Genealogy Chat

Ancestry does have a pay-per-view option, but before you opt for that, do the arithmetic on what sort of number of images you're going to want to see & save. Also consider whether you might want access to the other images (1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901, apart from some non-census stuff). Altho' a 3-month or year's sub sounds a lot, it actually works out relatively inexpensive if you're an image-addict like me! Christine

Thanks everyone for your replies. I am beginning to think the transcriber for Somerset just put large chunks of it in the bin!!! I'll try Ancestry instead. Am I right in thinking they do a pay-per-view service aswell??

On an additional note, whilst Ancestry 1861 is 'complete' there are lots of areas lost or damaged and so are not included. I have a thread listing details called: ''1861 Census - Is this why you can't find your ancestors?? Please nudge - took me b****y ages!'' I have nudged it again. You will see that Somerset doesn't get a mention on the list, so it may be better than the 1837 version. For what it's worth, I only ever found one rellie in London on 1837's 1861 census, but have found dozens on Ancestry's version, so maybe their transcribers were slightly better? Sarah

Thanks Alan, if it is not complete then I feel their advertising is misleading- Somerset was listed as one of the counties that was available on-line- I do not call it available if large chunks of it are not transcribed yet. I know they have not added every county and so it is incomplete in that sense, but if they are saying a particular county is available then it should at least be complete!!!

Should I just try Ancestry instead then? If 1837 search engine does not recognise names or addresses, what hope have you got to find anyone?

Not sure about geographical completeness, but I do know that relatives I have found elsewhere on 1861 census DON'T come up when I search by name - or sometimes address - on 1837. Someone found my gt gt grandfather on Ancestry and when I checked the head of household there he was on 1837, but his name doesn't appear in the index. nell

I have just been looking at the 1861 census on the1837 site, they have been e-mailing me with all the counties thay have transcribed- so I thought I would have a look at Nailsea, Somerset where my family are from. I had seen the 1861 census in the Nailsea library but it was on fiche, so I thought I would save the copies of the census sheets for my records. But despite having seen my relatives on the census on the fiche, the 1837 site seems to have them all in Mars in 1861- it is not admitting to a single one of my relatives!!! I tried all different combinations of info on the search box- nothing. Then I did an address search simply using Nailsea as the address- it was a joke, half of the village streets seem to be missing, including Silver Street which was the main street in the village at the time!!! How can 1837 advertise Somerset as 'complete' when they have missed so much? I feel a bit cheated. Is this an isolated example or should I not bother with it in the future???