births, Marriages and Deaths Index Parish Records:- Limited Military Data:- Prior to 1914, WW1, WW2 Emigration & Immigration Records (Passenger Lists):- to USA, Canada & Australia Public Records – Wills Publications – Directories and Papers (Times) Ability to build your own Family Tree & search other peoples trees

12 th Mar 2014 The Main Contenders A similar set of data for each, but the difference lies in the subtle additions/omissions in each set. So let us look at the Census Data for each.

12 th Mar 2014 Ancestry.co.uk

12 th Mar 2014 Ancestry.co.uk – Census data What one would expect, the Censuses for England, Wales and Scotland. Note the additional Electoral roles for various Counties or Cities.

12 th Mar 2014 Ancestry.co.uk – Census data Only 2 census data sets for Ireland. These were the only ones to survive “the troubles”. Ancestry only have the transcribed data for Scotland. They are not allowed to display the “Census Image”

12 th Mar 2014 Ancestry.co.uk – Census data

12 th Mar 2014 Ancestry.co.uk Annual Subscription Essentials Premium Worldw’e £83.40 £ £ Search key record collections - like BMD Indexes and Census recordsXXX Access the largest online collection of British WW1 military recordsXXX Other collections - British Phone Books, newspapers & University alumniXXX Create, grow and share your family tree onlineXXX Learn family history hints and tips at the online Ancestry Learning CentreXXX Monthly Ancestry membership e-newsletterXXX Get help from the world's largest online family history communityXXX Access invaluable pre-1837 Parish and Probate recordsXX Explore our Irish recordsXX Ancestry's global records - including Australia, Canada and the USAX Pay-Per-ViewPrice M’nthly M’nthly M’nthly 12 Credits for 14 days£6.95 £10.95 £12.95 £18.95

12 th Mar 2014 Find My Past

12 th Mar 2014 Find My Past Can access Censuses by street as well as by person

12 th Mar 2014 Find My Past Recent Electoral Registers saves accessing the 192.com website

12 th Mar 2014 Find My Past Rate Books record the rates paid by parishioners to the church

12 th Mar 2014 Find My Past – Comparison of rates Find My past have recently changed their cost structure. These figures are slightly out of date.

12 th Mar 2014 Genes Reunited A similar set of data but limited to just the basics. Now part of the “Find My Past” Group of companies so of little benefit.

12 th Mar 2014 Genes Reunited - Census data

12 th Mar 2014 Genes Reunited Standard Membership:- Build Family Tree & access other peoples research – £9.95 for 6 months Gold Membership:- All UK Census, BMD and Military Records - £34.95 for 6 months Pay per view credits give you access to:- census, birth, marriage and death records. 50 credits cost £5.00 GBP and are valid 7 days from purchase

12 th Mar 2014 TheGenealogist – Another Major Player

12 th Mar 2014 TheGenealogist – Their Data Collection

12 th Mar 2014 Note the 1911 Census only comes in the Diamond Subscription – since they did their own transcription of the data TheGenealogist – Their Prices

12 th Mar 2014 Family History Websites – Reviews, the BBC

12 th Mar 2014 Family History Websites – Reviews, an American Site

12 th Mar 2014 Which one is Best? Remember they all differ in what they can give you, Basic Research Annual Ancestry.co.uk £83.40 Find My Past £89.95 Gene’s Reunited £69.90 (2 x 6m cost) The Genealogist £78.95 It greatly depends on what you want and how you want to operate! Why not combine the use of Ancestry.com at the Thornbury Library with short term (3 to 6m) access to FindMyPast or The Genealogist. Or use them on a pay per view basis

12 th Mar 2014 Other Useful Websites The list of useful websites on our U3A – Family History website. Parish Records – Family Search & GenUKI Trade Directories – Historical Directories “Cyndi’s List”, providing database of Worldwide Genealogical Websites National Archives Caroline Gurney’s Tool Box – Very valuable list of websites that she has used.

12 th Mar 2014 FamilySearch is run by the Mormons and is free. It contains a wider set of data than it use to. You will find census and BMD data available to you. Of particular value for the Parish Records prior to 1837.

12 th Mar 2014 GenUKI provides a wide ranging set of information, or website links, for each parish in the UK. Always worth looking at to understand the background to the parish one is searching.

12 th Mar 2014

Other Useful Websites – the Online Parish Clerk’s (OPC’s) Again worth looking at to see if the parish data has been transcribed by volunteers.

12 th Mar 2014 Other Useful Websites – the OPC’s

12 th Mar 2014 Other Useful Websites - Historical Directories This site provides access to Trade Directories from the 1850’s onward. Good for tracing trades persons and land owners. However it is now being absorbed into the Leicester Univ. Project.

12 th Mar 2014 Other Useful Websites - Historical Directories Kelly’s Directory for Devon in 1889 An example of the parish of Washford Pyne, deep in the heart of Devon. One can see my Great, Grandfather farming in the parish

12 th Mar 2014 Other Useful Websites - Historical Directories, listing all the Traders In the larger Towns and Villages, the trades people can be found listed and sometimes the owners of each house in a street are listed in house number order.

12 th Mar 2014 Other Useful Websites

12 th Mar 2014 Other Useful Websites Cyndi’s List is provides access to a wealth of websites that contain all sorts of information about a country, town or village. Here an example of Military websites in the UK.

12 th Mar 2014 Other Useful Websites Never forget The National Archives. Not always the easiest to access but can contain much useful data, particularly for Service Personnel

12 th Mar 2014 Other Useful Websites Lastly Caroline Gurney’s Research Toolbox. This has many links to useful websites around the world

12 th Mar 2014 Other Useful Websites

12 th Mar 2014 Don’t Forget the “Useful Websites” on the Thornbury U3A, Family History Website