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Genealogy/memories

Is one Family History site any better than another?

(41 Posts)
Alima Fri 13-Nov-15 09:17:41

I am about to pick up on my family history delving after over 10 years. There are far more records on line nowadays, used to spend days visiting local history libraries. The thing is, which site to subscribe to? My interest will be mostly in parish records and newspaper archives. They all seem to do the census records. Should I go for Ancestry, FMP, or Genes Reunited or are they pretty much the same do you think?

Leticia Thu 09-Feb-17 17:43:30

I have recently come to the conclusion that I like FMP best.

Floradora9 Thu 09-Feb-17 19:10:37

Be aware Ancestry is rubbish if your family were Scottish . I paid to join and kept getting negative results even for my parents . I complained to Ancestry and insisted I got a refund . They eventually gave me one and blamed the Scottish government for not letting them share the data . I blame the Scottish government for a lot but this was a new one for me . Scotland's people is good but expensive .

00mam00 Tue 07-Mar-17 23:06:35

Ninathenana, are you ticking the 'exact' box next to the facts you put in? Somehow Ancestry doesn't recognise anyone until you untick 'exact' then they will come up with a result that has all the details you had put in, weird!

Our local records office in Winchester has free access to many of the family research websites and are very helpful.

Jalima Tue 07-Mar-17 23:18:39

So many records have been transcribed with terrible spelling mistakes ninethenana because the original manuscripts were badly written or were in fact themselves misspelt - names written down just as they were pronounced, eg a great-aunt called 'Honor' was on the original census and transcribed as 'Ona'.
So, as 00mam00 says, untick the 'exact' boxes and you may get more results.
On Ancestry you have a chance to correct those which you know are wrong and give a reason.

Nelliemoser Fri 11-Aug-17 08:22:16

I own up to having three sites . My original Kith and Kin then Find my Past and Ancestry with the DNA test . Kith and Kin was a one time buy . Rather quirky but all three sites have their different good points .
I now work with two lap tops at a time the old one has a wonky screen which will not close but is still useful. Two laptops need two different mice . It gets quite confusing .
Ancestry is good for hints etc. Find my past seems to have
Data bases which are easier to use than Ancestry. You can access parish records directly rather than just see the transcript
The ancestry stuff has caused a big surge in interest but the rigour of checking the sources seem quite poor. Some one offering me some Powell's from Gloucestershire when I knew mine were all east midlands.
Go back to the 1800s and many people could not read .which gives lots of people using the same names and repeating then down through the families.
I have two Powell families doing this in Cambridgeshire. Almost certainly two brothers. It really does need care to attributing the right relatives to a family.
My direct paternal line does that . A whole cluster around Chester.
Fun though playing detectives.

Nelliemoser Fri 11-Aug-17 08:43:24

sarahc446655

Sarah I went to Ancestry DNA for my test. It gave me absolutely no surprises at all. With the FH information I already had it proved very accurate indeed.

I do have a problem in that my dads father was unknown. he was born in 1915. So there is little chance of getting anything there . (There are a couple of suspects.)

paddyann Fri 11-Aug-17 12:13:45

I have both ancestry and genes reunited but the one I use most is Scotlands people its a much easier to navigate site and its not expensive I f you have any scottish ancestors give it a go

jeanie99 Wed 01-Nov-17 23:31:04

The various sights can work out expensive so I joined my local Family History Society for £12 for the year. This allows me to research at their centre twice a week. They have Ancestry and Find My Past. I also use the free sight Family Search.

jeanie99 Wed 01-Nov-17 23:48:38

My daughter bought me a DNA testing kit for Christmas 2016 from 23andme, my brother bought the kit also. Yes it's interesting and thought provoking so much information to get your head round. You can contact people who have threads of your DNA who wish to be contacted. There is also a sharing tool which allow you to upload to other people if you wish or upload to other analysing webs sites. You could quite easily spends hours on the sight if you wanted. It also covers health and traits which is interesting. It's not for everyone but it's another tool for finding living people with threads of your DNA.

Menopaws Thu 02-Nov-17 00:07:27

I've never done it but a friend who uses it a lot swears by FMP

Kiwibird Thu 16-Nov-17 22:59:51

I'm hoping someone can let me know the answer to this question. My Great great great grandfather and his wife, both Scottish from Perthshire, left Scotland in the early 1800's and moved to Northern Ireland where they then had, and raised some children. My question is: with these children having both a Scottish mother and a Scottish father, but being born and brought up in Ireland, does this mean they are 'Irish' or are they 'Scottish'? What determines one's ethnicity? Parents or place of birth? Can someone tell me?

Jalima1108 Thu 16-Nov-17 23:18:30

Has anyone else had a fight on their hands to claim their ancestors?
Yes! I am very meticulous about my research and check and double-check to make sure I have the right person, but some other researchers just add someone into their tree because they have the 'right name' without checking further details.

They just ignore any messages pointing out that perhaps they may need to re-check angry

nigglynellie Fri 01-Dec-17 20:54:24

I've done very well on a site called 'Roots Chat' I managed to trace my paternal Irish Great Grandmother and her parents. I found out a lot about her, her marriage, where she lived, moved to and where/when she died. I also found out where my maternal grandfather fought in WW1, from 1915 - (demob) 1919.

grannyticktock Fri 01-Dec-17 22:59:16

My daughter and her husband use My Heritage. They subscribe and manage the site, but other family members can access it. I have no idea how it compares with other sites, but I enjoy having it as a record.
I think my daughter put in quite a bit of work checking census records etc and putting the details on the site. Some names are easier than others: looking for a "Clarke" in London or a "Locke" in Scotland wasn't fruitless. When it was all linked up on the site we found tbat some relationships in the last couple of generations were not as we'd been told (birth dates, marriage dates, parentage etc).
My Heritage helps you link up with other family trees which appear to have the same people (place/date of birth, etc); if you want you can check out their trees and "piggyback" on their research, and send personal messages.

paddyann Sat 02-Dec-17 00:09:59

your nationality is determined by where you are bornkiwibird so your relatives are Irish at that time there was no NI or Republic it was all Ireland