Genealogy Chat

My husband has asked me what do I want for my birthday and I have said the 1841 census. I am particularly interested in St. Marylebone . I have seen a number of CDs for sale i.e. Middlesex including London etc. Can anyone tell me if all those on offer are the same or if some are better than others etc. I get confused between London and Middlesex so want to get the one that covers the area I am researching. Georgina

Georgina According the the 1841 census page (www.1841-census*co*uk), the 1841 census will start to go on Ancestry from 1st November. Don't know which counties they are starting with, but London usually gets in at the beginning with these things (boo - unfair to northerners!), so if you do not already have it, a subscription to Ancestry might be your best bet - and get you all the other censuses for the whole country at the same time, as it is rumoured that 1851 is going on then as well. Tina

Deffo get him to get you a years Ancestry sub....(see above)...... Or, alternatively, should you prefer to spend the rest of your life a jibbering wreck then get a set of Middlesex CD's at great expense and see what percentage of the pages you can actually read! lol I know - I have many and they are...........(unprintable!) Ancestry is the way to go!! Good Luck Merry (PS - I wouldn't mention he will never see a square meal ever again once you have the subscription.....maybe he should take out shares in your nearest Chinese Take away?)

Agree with the above - Ancestry is the way to go. For the price of a single CD set, you get an annual sub for the whole of England & Wales, 1861-1901. The 1851 is only days away, and the 1841 is also promised soon. In the meantime, have a look at BritishOrigins (www.britishorigins*com). They have 18 counties so far for the 1841, all indexed and with images. They don't have London as yet, but are adding a few new counties each month so hopefully won't be too far away. You can take out a short-term sub for a few quid - again, much cheaper than buying the CD's. If you don't already have it, then a broadband connection would be the better pressie - you'll need it if you want to download census images from the above sites! Richard

Merry, Richard and Tina, Many thanks for your replies. You have convinced me. A years subscription to ancestry was another option. However, I had been put off this by the messages on this site where people had said they could not cancel their subscription. I don't want the same birthday present every year. Is it very different to ancestry plus and do you have to subscribe to ancestry UK or something like that to make sure you get the UK records. Georgina

I think that if you notify them in good time, there is no problem in cancelling your Ancestry sub. Be sure to keep your email addy up to date with them, and you should get a reminder a few weeks before it's due. Alternatively I think that you can pay by cheque/money order (not sure on that one). I must say though that I've not tried to cancel my sub since I started with them - I find it *much* too useful to be without! I think that you can join either the dot-co.uk or dot-com Ancestry, just be sure that you sign up for the UK collection. Unlike with Ancestry Plus, you won't have access to the US records unless you sign up for them too. Richard

If you dont want to continue with your sub, then join up and immediately change your credit card details on the Your Account tab to one that has expired - then they cant take the money. But, probably you will want to keep a sub anyway.

I'd definitely agree with everyone else - Ancestry is the way to go, and I wouldn't worry about cancelling the subscription - you won't want to. My son bought me a set of CD's for the Northumberland 1961 census for Mother's Day, only for Ancestry to put it on their site a week later. And the CD's are nowhere like as easy to use as Ancestry. Merry's right - don't expect to have time for all those unimportant things like cooking, cleaning etc. once you have a subscription. You'll wonder how you managed without it. Kath. x

Many thanks again for all your help. Am just going to post one more message up re Ancestry on the tips board incase this doesn't get read again. Will certainly ask him tonight to sign me up for my birthday. Georgina