Lost Cousins are offering subscription services for free up until May 7 2007. Normally if your antecedents from the 1881 census match someone else's you can only get in touch with them if you are a subscriber. But for this short period you can contact your "matches" without a subscription.
So if you are already registered, it's worth checking whether you have any matches, and if you have the time available, inputting any more blood relatives to their database in this short period.
Sunday, 29 April 2007
Wednesday, 18 April 2007
British-Genealogy.com
British-Genealogy.com is a free to register message board site, organised into main Boards on Archive CD-Books, Family History, History Topics, and Software and Computing. The Family History Boards are broken down into sub-Boards - Place Forums, Specific and General Family History Topics, and a User Group for The Master Genealogist software.
There is a private message system (maximum of 50 messages). You can set out (briefly) your research interests and your family history website URL in your member profile.
The main site (through which you reach the Forums) features some helpful material on resources for family history research.
The British-Genealogy.com forums were started in September 2004, and since then the site has registered over 15,000 members who have made almost 100,000 postings on over 19,000 threads. The Forums replaced a mailing-list system which appears now to have been discontinued.
What do you think about British-Genealogy.com – is it worth using, have you had success stories, are there any catches etc? Please leave a comment.
There is a private message system (maximum of 50 messages). You can set out (briefly) your research interests and your family history website URL in your member profile.
The main site (through which you reach the Forums) features some helpful material on resources for family history research.
The British-Genealogy.com forums were started in September 2004, and since then the site has registered over 15,000 members who have made almost 100,000 postings on over 19,000 threads. The Forums replaced a mailing-list system which appears now to have been discontinued.
What do you think about British-Genealogy.com – is it worth using, have you had success stories, are there any catches etc? Please leave a comment.
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Genes Reunited
Genes Reunited works on a very simple concept – put your family tree on-line with them and seek to match the people on your tree with those held on the Genes Reunited database.
You can build your family tree name by name, or you can upload a gedcom file from your computer. You can also download your tree from GR to your own computer.
You can search the family tree database by surname and first name and/or year of birth and/or place of birth. The site says it currently has over 110 million names on 6 million trees. The data in these trees has of course been supplied by other GR members, so cannot be viewed as a substitute for official records.
It is free to register, but if you want to make contact with another member or use many of the other services available, you need to be a paying member – currently a six-monthly subscription is £9.95; existing members have in the past been given a discount to renew, and there is currently no indication that this arrangement will cease. All correspondence is managed by the site – so e-mail addresses are not disclosed to those you contact unless you wish to do so.
You can share your tree with other members you are in contact with. The site generates, on a regular basis, a set of Hot Matches – names with birth years that match with your tree. Unfortunately these computer generated searches do not discriminate between birth places so many of these matches can be redundant.
The site has a number of message boards – Trying to find lost relatives, Genealogy Tips Board, Records Office Look-ups, and a General Board.
There is a portal to the 1901 Census on-line records database (owned by the same company, and reviewed here on GenBIRes), research advice articles, and occasional live webchats with expert Anthony Adolph – and these are archived back as far as 2004.
A younger sibling to the better-known internet phenomenon Friends Reunited, the site was officially launched in May 2003 as Genes Connected, changing to its current name in 2004. The best summary provided by the company about how Genes Reunited works can be found here on the Friends Reunited site.
What do you think about Genes Reunited – is it worth using, have you had success stories, are there any catches etc? Please leave a comment.
You can build your family tree name by name, or you can upload a gedcom file from your computer. You can also download your tree from GR to your own computer.
You can search the family tree database by surname and first name and/or year of birth and/or place of birth. The site says it currently has over 110 million names on 6 million trees. The data in these trees has of course been supplied by other GR members, so cannot be viewed as a substitute for official records.
It is free to register, but if you want to make contact with another member or use many of the other services available, you need to be a paying member – currently a six-monthly subscription is £9.95; existing members have in the past been given a discount to renew, and there is currently no indication that this arrangement will cease. All correspondence is managed by the site – so e-mail addresses are not disclosed to those you contact unless you wish to do so.
You can share your tree with other members you are in contact with. The site generates, on a regular basis, a set of Hot Matches – names with birth years that match with your tree. Unfortunately these computer generated searches do not discriminate between birth places so many of these matches can be redundant.
The site has a number of message boards – Trying to find lost relatives, Genealogy Tips Board, Records Office Look-ups, and a General Board.
There is a portal to the 1901 Census on-line records database (owned by the same company, and reviewed here on GenBIRes), research advice articles, and occasional live webchats with expert Anthony Adolph – and these are archived back as far as 2004.
A younger sibling to the better-known internet phenomenon Friends Reunited, the site was officially launched in May 2003 as Genes Connected, changing to its current name in 2004. The best summary provided by the company about how Genes Reunited works can be found here on the Friends Reunited site.
What do you think about Genes Reunited – is it worth using, have you had success stories, are there any catches etc? Please leave a comment.
Ancestry Aid
Ancestry Aid is a free to register message board site, organised into an Information area, a Genealogy help area, Surnames of interest, Counties and other areas of interest, Census mis-transcriptions, and a General genealogy Board.
There is a private message system (maximum of 50 messages) and also a chat room.
You can place your tree on-line with ancestry aid, and registered members can search these trees. There is also a surname interests register.
There is a private message system (maximum of 50 messages) and also a chat room.
You can place your tree on-line with ancestry aid, and registered members can search these trees. There is also a surname interests register.
The site has collected a small number of records for the 1941 census (partial collections for London, Hampshire and Norfolk) and some BMD data.
Ancestry-Aid was started in December 2005, and since then has registered over 6,500 members who have made over 70,000 postings in total on almost 9,000 topics.
Ancestry-Aid was started in December 2005, and since then has registered over 6,500 members who have made over 70,000 postings in total on almost 9,000 topics.
What do you think about Ancestry Aid – is it worth using, have you had success stories, are there any catches etc? Please leave a comment.
Monday, 16 April 2007
RootsChat
RootsChat is a free to register, high volume, message board site, organised into the counties of the United Kingdom and Ireland, with other specialist boards on the armed forces, occupations, emigration and immigration, travellers, one-name studies, and photograph restoration – the range is extensive.
While much of the business on RootsChat is focused on look-ups and information exchange, there is lively and informed discussion and debate about research issues and resources in general. And although the focus is on the British Isles, there are members from all around the world.
The site has a surname interests database and offers free webspace for family history sites. It also hosts a site featuring Victorian and Edwardian photos of unknown people, a site devoted to traveling people, and a site where you can donate transcriptions of the 1901 census.
There is a private message system and also an active chat room.
RootsChat was started at the end of December 2003, and since then has registered over 43,000 members who have made over a million postings in total on over 19,000 topics.
What do you think about RootsChat – is it worth using, have you had success stories, are there any catches etc? Please leave a comment.
While much of the business on RootsChat is focused on look-ups and information exchange, there is lively and informed discussion and debate about research issues and resources in general. And although the focus is on the British Isles, there are members from all around the world.
The site has a surname interests database and offers free webspace for family history sites. It also hosts a site featuring Victorian and Edwardian photos of unknown people, a site devoted to traveling people, and a site where you can donate transcriptions of the 1901 census.
There is a private message system and also an active chat room.
RootsChat was started at the end of December 2003, and since then has registered over 43,000 members who have made over a million postings in total on over 19,000 topics.
What do you think about RootsChat – is it worth using, have you had success stories, are there any catches etc? Please leave a comment.
Curious Fox
Curious Fox is a message board system based on towns and villages, by county. You post your request for information against the place, and you can also search for entries against a particular place (or its surrounding area).
It is free to register, but you can also subscribe for £5 per year. Subscribers (green entries) can contact anyone else who posts a message. Free members (red entries) can only contact subscribers.
You can set out your research interests and your family history website URL in your member profile. You can also log your interest in specific places, and subscribers can be notified of entries against that place, by e-mail.
You can read more about how Curious Fox works here.
What do you think about Curious Fox – is it worth using, have you had success stories, are there any catches etc? Please leave a comment.
It is free to register, but you can also subscribe for £5 per year. Subscribers (green entries) can contact anyone else who posts a message. Free members (red entries) can only contact subscribers.
You can set out your research interests and your family history website URL in your member profile. You can also log your interest in specific places, and subscribers can be notified of entries against that place, by e-mail.
You can read more about how Curious Fox works here.
What do you think about Curious Fox – is it worth using, have you had success stories, are there any catches etc? Please leave a comment.
Lost Cousins
Lost Cousins is based on a very simple idea – record details of your direct ancestors and other blood relatives from the 1881 census of England, Wales, Scotland or Canada, and the 1880 census of the USA, and then let computing power find matches with entries by other people.
Why these census years and not others? It is because the transcriptions for these census’s are available for free through Family Search. The data for your relatives has to be accurately transcribed from Family Search, but the process is pretty quick for adding additional people in each household.
It is free to register, but if you want to initiate contact with a “lost cousin” following a data match, you need to be a subscriber – currently an annual subscription is £10. All correspondence is managed by the site – so e-mail addresses are not disclosed to “lost cousins” unless you wish to.
There is also some good beginners advice on the site, and an enthusiastic monthly newsletter about other family history research developments and.
how to make best use of the site.
What do you think about Lost Cousins – is it worth using, have you had success stories, are there any catches etc? Please leave a comment.
Why these census years and not others? It is because the transcriptions for these census’s are available for free through Family Search. The data for your relatives has to be accurately transcribed from Family Search, but the process is pretty quick for adding additional people in each household.
It is free to register, but if you want to initiate contact with a “lost cousin” following a data match, you need to be a subscriber – currently an annual subscription is £10. All correspondence is managed by the site – so e-mail addresses are not disclosed to “lost cousins” unless you wish to.
There is also some good beginners advice on the site, and an enthusiastic monthly newsletter about other family history research developments and.
how to make best use of the site.
What do you think about Lost Cousins – is it worth using, have you had success stories, are there any catches etc? Please leave a comment.
Sunday, 15 April 2007
Welcome to GenBIRes-Networking
This blog will aim to give impartial advice about the facilities offered by a range of networking sites dealing with family history/genealogy in the British Isles. Such sites offer the opportunity for researchers to get in touch with each other on-line to exchange information or views about common research interests.
It is a sister site to GenBIRes - which looks at commercial on-line resources for family historians researching their ancestors in the British Isles.
Over the next few weeks I will be adding content about networking sites here.
Let me know what you think, and what sites you want to know more about - Leave a comment.
It is a sister site to GenBIRes - which looks at commercial on-line resources for family historians researching their ancestors in the British Isles.
Over the next few weeks I will be adding content about networking sites here.
Let me know what you think, and what sites you want to know more about - Leave a comment.
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