Lost Cousins

[jillruss]

I notice Lost Cousins is free from now until next Tuesday.

I put a few of my ancestors on from the 1911 and 1881 censuses a while ago but only ever had one match. I've been putting some more on from the 1841 census this afternoon but no matches at all so far.

I just wondered whether I should give up! Have other people had better luck than me, or is that the general result?

[LizzieW]

No-one has ever contacted me and I've put quite a few people on there, but haven't had any matches.  I do enjoy the newsletters though.

[jillruss]

Me too - they're very informative.

[groom]

You might be interested in this thread

http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=739760.0

[sami]

I've got close to 150 ancestors on there - mostly the 1881 census but some on the 1841 and 1911 as well.

Have had 3 contacts: 1 was by marriage and though the contact was interesting there was no information we could give each other, and 2 were one-name studies that never responded to the initial contact.

Still, you never know, there's always hope that an interesting contact will turn up.

sami

[LizzieW]

The other thread is interesting.  I've had e-mail correspondence with Peter Calver a few times.  He can be abrupt but I just take that with a pinch of salt.

[GrahamSimons]

Lost Cousins has worked for me. The connections were on very remote twigs on the furthest branches of the family tree; some information exchanged. The principle is simple and - once you've seen it - obvious, and should be much better targeted than posting on surname fora line Rootsweb. It is certainly likely to be far more accurate than member trees on Ancestry (see loads of threads about that elsewhere on Rootschat!)The more time you invest in entering data, the more likely you are to make a link, but of course it is a matter of chance and some of the contacts will inevitably be with researchers we already know through other routes.

[Manchester Rambler]

I always thought that Lost Cousins was a great idea which never quite took off for some reason.  I entered all my extended family 1881 details (must admit I didn't persevere with other years), and had just 2 contacts: one genuinely related, and one one-name study who wasn't interested in exchanging info.

[Ruskie]

I agree with you MR. I thought it was a very good idea.

I hate to admit that I was too lazy to enter many ancestors, though it was many years ago (and I believe the site was free then?).

I keep meaning to enter more, which I may take up the free offer to do.

I didn't even realise that you could enter ancestors for more than just the 1881 census.  The idea originally was that everyone had free access to the 1881 census, so in theory there were no excuses for anyone not to enter their ancestors.

I also enjoy the newsletters.

Added: woooo - I just read the other thread. I had noticed his 'loyalty' to FindMyPast but had no idea about the other issues.