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Archiver > ABERDEEN > 2010-06 > 1277554697


From: Ray Hennessy <>
Subject: Re: [ABERDEEN] Ancestry.com
Date: Sat, 26 Jun 2010 13:18:17 +0100
References: <AANLkTinLuB1QMbWJ-J7zoPKCxustP7PDIW3Tcg5UboDk@mail.gmail.com><E73B5DD7-B046-4C57-8689-1A2F2CA7617B@aberdeen-harbour.co.uk>
In-Reply-To: <E73B5DD7-B046-4C57-8689-1A2F2CA7617B@aberdeen-harbour.co.uk>


Hi Alexander

What a great summary of the benefits and problems of Ancestry. I'm almost
convinced. But it's worth reminding folk that there are often places that
have a group subscription to Ancestry [usually .com rather than .co.uk].
Our local Family History Society has one as does ANESFHS. And Public
Libraries in more enlightened areas have one too although you may need to
book time on a terminal. Even if such a place is not too easy to get to, it
can be a good idea to test the service on one of these first.

I was as ANESFHS the week before last and found the swamp of US records very
daunting. However the access to Census records was extremely helpful
especially with the presentation of the whole family with the hit record.
This meant I could eliminate most of the hits without further ado. You
can't do that on Scotland's People - you have to see the image.

I found plenty of howlers but didn't think to end in corrections. Slapped
wrist.

Anyway thanks again Alexander.

PS
On reflection, I agree with George Brander about finding far-flung
relatives on Ancestry.com although the torrent of irrelevant data can be
daunting. I imagine they ignore such parameters as "born in Scotland"
because they are uncertain about the accuracy of transcriptions!!
[?Abordeenshore? Scatland?]

Best wishes

Ray



On 26 June 2010 12:03, Alexander Bisset <>wrote:

> Only one of the replies so far have given you much information.
>
> Ancestry.com for Scottish records is really mostly limited to the censuses.
> They have the 1841 to 1901 census details online with all the info on the
> census apart from marital status. What they don't have is the image of the
> census.
>
> However what they do have is a subscription model so you can do search
> after search after search and you pay only once as your up front annual
> subscription. This is actually extremely liberating as you actually feel
> free to follow hunches and try other searches something you are always
> reluctant to do with a subscription site.
>
> Having said that Ancestry.co.uk has clearly been transcribed by non native
> English speakers and there are some right howlers for professions etc. They
> do have a report button however and quickly update the site with your
> corrections.
>
> Where Scotland's People scores is that it has all the primary source
> material and despite being a subscription site is very cheap. Compare
> Scotlands Peoples charge of 5 credits or just £1 sterling for a certificate
> that you see on screen instantly and can print off or save to your own
> machine with the service you get for English records.
>
> With English records you have only rough indexes to search and view online
> you have to pay £9.50 a certificate and you need to send off for it in the
> post and wait up to a week for it to arrive only to find it contains
> shockingly little information compared to the wealth of info on a Scottish
> record.
>
> So yes www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk is THE number one site for Scottish
> records. I just wish they offered a subscription model. I'd happily pay up
> to £500 a year for a subscription and yes in that into using Scotland's
> People that would actually be a saving. It's just the immense freedom to
> "just look anyway" that a subscription gives you.
>
> The other thing an Ancestry.co.uk subscription gives is access to all the
> rest of the UK census and various BMD indexes including searches on the
> FreeBMD database as well as many other ancillary sources like military
> records. Plus the other users having stored their trees online and the
> searching you can do to match up with them.
>
> The one bit of good advice you got was take advantage of the
> Ancestry.co.uk free 14 day offer. Note that if you decide it's not for you
> then you need to remember to cancel otherwise you will be charged a
> subscription. Note too that you want the .co.uk site for UK records DON'T
> sing up via the .com site or you will be frustrated with the number of
> American results it throws up.
>
> Hope this helps.
> --
> There are only 10 types of people in the world those that understand binary
> and those that don't. And some of those that do have an iPhone 4!!
>
>


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