What would you recommend?

[Chubbler]

Hi,
I would like to ask, as a beginner if it is a good idea to subscribe to sites like ancestry, or purchase copies of Census returns, presumably individual counties on cd, as majority of my searching has to be done "online" when I have some spare minutes?!
Thank you.

[Geoffers]

You're asking the right question, you have to think what you can use and how best to put it to good effect if you only have limited resources (time and money) - BUT - researching history is time consuming.

With the advent of more resources online, it does appear that some people think that they just need a computer and internet connection to trace a family history in a weekend. The reality is that it takes years of learning and digging.

So, to try and partially answer your question; I'd recommend that you sit down and think exactly what it is that you want to do, where you've got to so far, and what you need to find out.

continued...

[Geoffers]

Do you just want to find out about individuals and a get dates for when they lived, what they did for a living, or do you also want to explore their and the communties where they lived?

I'd suggest that you need a combination of different sources. Buy the census CDs, directories, etc. Once you've got them, you can use them whenever you like to build up a picture of life at that time.

Use the relevant County Record Office, you may not need to go there in person too often - many provide a copying service, or will provide copies of original records on fiches/film.

Use online sources such as 1837online, TNA's document's online, and rather than subscribe to Ancestry, just buy a limited access to view a certain number of documents within a given time. You may find that you like Ancestry and want to purchase a full subscription; but don't jump in with both feet 'til you've tested the water.

Planning is all important.
Geoffers

[Peter Goodey]

Geoffers has beaten me to it with some good advice.

I'll just summarise what I was going to say.

Don't be obsessed with censuses. They are only one source of data - you may or may not find that you need many of them and a few pay-per-view accesses may be sufficient. It's possible with luck to get back to early Victorian times by only dipping into a few censuses (it may be nice and occasionally revealing to look at more censuses but doing so might turn out to be a back burner job).

Decide on your budget and allocate it carefully. Don't be like one self-styled researcher I briefly corresponded with. When I told her that a birth certificate was needed she cheerily remarked that she didn't buy birth certificates because her budget had all gone on an Ancestry sub! Well, you can't do genealogy solely by censuses.

What I've said assumes that, as you hinted, you really are strapped for time and ability to travel. If you manage to juggle your life in such a way that you are able to visit Records Offices and the major London repositories, you'll find you have a much more rewarding experience.

You sound like someone who knows the value of sound planning so I'd recommend that an essential and early step is to learn from the experts. A trip to the library to borrow or order a book like Ancestral Trails might be a good start.

[busyglen]

As a `newbie' of some 5 years, I agree with all this advice. Unfortunately when I started, this forum wasn't here and I hadn't a clue as to how to use message boards, or that they even existed.

I started with a couple of books from the library, which I found very useful, in that it explained where to go for what, and suggested making a list of your aims. As has already been suggested, work out what you want to achieve....a direct line of ancestors, births, marriages and deaths? Details of the families? The places and history of the places that they live? Once you have worked out how you want to approach this interesting occupation, you will have a better idea of `where' to go.

Good luck!

Glenys

[Wirral]

Before buying any censuses or subscribing to online sites, check first what is available for free. The most useful sites for censuses that I have found are:
www.familysearch.org (The International Genealogical Index - IGI)
http://freecen.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl
http://www.1901census.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ Although it is not free to look at the census pages on this site, you can quiz the index for free.
http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/ You can use this site to take you to links for each county & then on to towns & parishes. As well as all kinds of useful links there, you may strike lucky & find that some kind person has already transcribed & index the place you are looking for.
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/ This also has lots of useful links to censuses.

Bear in mind that all these are transcriptions/indexes of censuses & can have errors, so at some stage you will probably want to look at the actual census pages (which can also have errors, but that's another story!)

[Wirral]

If you do decide to splash out & buy or subscribe, then one thing to bear in mind is where your ancestors came from & what they did. If they were farmers & tied to the land, or lived in a small village since the year dot, then buying a copy of the census for that county may be your best choice. But if they moved all over the place, or lived in a big city then you may be better with an indexed site, such as ancestry subscription or pay-as-you-go for 1851 - 1901; or pay-as-you-go on the 1901online site for 1901; or British Origins for the 1841 census (& a few 1871 censuses around London).
I've used all these sites & think that the British Origins one is the best-indexed. But despite its poorer indexing I probably use the Ancestry site the most because many of my ancestors rarely stayed in one county, never mind one village between censuses.

[Chubbler]

Thank you all very much indeed, that is exactly the sort of advice I was looking for. I have just been scratching at the surface but want to dig deep and find out as much about the people and their lives as possible. I can see I'm going to be happily occupied for many years to come, and when time permits in the future, I will move away from the computer screen and visit Record Offices.
Again, many thanks.

[Mark]

There's a lot of pros and cons with censuses. Certainly they shouldn't be used in isolation. If you can get back to 1881 reliably, then that census index is available online for free.

I'd certainly recommend you obtaining marriage certificates, and looking through the parish registers for the area(s) you're interested in. If the IGI covers that area so much the better for your initial research, but do check what it gives you against the original entries. The county family history society and/or private individuals might also have transcribed some of the registers too.

And the 1881 LDS website is helpful in that it allows you to search for a member of a household specifying the head of household, rather than just looking for a single name. So you can search for say "Emma", with head of household "William", and narrow the search by year range and location. This helps when the surname is "variable". Ancestry doesn't give you that option, and soundex has limitations.

Don't be too precious about spelling accuracy. Names often change over time, and by the person recording the event. In the 18th & 19th centuries children pop along every two or so years, and christian names within a family often follow a narrow range.

Also before taking the plunge and spending money on Ancestry, get used to how to use indexes efficiently, and techniques on how to find elusive people. If nothing else, look through some of the theads on this site, to see how other people have fared.

In the end censuses are rewarding, if nothing else than the historical development of hamlets, villages, towns etc, as the enumerator(s) trod the paths collecting the schedules.

Mark

[BeeE586]

There is little to be usefully added to the excellent advice offered above. There are always general rules to be followed (such as meticulous recording and noting sources), but at the end of the day you will find the way that suits you. Initially, as has been suggested, make as much use as you can of free sources.

One further thing I would suggest is not to neglect burial indexes and records. It has been known for a tree of four or five generations to be based upon a person later found to have died in infancy - not by me I might add.

It is a rewarding pastime and I wish you joy of it.

Eileen --