RootsChat.Com
England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Essex => Topic started by: dawnsh on Friday 06 February 15 11:32 GMT (UK)
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Does anybody have any idea as to how complete (or otherwise) these collections are?
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Quote from FindMyPast re Essex Banns:
There are 25,904 records covering the years between 1754 and 1950. The records are sourced from a variety of parish and probate records and are not intended to be a complete record of every Essex marriage within the time period.
And Essex Baptisms:
There are 247,271 birth records from 1538 to 1900. With information taken from a range of parish and probate records, this collection is not intended to be a complete and comprehensive record of all births in Essex between the dates given. Some gaps exist and coverage varies from parish to parish across different time periods.
Marriages:
There are 136,952 records covering the years between 1538 and 1900. The records are sourced from a variety of parish and probate records and, as such, are not intended to be a complete record of Essex marriages within the time period.
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Thanks, I saw that, but I don't know how this compares to what's available at SEAX
(The new England & Wales death index 2006-2013 at Ancestry claims a high 55% coverage but in 2013 it has 131000 of over 500000 deaths, less than 26%)
All resources are valuable, just trying to work out how likely you are to find something
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I don't think FindMyPast will admit as to which parishes they cover!
Otherwise you might not pay a subscription?! ;D
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They own up to what Westminster parishes 'should' be included in their Westminster collection but the reality is different.
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As a rough guide, I tried baptisms for "Ann" in 1800 in the Essex Baptisms set
Got entries for
Barking
Castle Hedingham
Good Easter
Great Burstead
Great Canfield
Great Sampford
Great Warley
Hedingham Sible
Hornchurch
Little Canfield
Little Sampford
Little Waltham
Sandon
Shelley
Waltham Abbey
Plus 28 entries out of 71 just defined as "Essex"
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I did a search for my family, Garrad, in baptisms.
Just 24 hits, and only 3 post-1837?! (all in 1890's)
Just 6 hits on Burials?!
And only 9 hits in Marriages.
I am less than impressed! ;D ::)
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If you look at the dates covered 1538-1900 and that they are indexes only - then FindMyPast have joined the clan and have uploaded Family Search "information" :o
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I thought (and I don't know where I got this from, so it may be only my thought and not backed up!) that as Essex PRs were online in their entirety via Essex Ancestors on SEAX, then the other subscription sites had very little coverage of Essex at all. After all, if Essex let the other sites have the data to go on their sites, then people will not use SEAX, and all their hard work getting Essex PRs online would not be cost effective.
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Well the subscription sites do have the opportunity of making an arrangement to use the information from the LDS but as far as I remember there are an awful lot of gaps.
If that was the case, then this might be the extent of their coverage
https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/1465709
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I thought (and I don't know where I got this from, so it may be only my thought and not backed up!) that as Essex Pr's were on line in their entirety via Essex Ancestors on SEAX
Only those digitised up to 1964, and not all the Banns Registers and I agree with lizdb about ERO retaining the images on SEAX to recover they own costs.
None of my family show up in the Findmypast parish bmd indexes, only in the GRO index, I have already extracted them from SEAX
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It's good to know the source of the data.
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The fact remains that not all PRs are on familysearch and subscription sites generally, and the best route to follow is to search PRs via Local Records offices.
That is a gross generalisation, I know, and familysearch and subscription sites can be the best places to start looking, and often in years and places where they do have full coverage, then results can be found easily and accurately.
But also lots of errors can be made by taking the best match from one of these sites, even a seemingly accurate match, when the "real" person is someone else whose record has not yet been transcribed on that site!
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Does anybody have any idea as to how complete (or otherwise) these collections are?
which areas were you looking for? Anyplace or person in particular. Maybe we can help you
Ronnie
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Nothing specific Ronnie, thanks for asking.
I did a baptism search for 'John Smith' as I usually do when new databases turn up.
I was surprised to see how few there were and the lack of parishes.
I got the same sort of results as StevieSteve reply #5
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But also lots of errors can be made by taking the best match from one of these sites, even a seemingly accurate match, when the "real" person is someone else whose record has not yet been transcribed on that site!
Yes ... I mark all of these as "tentative" for this very reason.