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Records from the UK

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  • 21-11-2011 4:01pm
    #1
    Tarakiwa
    Registered Users Posts: 632 ✭✭✭


    I am trying to trace a part of my family tree that hails from the UK - specifically the South of Wales.

    I have "googled" and found at least a dozen sites that look wonderful but all need me to pay to access - I am worried that some might not be as good as others and that I might choose the wrong one.

    Does anybody have any advice on the UK Census data sites? Which ones are best?

    Is there any way I can get this information for free or will I have to pay for it?

    Thanks in advance!


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    #2
    pinkypinky
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 6,616 Mod ✭✭✭✭pinkypinky


    We deal in detail with Irish genealogy so my advice on UK stuff is not as wide reaching.

    Findmypast.co.uk has all of the censuses. You will have to register and pay to access them all except 1880, which is free but I don't know why. FMP also has birth marriage and death index registers, similar to what we have on familysearch.org for Ireland. Again, you have to pay. There's a freebmd site for the UK but I don't think it's 100% complete and it is transcribed by volunteers. Once you have index info, you go to their GRO and can order a copy cert with the reference - it's about £10 and you get a full cert, there's no research copy option.

    Other pay sites do have some of the censuses, like Origins and Ancestry but I believe FMP is the only one that has them all.

    I also recommend posting in the Wales forum on Rootschat to get more specific information - someone there helped me with parish records from Pembrokeshire.

    Genealogy Forum Mod



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    #3
    shanew
    Registered Users Posts: 2,777 ✭✭✭shanew


    The 1881 English Census is available free on FamilySearch. Wales is usually lumped in with England, so I'd expect that it's covered in those details also - it is on the main websites that have the census.

    For a BMD Index for England/Wales see : http://www.freebmd.org.uk/

    Familysearch also has a number of Civil and parish record collections that are worth checking out.

    The main commercial sites for the England Wales census are Ancestry and FindMyPast, but The Genealogist also has them. Lots of discussions about which is the best ... but I dont think there's a definitive answer. One or two of them offer a free trial period (2 weeks I think) - so if you were quick you might be able to get quite a bit done before that expired!


    Shane


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    #4
    shanew
    Registered Users Posts: 2,777 ✭✭✭shanew


    should have mentioned that the 1911 census is being gradually added to Ancestry and is not completely indexed.

    As far as I know FreeBMD is fairly complete for older records, and it's the more recent (i.e. 20thC) records they are working on now.


    Shane


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    #5
    johnny_doyle
    Registered Users Posts: 1,021 ✭✭✭johnny_doyle


    I do a lot of research in the UK and have found Ancestry to be extremely useful. I've only just subscribed to FindMyPast.co.uk - it didn't seem to have the same range as Ancestry but is catching up in some areas.

    Many counties have BMD sites created by local Family History Societies. Cheshire being a particular area of interest for me has http://www.cheshirebmd.org.uk/. It's very much volunteers doing the work rather than a commercial company.

    The Federation of Family History Societies is the glue for all these county based volunteers. They have a page of Welsh counties at

    http://www.ffhs.org.uk/members2/wales.php

    Rootschat is organised on a county basis and is good for posting enquiries :

    http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/board,119.0.html


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    #6
    Tarakiwa
    Registered Users Posts: 632 ✭✭✭Tarakiwa


    Thanks so much.

    Some really useful informatoin there!


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    #7
    purplepanda
    Registered Users Posts: 1,051 ✭✭✭purplepanda


    How much do these sites cost? Are they expensive? :rolleyes:


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