* Census CDs

[RalfofAmber]

Apologies if this has been asked elsewhere (newbie - have tried search) - has anyone any experience of commercial Census CDs?

Are any recommended? Do you need to buy the index CD to get value? They look tempting - I have seen quotes for five years for £50 ish, which is a lot of look ups but would get a big piece of family in a place where I can't get to the records centre.

Any success stories, or do they all end up being extravagances?

ID:2066

[aragorn]

I have a couple of Census CD's and have found them very useful.If you have just an index you do not get all the detail (relationships,occupations etc.)I only have them for Hampshire,Bucks and Wilts as these counties contain a lot of ancestors.I have just started using a lady on eBay (deadmonkey52) who does census searches for you at a cost of £1.25 and you only pay if you get a hit.If you ask for one person you usually get several other members on the same sheet and she also sends you a shot of the actual census page.I find this very useful to find information on a person and do not know where in the country they are.CD's are still useful if you have a lot of ancestors in one county.Hope this helps!
[dancing-banana][dancing-banana][dancing-banana]

[aragorn]

The lady on eBay (deadmonkey52) also does BMD searches.She once spent a whole afternoon looking for one elusive relative and I had lots of emails from her so she could find the right person.Very good value!!

[davepacey]

Better value to subscribe to ancestry.co.uk, you can then see unlimited views of any census and lots more besides.

I am not quite sure about paying someone to search on EBay, as I think this may breach copyright on the census CD's.  I know I printed a small booklet about the 1881 census for my village, and I had to apply for permission to reproduce the data from the census. You are ok to print them for your own use, but that is it I think. I may be wrong, not 100% sure.

[ireneblackburn]

Before you buy the CDs try a 14 day free trial on Ancestry as it has census 1841 to 1901 for England - also indexed (but sometimes a bit dodgy)

Irene B

[Rusty]

As well as Ancestry there is also S & N though they don't have such good coverage.

As for Ancestry's free 14 day trial, if you get to the page where you have to give your card details then back out you will then get an offer for a 30 day free trial - or at least I did[lol]

Margaret

[RalfofAmber]

Thanks very much for the quick feedback - I should have mentioned that I had discounted the census sites as the county I want (Berkshire) is badly represented on findmypast which I was using with the Fmaily Historian voucher. I hadn't realised the others would hold more data.

Now need to find the thread on the best census site - ancestry or thegenealogist!

[ireneblackburn]

I prefer Ancestry to the Genealogist, I find it easier to use and you can easily save the images, then of course you use Nick's excellent gedcom census program and I cut and paste the list of names (from the view details page)into that and link the saved image to it. Also there is the free trial which gives you a chance to see if it is any good for you.

Irene B

[steveabye]

I subscribe to Ancestry and Genealogist. I find Ancestry the better of the two.

[AnneEast]

Since most of my ancestors come from Yorkshire I had already invested in the census CDs before the complete transcription on Ancestry. However I now have an annual sub to Ancestry and have found many more ancestors who moved away!

When I got the CDs there was no index but I spent many a happy hour (yes really!) searching through the family villages. The advantage of this is seeing the whole structure of the place.

However the Ancestry transcription (although definately not perfect[frown]) is very useable with a bit of imagination. Using this I have found loads of people I never knew had moved, for example, to London.

You would struggle with Ancestry if you only had a dial-up connection, but since we got broadband I rarely look at the CDs now, but I know they will always be there when I don't feel like paying the sub!

Anne

[Anonymous]

I haven't tried any Census CDs (I use Ancestry because they have the best coverage) but have a few Parish and Trade directories on CD. I would recommend S&N since their products are well produced with proper indexing etc .. some others just give images with no OCR or indexing which is a tad frustrating to search thru'!

[philjo]

You can also get some Census CDs from Archive CD books - mainly 1841 and 1861.
Their scans are generally of high quality, though they generally are not indexed/searchable other than basic OCR & browsing by piece/folio no.

They do allow you to purchase a CD covering one specific piece number, so you can just get the areas you need, without having to buy the whole county.

Jeremy