Who gets my money?

[Peter Goodey]

It might be worth considering doing the same as a cousin and me. Before we "found" each other I was with Ancestry, but have since moved to FMP, simply because my cousin is with Ancestry. This way we can look up data that might be on our individual provider.

Before the questioner does that, he should carefully check the FMP terms and Conditions which specifically prohibit sharing data with others.

Ancestry on the other hand actually to make it easy to share by providing a means of emailing an image to someone else.

[exiled brummie]

Thanks for the advice Peter. As it turns out FMP has nothing that would help my cousin, so nothing has been shared, nor will be.

[Peter Goodey]

Few of us lead blameless lives but I don't think the management want this site to promote or facilitate anything a bit dodgy.

[oxtaff]

Thanks folks.
Plenty of ideas to think about and I think I will be starting with using my local library.
Also, as I have got my Mother-in-Law interested it could be that we could use different sources (Ancestry and FMP) and see which provides the best results.
Off to see said MiL to compare notes now.
Thanks again.

[mfwebb]

I know I'm late into this thread but, for what it's worth, I have a full subscription (worldwide) with Ancestry. I upgraded to worldwide this year because I have been doing extensive research in USA and Canada for my wife. When renewal is due I will downgrade again. I like Ancestry because it has West Yorkshire Parish Records from West Yorkshire Archives where many of my and my wife's ancestors settled.

I use FMP on a PAYG basis -- I recently grabbed 250 free credits thanks to members on this forum. Their census returns can be searched by address which can't be done so easily on Ancestry. They also have GWR railway shareholders registers and burials from the National Burial Index, which is a very useful resource. I don't know which version they use. I have NBI v2 on CD but there is now a version 3.

As contributers have said before, one is not necessarily better than the other. We all need to use a variety of resources. May I suggest you choose one for a subscription and test the water with the others on a PAYG basis.

All the best,
Malcolm Webb
Lincoln UK

[exiled brummie]

The sharing of information reminds me of my cousin, who lives in Massachusetts. She obtained a copy of our G g grandfather's death certificate, took one look at the notice on the bottom of the certificate - "IT IS ILLEGAL TO ALTER OR REPRODUCE THIS DOCUMENT IN ANY MANNER" - and promptly bought 2 more, which she then airmailed to another cousin and myself here in the UK. Dare I scan it into my computer files as back up?

[Ken_R]

What a pity we can't report 'idjuts' with high volume Ipod's or Boom Boxes in cars to the Performing Rights Society!

Dare I scan it into my computer files as back up?

I certainly would. Particularly if it was to an External hard drive maintained as part of a 'flood or fire' strategy.

Passports, E111 cards, Driving Licence, Bank & Credit Cards (and contact details), I scan and upload to a Cloud Site. That way, if any go missing then, from anywhere in the World, provided I can access a computer, the data can be retrieved.

For those not trustful of Cloud Warehousing, then consider sending the file(s) by email, to persons for whom the telephone number is readily remembered, or easily found.

[exiled brummie]

That's a relief to know Ken; backup copies will be on Time Machine before too long.

To return to the original subject though, I recall a genealogy service The Genealogist. Have no idea if they are still going but they had a good collection of Derbyshire records, some going back to the time of Henry VIII. There are also a number of Derbyshire records on FMP but sadly a lot of these simply give the year and church, no date or parents' names. By contrast FMP's Welsh Collection is excellent.

Omission of baptismal dates appears to be a Derbyshire "thing". One of my main family branches is Jewsbury, members of which families seemed to account for about a quarter of the population of Measham in the 18th century. Family Search has scores of baptismal records, those for girls are fine, but the vast majority of boys' baptisms simply state the year. As most boys were named Richard or Thomas, and were the sons of fathers with the same 2 forenames, sorting out the precise relationships of the various Jewsbury families is well nigh impossible.

[Coromandel]

There are also a number of Derbyshire records on FMP but sadly a lot of these simply give the year and church, no date or parents' names.

This isn't one of Findmypast's finest offerings.

It is an index of BMDs from Derbyshire local registrars, i.e. it is an index to civil registration records. Quite bizarrely, Findmypast has chosen to put it in their 'Parish Records Collection'. You cannot see full details of the events: to do that you have to order certificates from the appropriate Derbyshire registrar. Or use the GRO instead of course.

It is a bit worrying that people who use the tagline 'Search with the experts' don't know the difference between parish records and civil registration records.

[mfwebb]

The sharing of information reminds me of my cousin, who lives in Massachusetts. She obtained a copy of our G g grandfather's death certificate, took one look at the notice on the bottom of the certificate - "IT IS ILLEGAL TO ALTER OR REPRODUCE THIS DOCUMENT IN ANY MANNER" - and promptly bought 2 more, which she then airmailed to another cousin and myself here in the UK. Dare I scan it into my computer files as back up?

The information contained on the certificate is a matter of public record; it is the certificate itself which is copyright.

I get round this by making my own transcriptions of all the certificates I receive which are stored on my hard drive, with relevant regular backups. I can then distribute my transcriptions wherever I want and post them on my website.

I do the transcriptions into an excel spreadsheet then save them as pdf files. If anyone would like a copy of my spreadsheet just PM me.

All the best,
Malcolm Webb
Lincoln UK.