Genealogy searches - full census records...

[andyoxon]

I'm just trying to find out about some relatives 1820 onwards, is there any free access to full census records?  Can only find subscription services.

[Salvatore]

I can get 2 hours of ancestry.com and findmypast.com (and British Newspaper Archive) for free at my local library (Hampshire). See if Oxon offers something similar.

Also https://www.familysearch.org/ and https://www.freecen.org.uk/ which can be accessed for free anywhere. FreeCEN is an ongoing project and incomplete.  Both familysearch and freecen show transcribed data, but unlike ancestry and findmypast not an image of the original document, which can be helpful. (e.g. I have seen Wells transcribed as Leeds as a place of birth)

https://www.freebmd.org.uk/ is good for births, marriages and deaths.

[andyoxon]

Many thanks for that.  Will investigate the local library too. 

Looking into details from my grandfather back to my ggg-grandfather on my Dad's side.  ggg-GF was born in Clun & I've never been, so maybe I should attempt the Kidderminster Killer at least once.

[rachel t]

Unfortunately you have just missed a free access weekend on Ancestry, they offer free access to UK & Irish records over the bank holiday weekend from Friday until Monday. I would suggest either using your local library or sign up for ancestry's 14 day free trial, but remember to cancel it before they start taking payments, think you have to input card info though. At my local library (Bradford) I can get free access to Findmypast & Ancestry for as long as my laptop battery lasts using their wifi, your local may offer the same

[andyoxon]

Thanks.  Just checked, and the local library has access to Ancestry (library edition) and findmypast; also one can book a session with a 'genealogist' who visits occasionally.

First mission is to try and find out who ggg-GF's parents were, if possible.

[Salvatore]

A warning: You are at teetering at the top of a steep and slippery slope. In the past year I have detoured home via Kings Lynn (because my grandfather and several generations before him came from there), visited the grave of a friend of my grandfather's brother in northern France, deciphered a 1612 century legal document which accused an ancestor of mine of being up to no good, and detoured home from Germany via a port in Lithuania because 2 seafaring GGG GFs (and possibly a GG GF) visited it.

Let us know what you find.

[andyoxon]

I nipped into the local library 30mins before closing on Sat pm, picked up a library card, and a helpful staff member showed me how to get access to Ancestry etc.  First search was for was my ggg-GF, a builder and cabinet maker, born in 1820s, and up popped a Christening record with his parent's names!  gggg-GF (born 1780s) also from Clun, and I was able to find out that they had three sons and a daughter.  Not bad for 15 mins digging.   

Have found FamilySearch is good, though didn't have ggg-Gf's christening record (AFAIA), also found The Internet Archive, which has an impressive array of parish register image copies  e.g. https://archive.org/search.php?query=shropshire%20parish   

Would like to try newspaper archives.  Have a meeting with the visiting genealogist arranged.

[andytheflyer]

+1 for what Salvatore says. 

This becomes addictive.  I took out an Ancestry subscription maybe 12 years ago, and I'm still at it, although the pace of discovery has slowed to a crawl.

But, be aware that you may well find things that others in your family would rather you didn't. 

I never got to the bottom of why my (staunchly Labour-supporting) paternal gf left his coal mining village shortly after the end of the General Strike and took his family and started up a new career, unrelated to mining, miles away in a town where he had no connections at all.  My father rarely mentioned his numerous uncles, aunts and cousins back in Derbyshire.

My mother's side also seemed to have some components that I was not encouraged to delve into, and now it's all too late.

So, there wil be highs, but there may well be a few lows.  Be careful what you wish for!

IMHO, the Ancestry sub is worth it, not only because of the information it brings, but also because it links you to other researchers into your family, and you pick up information from them.

[trekker12]

deciphered a 1612 century legal document which accused an ancestor of mine of being up to no good

Was the accusation valid?

[andyoxon]

+1 for what Salvatore says. 

This becomes addictive.  I took out an Ancestry subscription maybe 12 years ago, and I'm still at it, although the pace of discovery has slowed to a crawl.

But, be aware that you may well find things that others in your family would rather you didn't. 

I never got to the bottom of why my (staunchly Labour-supporting) paternal gf left his coal mining village shortly after the end of the General Strike and took his family and started up a new career, unrelated to mining, miles away in a town where he had no connections at all.  My father rarely mentioned his numerous uncles, aunts and cousins back in Derbyshire.

My mother's side also seemed to have some components that I was not encouraged to delve into, and now it's all too late.

So, there wil be highs, but there may well be a few lows.  Be careful what you wish for!

IMHO, the Ancestry sub is worth it, not only because of the information it brings, but also because it links you to other researchers into your family, and you pick up information from them.

Yes fair enough.

'For moment' I just want to get to grips with the basic research resources / methods to expand the family tree a bit, and visit the library occasionally.  It started when I recently came into possession of a book presented to my ggg-GF in the 1840s, and then handed down to my father.  This book with the birth dates of ggg-gf, gg-gf, (not g-GF), gf provided a back bone to get digging.  Prior to this all I knew was that this side of the family hailed from Shropshire; I don't know if any other family member has done any research.  I wonder whether the Ancestry- library edition, is the full UK 'all records', or the full international version.

[Speshact]

You might also be interested (and get totally drawn into) old newspaper records, many of which have good OCR making searching much easier than it used to be. I have been stalking a Victorian/Edwardian acrobatic family (and am presenting a talk accompanied by magic lantern slides, old film and souvenirs etc. in September at London's Cinema Museum www.themarvellouscraggs.co.uk)

The British Library has tied with a provider and there is a charge, but it's very good www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk . The French have free access to many newspapers via http://gallica.bnf.fr, ditto the Australians http://trove.nla.gov.au and New Zealanders https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/ and Singapore....

In American, http://idnc.library.illinois.edu is free (and good for music hall / vaudeville type families as it has the New York Clipper).

[Salvatore]

deciphered a 1612 century legal document which accused an ancestor of mine of being up to no good

Was the accusation valid?

I don't know. The document was a plea made to the Lord Chancellor. The plaintiff alleged that my ancestor had lent him money with a house as security, but wouldn't return various documents and deeds even though the debt was repaid. The plaintiff was requesting a writ of subpoena for the documents, which my ancestor kept in a large chest.

It was thrilling to handle the actual parchment at Kew, even though initially I could barely understand a word, because:
a)  ways  of forming letters has changed since then. Often there were different symbols for common sequences of letters
b) spelling wasn't consistent
c) it's legalese
d) it's early 17th century legalese
e) the document is showing the effects of age e.g. there is a fold in the document into which a line of text has disappeared.

The breakthrough was recognising the word 'Yarmouth', where I knew he lived  so I knew how those letters were formed, and that the preceding word was 'Great'. It took several evenings over a period of about a month to decipher about 90% of it.

[Salvatore]

Like this

(click to show/hide)

"that your said Orator", which is how the plaintiff refers to himself

and

(click to show/hide)

the county of Norfolk

I don't know the outcome of that case, but much later my GGG-GF was both the victim and perpetrator of grand larceny. He got off very lightly with a fine of 1 shilling.

I agree with speshact about the BNA. Even though I can use it for free at the library, I have a subscription and I make full use of it. It was how I found out that the GGG-GF above was stuck for 10 weeks with a cargo of timber in the port in Memel (modern Klaipeda, Lithuania) in 1825/6 because of ice. I've also found snippets about the lives of my relatives in King's Lynn's dock area in the middle of the 19th century - mostly crime and violent/tragic death, because that's what local papers report.

But it's also instructive (and a time sink) to browse, and get drawn in by a headline, or search for a word like 'duel' and see what it turns up.

[andyoxon]

I've drawn a blank of finding the parents of my Shropshire ggggGF, as there seems only one Christening record that matches his name and ~DOB, but it's in Worcester, and have no idea how I'd link it up?  I've had a nose around the BNA but not found anything - still have my 3 free reads left.

At least I now know ggggGFs birth year in 1780s, the exact place and year of marriage & death, spouse maiden name & her parents, details of the baptisms of his four children. Also found his 'will' listing 'effects under £20'!

[arabella]

Like this

(click to show/hide)

"that your said Orator", which is how the plaintiff refers to himself

and

(click to show/hide)

the county of Norfolk

that looks like what used to be called secretary hand, a sort of standard style for scribes.  Once upon a time I did some for an online project but have forgotten how to.  Their notes may be of use.