Advice on genealogy websites please

[Davedrave]

I have been doing FH research for a while but I must confess that I only realised about a week ago that very good images of actual parish records and wills etc could be found on and downloaded from websites. I had used paysites on a casual basis in the past simply to get census data and a few newspaper articles.

I have been using a website which has particularly good coverage of one of my main areas (Leics., Warks., Staffs), but seemingly much less satisfactory coverage of Glos., Worcs., and Surrey. My question is, would a different website maybe have this coverage? I am very keen to be able to download images of the originals, not transcripts. Please note that I’m not asking anyone to guide me to a specific website, which might contravene rules here.

Dave

[Rosinish]

I'm sure it's possible to log onto sites for which you don't subscribe to check out what's on offer?

familysearch.org (free to join & free to use) would be a good start but it all depends on what records you are seeking as the list could be endless?

Annie

[Davedrave]

I'm sure it's possible to log onto sites for which you don't subscribe to check out what's on offer?

familysearch.org (free to join & free to use) would be a good start but it all depends on what records you are seeking as the list could be endless?

Annie

I’m only seeking parish records of births, marriages and deaths chiefly for the counties I mentioned. I didn’t seem able to see what was available on the website I am currently using without taking out a subscription as opposed to a cheaper option just for censuses. It has been well worth the money so far, but whereas there are over 1,000,000 records for baptisms for some of the counties on this paysite, for others there seem to be just a few tens of thousands. So I suppose what I’m asking is whether one of the paysites has numbers of records in the hundreds of thousands for, for example, Gloucestershire.

[KGarrad]

The usual websites (Ancestry, FindMyPast, The Genealogist) all have different coverage.
The different county archives or record offices differ as to which site they signed up with.

I no longer have a subscription to either Ancestry or FindMyPast, but I can examine what data sets they have?
Card Catalogue on Ancestry.
A-Z of Record Sets on FindMyPast.


Finally, just to correct your statement:
Parish Registers hold no records of births or deaths
But they DO have Baptisms and Burials.

[Little Nell]

Ancestry has images of both Surrey and Gloucestershire registers.  You would need to look at their card catalogue to find the exact coverage.  And of course Ancestry is available at many public libraries.

Can't help with the Worcestershire registers.  It may well be worth checking FamilySearch, but sometimes the access conditions are restricted to their Family History Centres.

Nell

Added: sorry - similar reply!

[Ruskie]

I think you are able to mention the names of sites here. Which one are you currently using?

You will have to look at the specific sites such as Ancestry and Find My Past, and others, to see what each one has on offer. Each is different and I can't speak for all, but I know Ancestry and FindMyPast tell you how many of a specific parish record for example, they do have. This information is sometimes not obvious and you might have to dig around to find it. Some of them proudly announce that they have released new records, but may find that they are limited, eg 2,000 parish records between 1780 and 1820 in a specific parish, when in reality this is a miniscule proportion of the actual numbers of PRs within that time and place. There may be fewer available that you expect by just looking at the title eg "Parish Records for X Parish". Originals are not always viewable online either.

It may also be that these records may not be available for certain areas - perhaps not photographed or lost? You may wish to contact archives of specific area to ask where the holdings are that you are interested in. Sometimes google can help with this.

Added: another similar reply. 

[Davedrave]

Thanks for the answers and I can see that a question I was going to ask has been answered for me too. So different record offices signed up with different websites. I’m fortunate that Findmypast has generally excellent coverage for my main area of interest.

Point taken about births/baptisms and deaths/burials. In fact I’ve come across a few C17th records which actually did record the d.o.b. and the date of baptism. Pity they didn’t all do the same.

Dave

[barryd]

I have Ancestry, Find My Past, FamilySearch, Durham Records Online, the list can go on forever, some free and some paid for. As long as the person has money or some notoriety Times of London, or even  or i-announce or Google. 

[Sloe Gin]

I happened upon this list for The Genealogist the other day while looking for something else entirely.  I had failed to find it when I specifically looked on their website for information on their PR coverage.

https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk/coverage/parish-records/warwickshire/?affid=fiuhwk&level=diamond#includes

As you can see, they are cagey about what images they have.  I suspect it's not a large proportion, or they would be more forthcoming with that information.

The database records consist of easily searched transcripts of the original records which allow you to search them on various fields and may also have linked images of the original registers.