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Census Lookups General Lookups => Census and Resource Discussion => Topic started by: TerriG on Sunday 23 February 14 18:17 GMT (UK)
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Received 3 months gold subscription to The Genealogist when I subscribed to WDYTYA magazine at the show yesterday. However, having tried it with some of my ancestors from different parts of the UK, I fail to see how it is different/better than findmypast or ancestry. They claim that they have many more different types of records than the other sites, but it seems that there aren't many actual records in each collection.
Could someone who has used this website, and got on well with it, help me out please, as I don't want to waste my subscription. The areas I am mainly interested in are: Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Cheshire, Dumfries-shire, Fife, Lanarkshire, Norfolk, Shropshire.
Thanks
TerriG
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The site is best known as it has worked with the National Archives to host the Non-Conformist registers in series RG4 and RG8 which is great if you have non-conformist ancestors.
I'm sure you've seen this
http://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/nameindex/ai_content.php
Dawn
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I subscribe to The Genealogist. I use the censuses (naturally) and the non-Conformist records and the PCC Wills. I find the transcriptions better than Ancestry, though not completely without errors. If you are only subscribing to one site, I think The Genealogist is the best value, though not the most comprehensive.
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You can also search the censuses by address and by family (giving just first names, which is great if the surname has been badly transcribed)
Sue
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Hi,
I had a Diamond Membership bought for me as a gift - found it a difficult site to navigate around & overpriced for the content.
Regards
Dolly _007
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I decided to give it a go, but haven't found anything that I've not already found on FindMyPast or Ancestry. I was hoping the non conformist registers might have thrown up something to help with mini brick walls, but nothing. I won't be renewing my sub.
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The site is best known as it has worked with the National Archives to host the Non-Conformist registers in series RG4 and RG8 which is great if you have non-conformist ancestors.
It's worth bearing in mind that ancestry now also have the non-conformist registers, Fleet marriages and PCC Wills which removes most of their "exclusive" data sets (other than some transcripts).
While they do have digitised and indexed copies of some out of print books, many of them are available to view elsewhere on the web for free and I've never found their viewer for these very easy to use. I also don't like the fact everything is in pdf form because if the image isn't very good, you can't manipulate it very easily.
In light of ancestry now having the three main data sets I use on thegenealogist, I won't be renewing my sub this year either.
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Thank you all for your interesting responses. It seems that opinion is split! Since posting I've used it for looking up the census, but that in itself is frustrating as the subscription I have doesn't allow me to view the 1911 census. I've also had a look at the non-conformist records, but so far none of my ancestors appear. It's fair to say that I've not been won over yet, but you never know!
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I also signed to the genealogist via the free wdytya code but im not very impressed either. I can't seem to find hardly any of my ancestors. I mainly wanted to look at wills but when I typed in my ancestor it said there was no will when I know there is as I found it on the gov website. I will not be renewing.
I did a trial on Genes Reunited and didn't find that good either. I thinkfamily search and ancestry are the best.
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The Genealogist only has will indexes upto 1858 when the State then took over the function of granting probate from the Church courts.
https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/researchguide/wills-108/
Calendars to wills 1858 to date can be found direct at the HMCTS web site or indexed by name and date on Ancestry 1858-1966
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Calendars to wills 1858 to date can be found direct at the HMCTS web site or indexed by name and date on Ancestry 1858-1966
Also now browsable on FindMyPast up to 1959, in a somewhat cumbersome format, but it might help those with FindMyPast subscriptions. The dataset is called Probate Calendars Of England & Wales 1858-1959.