Genealogy Chat

I have been reading some of the comments on the 1911 census blog. Apart from the Northern counties not being available on the beta test, the main complaint appears to be the cost. One subscriber apparently used up £75 of credits in a short period of time.

If it is going to be so expensive to use the site when it becomes available, then many people, myself included will not be able to afford the cost. Does anyone know if there is a possibility that they may offer an Annual subscription charge as do Ancestry ?

Terry

i am hoping it will be on ancestry .as it has all the other census returns on and is available .to use free of charge at local libarys .so can look up for nothing .a boon to people like me who are on a pension and have no possibility of paying for look ups

I expect at some stage it will become cheaper/available on Ancestry - but that could be a few years away.

I tell myself that for the odd "brickwall" it is well worth it. I was seriously thinking of paying for an address search for one of mine last year - that would have cost me £45 but it would have helped considerably. However, I hung on and found them just before Christmas - £3.00 for the printout. I paid £25 (or so) to the site and printed out a few more of the family - I still have credits left on FMP and am further forward with a couple of the difficult ones so for me it was well worth it.

I think we have all become so used to dashing around in Ancestry and just looking at the possibles etc that to limit ourselves to the ones we are really sure about will be difficult (it will be difficult for me I know!). Also, with the problems of mistranscriptions and errors it could work out to be quite expensive, at least initially.

I will be concentrating on just my main brances for a while when it's first released and not worry too much about the siblings and what they were up to. Shame really as sometimes info on siblings can be really useful.

Jill

my opinion,
ancestry had better look seriously at this problem and take note,
although there is and will be new people coming to research a lot of researchers "exhaust" ancestry quite quickly and only go back and forwards for difficult look ups and then they have to start looking other places.
a lot of people are looking and waiting to devour the 1911 census for that elusive missing link and except for newbies, who will need ancestry or the like?
personally i think over a 1000 people in my tree is enough and i am trying to research them in more depth and make them more personal which as far as certificates go is very expensive i don't need a great deal more cost.
so for all geneology sites you had better get the 1911 census or be left behind?

Not having been on the tips page for quite some time (now having got used to where to look on my own) now having a quick gander I notice your talking about FMP. Can Someone tell me what this is please?

Irene

www.findmypast.com

Terence, I wondered the same thing but apparently FMP have got the deal - and now the census wont even be out until later in the year. The site itself doesnt give much info, Ive checked. I thought it would be available to all, not at a huge expense. Keith, Coventry library doesnt have an Ancestry subscription, even though we're a city.
I think FMP are shooting themselves in the foot, theyre out to make fast money - but if I had a sub with them Id be mightily peed off that the 1911 isnt included with the sub!

Romanystar ..... sorry your library does not have ancestery lookups free on production of a library ticket ....we are a small place ..but all the librarys around this area have this facility ..i wonder does it depend on the county ours is Cheshire ...a lot of retired people use it because when you retire you finally have time to research your family tree .but not the money to spend very much on it ..

Dear all

I was involved in the beta version, and believe me lots of us have complained about the proposed charges and the fact that there will be no subscription. I think they might change their minds.

Margaret

Hi Keith
I asked some time ago, and the council refuse to fund it apparently. Leamington Spa, about 15 mins drive away, has it but for elderly people dependant on the train or mums who have to fetch children from school (like me) its not handy. Oh well, onwards and forwards..... :-)

To view the 1911 beta version it cost

£6.95 for 60 credits.

10 credits for the transcription
30 credits to view the actual page.

So for the price of a birth (or other) certificate you can view two pages !!!

Not great if you need to view the John Smith's born in London :-)

The last line on in the information about the1911 census on FMP reads as follows:

'Later, the 1911 census will also appear on findmypast.com, which will then be the only family history site to offer the 1911 census as part of a subscription package, providing unlimited access to the records for a fixed annual fee.'

So it will be available as part of a FMP subscription - at some point.

Ruth

Don't forget this is a preliminary release of partial information.

The full census is not being released until the 100 years is up ........... so we may have to wait until 2012 to get the access we have come to expect.

If it isn't, then think about the fact that we will have to pay twice to get all the information we want.


If I remember correctly the 1901 was only available on the 1901census site at first, then was picked up later by ancestry, and I presume fmp.



sylvia

Sensitive information has been covered up on the 2009 issue of the 1911 census. So as you say.....it will require two 'looks' to get the whole story.

Sylvia - in the scale of "partial information", this is quite high up - the only thing I have seen missing (redacted) is the infirmity column. Personally, I wouldn't feel the need to pay again just to get that column.

I agree that the amount of credits is a bit steep but then in my case it was well worth it. I was able to confirm a rumour of another child with one family and found on another that my grandfathers father came from a completely different place than we thought. So now I've started looking over the correct track.

As for the sensative info part well I might need to take a look because the missing child was supposed to have been put into an institution.

Any more news as to when the 1911 comes out?

If they are Find My Past credits you can use them on that site to look for other information.

Annie,
The site has now re-opened, and also the period of time still remaining will be carried over. So if you had (for example) 60 days left on your credits when the site stopped on Dec 30th, then you will have 60 from the official relaunch date (not sure if this counts as the official relaunch has there doesn't seem to have been much fanfare!!).