Genealogy Chat

Can anyone advise me which is the best one to join. I was going to join Ancestry.com but have just received S&N Genealogy Supplies Catalogue and they are offering an All-inclusive Subscription. As I do not know too much about either I thought someone out there may have experience of both. Thank you Carol Griffin

Ancestry is much better value. You get much more than just census data, and S&N haven't got all of the censuses transcribed, whereas Ancestry has 1851-1901 pretty much complete (with a few notable exceptions). Ancestry has a boat load of Parish records, and all the same BMD data as FreeBMD, plus 1983-2002. You get images with Ancestry, where S&N doesn't have a lot of images. For 1841, the best site is British Origins at the moment, especially if your ancestors didn't move around much and stayed in the south. Ancestry is due to get all 1841 shortly (don't ask when though lol) (as a side note - S&N will disable your account if you do lookups, where Ancestry won't (or at least hasn't so far))

Buttercup Many thanks for information - will join Ancestry.com Carol

Don't just take my word for it. You should get a few more opinions before taking it up - though I don't regret paying for Ancestry :)

Ancestry every time Excellent Value For Money. I shall be renewing for a 3rd year shortly because its a site I really would not want to without. Sue

If you are planning to do loads of BMD lookups (for yourself!) for dates not covered by FreeBMD and want access to 1841 indexes and transcriptions for the particular counties that S&N has at the moment (always adding new ones), it might be worth it, but ancestry has much more coverage of censuses. S&N's transcriptions should in theory be more accurate but not sure if that is true in practice. Their census search will not allow you to leave out the surname altogether and search on, say, year and place of birth like ancestry's. Also, if your ancestors moved about a lot you will have to search county by county on S & N but on ancestry you can search the whole of England and then the whole of Wales! I can't really say which is better for parish records. Ancestry has quite a few directories but their search facility for those isn't very good. S & N only has London directories as far as I know and their search facility for those is even worse! Kate.

I agree with Buttercup - not only does Ancestry have much better coverage, it is also cheaper. And there have been stories on here of people getting ''fined'' £5 per lookup by S&N unless they can prove that the name that they looked up was on their tree. Would steer well clear of them, and take out an annual Ancestry sub. I'm sure that within a year, Ancestry will have the 1841 online as well, making it the only site on the web with full 1841-1901 England & Wales coverage, indexed and with images. Richard

I agree with everyone else. I wouldn't have anywhere near as much information on my family tree if it wasn't for Ancestry. Have had a subscription to Ancestry as a Christmas present for the last two years, and I hope Santa is bringing it for a third year running (hint!). Kath. x

Def ancestry

Ancestry is my number one, lots and lots of information to be found. Have been a member for 10 months and my tree has certainly grown since day one thanks to all the information available. Also find when I add a message to one of the many boards questions are promptly answered and people are willing to help. These messages are also shown on Rootsweb. Just purchased two CDs from S&N : Master Name Index which I am not impressed with how it works., and Somerset Parish Records 1-14, which has loads of information but of course not the names I am searching. Elizabeth

Thank you everyone for your comments - it sounds like Ancestry will be the best one. Carol