Hi, I was just wondering whether anyone has an opinion on whether Ancestry UK is better than Find My Past or the other way round... OR whether is it beneficial to sign up to both?
Hi Jo, Each contains some data that the other one doesn't. My preference is ancestry as I find its search engine easier to use. However, I think you can start off with a free trial so I would try that first.
Best of luck, JOhn
I use both. It depends on where your ancestors come from. Find my past has a lot of parish records for Sheffield - including wedding certificates and baptisms. Ancestry has the advantage of being able to see other users trees with common ancestors. Also found a lot of photos on ancestry. Ancestry also has a gallery option for you to add information and photos. I like the hints on ancestry.
I agree with Christine. I use both and for pretty much the same reasons. FMP has a far better collection of parish records but doesn’t seem to allow access to other family trees. I must admit I don’t like the new design of the FMP site either, it looks quite amateurish. Ancestry does allow access to other trees and often that’s useful to verify your own research. Be careful not to take all information found in them as being correct though. I've seen some huge mistakes; for example, there's one tree that gives one of my great-grandfather's and his son's (my grandfather) names that are completely wrong.
I appreciate your advice and feedback. I am on Ancestry and like how it works just wasn't sure it was worth signing up to both. I might try FMP to see if I discover anything new...
As for misinformation I have come across a fair few mistakes on other family trees and have written to a few people to tell them... One person refuses to change their tree even though I have sent them proof that their tree is incorrect. Frustrating... but there is no helping some people lol... I would certainly appreciate a pointer in the right direction if my tree was incorrect. In fact, I discovered via this site that I had got an incorrect family member in my tree and it had sent me off on a wild goose chase! What a waste of time and energy...
Thanks again, I am off to see if FMP have a free trial offer :grinning:
I have always preferred FMP even though I use both. The transcribing is far better than Ancestry. The 1939 register is also way in front of Ancestry as they had it a number of years before and thousands more records have been opened up.
I just hate the random names that come up on Ancestry when you do a search.
That's interesting Angela... I am surprised there is a difference in the 1939 registry on the sites. I had assumed there was an original copy being updated by a controlling body ensuring data integrity.
One of my family members is obscured (record officially closed) on the 1939 register, I will look her up on FMP to see if there is a difference.