Ancestry +/or CD's

[Beebee]

As you can see I'm new to this forum, and I have been searching the net for a decent genealogy forum and thought this to be the best. Some others have only got a handful of members, and with it being linked to Archive CD (which I am thinking of becoming a member too) this makes it doubly welcoming.

Now to the reason I'm posting. I'm a member of Ancestry also, and have found it very helpful, and good value for money. But I have also contemplated buying Census CD's, but I'm not sure if it would be 'worth it'. With all of England and Wales from 1861 to 1901 and soon to be added 1851, could you please give me your views of the advantages of having the CD's.

Thank You

[Ladkyis]

My personal choice is to buy the CDs - if you buy them from Archive CD Books you can purchase single CDs if you know the area and the folio and page numbers or the whole census for a county if your search needs to be wider. You do not need to be a member of Archive CD Books to purchase any of their CDs but membership does give you a discount on purchases and special limited edition CDs - and it is well worth taking a look at some of the non census CDs on their list. for the cost of annual membership of Ancestry you could be the owner of CD copies of several rare anmd useful books that will tell you so much more about the lives and the way of life of your ancestors, making them become so much more real to you and to anyone who reads your family history.
The thing to remember about the online indexes is that where there are transcription errors, and there are errors because no-one can transcribe without making a mistake, the real names cannot be shown until you put in the name the transcriber has used - and this could mean that you don't find them.

Just my personal thoughts
Ann

[Beebee]

Thank you Ladkyis for your point of view. I am particulary interested in your last comment regarding finding your ancestors, as you can look through the pages of the census of a chosen area, as well as doing a search for a person on Ancestry. How do you 'browse' the Census CD's? I assumed it would have some kind of search facility, either by name or location etc.

Thank You.

[Burrow Digger]

You can search by location but not by name. So if that means scrolling through several pages of spidery writing to find the family you want - well thats what makes genealogy fun, innt?? :)

I have several census CD's and while I do appreciate using the transcribed indexes that are available online, nothing beats going back to the original and confirming the details.

The census CDs are the closest to the original that we can get.

The golden rule of genealogy is .....

Always check the originals where ever possible.

Burrow Digger

[susan-w]

Burrow Digger, you can look at the originals on ancestry as well.

Beebee, personally, I have census CDs where the people I’m interested in stayed in one place for some time. That way, when my ancestry sub expires, I’ll still be able to browse the area to see what sort of place it was, etc. Some of the images are of better quality on some CDs, too. Also, it is faster to access on CD, although if you are on broadband, this may not be an issue.

However, many of my ancestors were transient, so to buy the CDs, I’d have to fork out a huge amount of money, even supposing I knew where they were – which I didn’t. Ancestry was useful for these ancestors. I’ve found the indexes very good, with a bit of thoughtful searching (everyone else is free to disagree with me here, but I’ve had great success using wildcards). By searching birthplaces against names, I’ve also identified extra children not living at home.

Personally, I’ve found the background CDs from ArchiveCD books the most useful, particularly directories, which have lots of historical info on them about the towns etc. Also, other CDs, such as the Gentleman’s Magazine Library (I even found a 6g uncle mentioned in this!)

Hope this helps
Sue

[Jo Simpsons]

I do both! Not boasting though :D

My family have been here there and all over changes in the registration districts as they all seem to be near one border or the other :confused:
I use Ancestry and helps to locate as well as the images, transcriptions are always varied so you still do have to look about. Not knocking them, transcribe myself and if you have to type what you see, as is, ...? People forget and there are also some dreadful mistakes but how many times do your eyes go funny reading just one page?
I buy CD's from archivecdbooks because I know they will be well scanned and the service is excellant. I am also a member because I feel this is the way to preserve rare books and books we may never be able to view. This to me is the most important aspect of Archive cd books. Not the census. I have some amazing cd's, read over and over, seeing things I didn't first time round! Getting into the lives and the times of your ancestors makes it so more pasionate. More than just names and ages on paper.
Buying a cd means you have it, what ever, you can look at it when ever, it always yours.
Have I really wrote all this? LOL
my thoughts anyway.
Jo :)

[Peter Goodey]

"The census CDs are the closest to the original that we can get. "


With no disrespect to ACDB whose product quality I believe is excellent, it is impossible to digitise a microfilm and for the resultant CD to be closer to the original than the microfilm was.

[Burrow Digger]

I dont have access to microfilms and I refuse to pay out a sub to ancestry just to help them make a profit.

I will however help Archive CD Books to make a profit - when my credit card recovers from its illness. :)

BD

[Rod Neep]

I dont have access to microfilms and I refuse to pay out a sub to ancestry just to help them make a profit.

I will however help Archive CD Books to make a profit - when my credit card recovers from its illness. :)

BD
Sounds good to me :)
Thank you for your confidence in Archive CD Books.

Oh yes... and to reply to Peter. Technically you are quite correct, but it is indeed possible to digitally enhance scans of microfilms to make them more readable. We have a mailbox of messages from people who say something like "I viewed the films and couldn't read some of the pages, but your scanned images are perfectly readable".

There are some that are extremely hard going though.... but its nice to know that we can do that in a great many instances.

Regards
Rod

[Peter Goodey]

"Technically you are quite correct, but it is indeed possible to digitally enhance scans of microfilms to make them more readable. "

Oh yes. I endorse that and have seen enough evidence to convince me. But improved legibility is not a case of being "close to the original" - it's another issue.

A pedantic point if you like.

I do go along with Barrow Digger's sentiments and would add that the great advantage of CDs over Ancestry is that one does not have to give money to Ancestry!

[Geoffers]

The CDs are excellent quality, no download time; no problems with internet connection or whether you've used your download allocation for the month. You can browse to your heart's content.

Rather than searching just for specific family members; you can use census and directories to find out about the community where your family lived and its history; jobs and how thriving was the local economy, housing, common local surnames and families.

On CD you can purchase copies of The Skilled Labourer, The Village Labourer, books on Apprenticeship returns, parish law, maps, visitations, Phillimore's marriages, old photos, examination books, etc, etc. You can build up a library of records to use as and when you want, rather than search just for names you can find out about how your family lived.

Geoffers

[Diane Grant-Salmon]

Just my twopennorth! I have a sub with Ancestry and providing you can get your head around their index, I find it useful to search out Ancestors who aren't where they're supposed to be, but have taken it into their heads to visit friends in another County on Census night! :(

However, my Cornish and Yorkshire lot *stayed put* so I bought all the CD's I could from Archive CD Books which are available for these areas, plus the relevant Registration District Census CD's they do for some other Counties too.

I like to have the CD's near to my fingertips, as Rod pointed out ..... I don't own them, only the licence to read them, but they are *mine* in a way, if you know what I mean. ;) and nobody can take them away from me. I can't get to view them any other way, although I would love to, so this arrangement suits me. As others have mentioned, thanks to Rod and the Team, there are many other CD's they sell which give you an insight into the lives of your Ancestors. My special favourite is The Annals of Yorkshire, some of the snippets in it have me in fits of laughter! :D

[mary elms]

Also, something that I don't think anyone has said yet (my apologies if I missed it) is that it's much easier to browse through the surrounding area when viewing a CD or a film The census gives you much more than just the family you're looking at. It shows you what the local industries were, who the neighbours were etc. - all important stuff when trying to understand where our ancestors fit into things.

Mary.

[Mark]

There's nothing to stop you browsing the images on Ancestry ... there's a "next" and "previous" button for moving to the adjacent images.

And I'm still ploughing through the great ACDB Apprentice CD ... I'm sure it's superb for some people, and it is fascinating reading, but no "hits" for me yet.

Mark

[Mark]

The CDs are excellent quality, no download time; no problems with internet connection or whether you've used your download allocation for the month. You can browse to your heart's content.

Geoffers

I wasn't aware Ancestry had a "download allocation for the month. Maybe I haven't yet reached it, though I'm sure I've been as busy as anyone can be.

Mark

[Procat]

I wasn't aware Ancestry had a "download allocation for the month. Maybe I haven't yet reached it, though I'm sure I've been as busy as anyone can be.

Mark

Ancestry doesn't have a download allocation (if they did I would have breached it numerous times) but many internet service providers do.

And as others have said, without Ancestry I would not have found many of my ancestors who went walkabout.

I also buy as many Archive CD's as I can as I see the benefit in both methods of research.

[mary elms]

There's nothing to stop you browsing the images on Ancestry ... there's a "next" and "previous" button for moving to the adjacent images. Depends if you have a subscription or use pay-per-view, Mark. :) I don't use it enough to warrant a subscription. I don't have many census CDs either as I have always tended to view the film - saving my money for things like directories and parish registers which are not so easy for me to view. I would agree, however, with those who say that often the scans are easier to read than the films.

Mary.

[AnnB]

I have toyed with the idea of taking out a sub with Ancestry, but have not taken the plunge. I have got a sub with British Origins, mainly because I had 'lost' quite a few souls in London in 1871, and Origins has enabled me to find them (well, most of them :rolleyes: ) - and I can look at images of the original pages.

I find it much easier to scroll through a CD as, if I find one of 'mine', I have very often found other family members living a couple of streets away. Some of these have been previously unknown to me and had I not looked in the surrounding area I would never have known about them. I appreciate I could use a 'next' and 'previous' button (I can do this on British Origins) but it is a very clumsy option, so I tend not to bother.

One thing that has puzzled me for a long time (and apologies to anyone who may have posted the answer to this before) - just who has indexed the census returns on Ancestry?

I see from another thread that Archive CD Books has the Middlesex and Surrey 1841 returns scanned, so I am waiting with bated breath for their release :D

Best wishes
Ann

[Geoffers]

I wasn't aware Ancestry had a "download allocation for the month. Maybe I haven't yet reached it, though I'm sure I've been as busy as anyone can be.
What I meant was that some internet service providers limit the amount you can download per month, depending on the amount you pay. If you pay little and download lots, you could reach your allocation.

Geoffers

[Beebee]

My goodness me, :D I did not expect all these replies. Thank you all so much for your points of view. I am on broadband with unlimited download, so there is no problem there, but as you all so rightly say once you have bought the CDs they're yours forever, not for just a limited period of time. Well, you have given me much to think about, although I probably will buy the 1841 Census CDs that I 'think' I need as I am eager to see who and where my husbands and my ancestors were, especially if the images area as good as you lovely people say they are. Once again, thank you all for your information, and if there is anybody else with any more suggestions, I'll be only too glad to hear them. |woohoo| There goes one happy lady.

[Mark]

That's cool. Demon have never had a download limit, nor a limit on the size or amount of email, or just about anything else apart from a limit on the size of your "homepages" webspace.

I took out my Ancestry sub for UK Censuses as I came to one Piece from Cornwall that I just couldn't read from my ACDB CD's. The CD image looked fairly OK iniitally, but when you actually tried to read it, you couldn't. That's a failing of the bitonal rendition of the image. Ancestry's version is greyscale and readable.

But ACDB does far more than just censuses thankfully.

Mark