Genealogy Chat

While I would agree with everything that others have said, there´s no denying that if you are going to take it seriously, genealogy is an expensive hobby.
It´s not just the researching that costs money. You also need to factor in things like internet access. computer, printer, paper , printer ink etc, etc, etc.
It may not seem like much at the time, but the cost mounts up over the year, along with membership of site, pay per view, certificates & all sorts of costs you hadn´t bargained for.
Having said that, it´s addictive & it´s very difficult to know where to stop once you have started, plus you can make so many new friends among like minded people & generally speaking, fellow researchers are a helpful lot.

Holt has already asked for - and received - help on these baords, so she is not unaware of the option so to do

I would stick with just GR until the sub comes up for renewal, then re-evaluate.
One option I would strongly consider is downgrading GR to just basic membership and taking out a premium Ancestry sub - primarily for the Liverpool parish registers it has, both RC and C of E. Last time I costed things out - a while back, it's true - GR was the cheapest way to access the English/Welsh census images.

In the meantime, go with GR/FreeBMD, supplemented by http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/local_bmd in particular
http://www.cheshirebmd.org.uk/ and http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/ plus FS:
https://familysearch.org/search/collection/list#page=1®ion=UNITED_KINGDOM_IRELAND
and http://www.lan-opc.org.uk/ - all free sites (excl GR).

To cite one example, FreeBMD shows:
Marriages Dec 1882 (>99%)
Ellis Edward Liverpool 8b 424
Heany Elizabeth Liverpool 8b 424
Marsden Eliza Liverpool 8b 424
McCormick William John Liverpool 8b 424

http://www.lancashirebmd.org.uk/ shows:
Lancashire Marriage indexes for the years: 1882
Surname Forename(s) Surname Forename(s) Church / Register Office Registers At Reference
MCCORMICK William J HEANY Elizabeth Liverpool, Register Office or Registrar Attended Liverpool REG_LP/178/132

so we know who wed whom, and also it wasn't a C of E marr. It could be a rego office marr, but pre-1898, the registrar had to attend all non-conformist marrs as they weren't trusted to keep official marr regos (RCs weren't approved until the 1980s), so a non-conformist marr would have to be recorded in the registrar's official rego, along with all the rego office marrs. It probably was also recorded in the church's own private rego.

Actually, as will be apparent from this, Chris in Sussex isn't quite right. Marr certs can be viewed online with a sub if the relevant church is covered by that site's collection(s). However, this never applies to rego office marrs.

I have a 50/50 Scotland/England tree and find it cheaper to use FreeBMD, FreeCEN and Pay as you go on FMP for anything deeper for the English side and of course Scotlandspeople (which is far easier to use) for the others.

Its like any other hobby, buy what you need, when you need it. Ask for help and see if others can help out with what they have, before you buy.

It will very easily cost you a fortune!

Ancestry 85.00 pa - I pay nearly 100.00 and that is with a discount yearly!!!

freebmd is free.....to search for info from the GRO index.

If you want certs, you'll have to pay £9.25 for each one

Ancestry costs about £85.00 per annum. FMP is probably about the same, although...........

.........look at the home pages of the sites.........find the info yourself. It's easy

This relates to your McCormick threads, I presume...........

living fairly close to the records office where a lot of records for my family were recorded, plus in the days when I started the fiches for census countrywide, the only site I joined for 10 years was a basic membership if this site. I used the free access to Ancestry in both the records office and our local library ( as said above most counties have this facility).

There are also many freesites available for different counties. To find them just put what and where you are looking for on a post on this site and someone will be sure to give you what sites are available or the info you need.

I have been very lucky as Lancashire has some excellent free sites and after all this time have only just felt the need to join another search site as my searches have got more extensive.

Where I needed extra help the community on here have provided it. In fact at this moment there is someone who has volunteered to do some research for me by talking to some people with the surname I am researching to try to overcome a brickwall I have. Many people will go that extra mile for you if needed.

The only things I have paid for are certificates - NEVER pay more than the £9.25 from the GRO - and wills which are an excellent source and cost either £3.50 if they are on the internet ot £6 if not.

good luck with your research

Join your local Libary most have free access to these sites

You do not mention which country or part of the UK you are interested in

Scottish certs are different, civil registration began in 1855, and you would need scotlandspeoples website.

Also differences for Isle of Man and Channel Islands

I am afraid that you will not find a site that provides details contained in England/Wales Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates included in a subscription.

Certificates will always have to be purchased either from the General Record Office or from a relevant Register Office.

Depending on the location and timeframe of the event it may be possible to find relevant information but there is no central resource.

If events occured before the start of registration (1 July 1837) then there will be other possible ways of researching but they may not always be available online.

As Brummiejan has suggested. Post a particular event you are interested in and see what the 'helpers' can find.....But if it relates to possible living people then it may be better to post on the 'Find Living Relatives' Board

Good luck
Chris

Personally I would advise you to keep your basic genes membership, so you can access forums and get advice/help.
Start with what you know for definite.
For births, marriages and deaths 1837-1955ish you can't beat Freebmd as a starting point.

http://www.freebmd.org.uk

You will need to buy certs occasionally, but never pay more that £9.25. They can be ordered online from GRO.

People on here have various subs and are happy to help.

Most popular sites to join are Findmypast (FMP) and Ancestry - both have a 2-week free trial I believe.

Jan

Can anyone give me a rough idea of how much the overall costs are to join everything I need for searching...e.g. certificates ?
Being completely naive when I joined this site I thought it was all included but I would now like to pay for it all up front.