findmypast free this weekend.

of, not if

Do have a look!

Site has crashed !

Whoops.

I thought it was just me! Annoyingly I'm supposed to be finding the winners for Cheltenham next week but this has sidetracked me!

Not really surprised!
However, when anyone does get on the site....

1) You are faced with a person search/ or A-Z of record sets - no way to search in any other way on the visible page - I find it clumsy after the Ancestry search, where I have done things like finding all the glassworkers in Glasgow in a certain year!

2) When you come to the records, there doesn't seem any way to find, say, all the directories before you start searching them - or, all the Thom's directories, or all the census records, or all the deaths records...you have to wade through, as far as I can find.

3) You can get directly to the newspapers, lower down, but I have had great difficulty trying to sort through these....the British Library does tell you where the paper comes from - but here, how do you tell that the 'Freeman's Journal' is a Dublin paper when it doesn't come up under D in the filters?

- AND - and this is a big grumble of mine - if you search for "John Little" as you would in google - it gives you the 'John Little' hits, but it gives you all the Johns and Littles as well - which means you get all the words 'little' and not just the name! Hundreds of them.

Have I missed ways to get into this site?
Comments, please!

I'm finding it difficult to negotiate, and it doesn't help that my old pooter crashes constantly and I have to keep logging off and going back in. I am planning to do some research into my family, though, so I will persevere [but will probably end up joining the Ancestry one]. On the subject of family history I've realised something, and I'd like to know it it's just me. I can summon up no interest for the S.O.'s family history. However, I am interested in my ex's family and that is because, although I'm not related to them, they are blood relatives of my children. Does anyone else feel the same way?

Tegan has Ruby declared yet re Faugheen (sp?) and Hurricane Fly?

No. It'll surely be Faugheen though [they say he doesn't have a sentimental bone in his body]. I've backed Arctic Fire ew. I'm really out of touch with racing at the moment, as there's been bits of family stuff happening lately so I'm doing lots of last minute cramming..pages and pages of previews. We had our preview in Brum last night. I don't know how I feel about Un de Sceaux on Tuesday; bat out of hell doesn't even begin to describe him. First time in years that I've not gone to the Festival so will probably be in tears on Tuesday watching on the telly. There's still a stat that Ruby hasn't won a chase at the Festival since Kauto Star albeit winning plenty of hurdles, so next week will be interesting given that Willie trains the favourites for nearly every race. Must set up a thread.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=DIflQ-S8NXw
..my beloved...

PLEASE set up your own thread for the horses!

Sorry .....

It used to be much easier to use.
My subscription is coming to an end, so I think I will give it up this time. I knew some people had complained about it, but we were given the impression that we just needed to persevere, and it would soon be better. Not so.
You have helped me to make up my mind.
I am going to sign up to The Genealogist for a year and see if it's better.

Can you let me know how you get on with that one?I certainly want to subscribe to one of them. I couldn't seem to find much out on the findmypast one [although I have now got my grandmothers DOB which is a help].

You can get a lot of free information on FreeBMD. There are also FreeCEN (Census data) and FreeREG (Parish Registers) but they don't yet have as many records transcribed.

And FamilySearch.
I don't give them any info....have been told that they might baptise my (dead!) relatives as Mormons.....but there is a LOT here free.

Can anyone say, please, what are their particular difficulties on fmp?

I am thinking of complaining......

What information shouldn't I have given them? I had to give them information to find the records. Bit worried now .

Don't worry Tegan. The Mormons baptise the dead in order for them to have the opportunity of salvation. It has to, in theory, be accepted or rejected by the dead person. I believe it is done for the best of motives but if you don't believe in it, like me, it can do no harm. It is strange but you can read about it on the Mormon website. Best to ignore.

There is a "temple-ready" section of the site where Mormons can add their ancestors to the flock and be "sealed" to them, which is a bit like retrospective baptism. i think they believe that they will meet them in heaven if they have done the sealing process right. That is the reason the Mormons are so keen on genealogy - they want to get all the generations accurately identified to give them a chance of heaven.

They are not interested in the details you put in to search, only their own research.

But because there are so many family trees on it, and earlier researchers may not have been as accurate as they should have been, you should treat everything as only a possibility until you have confirmed it somewhere else.

If the ancestors were not particularly interested when they were alive, they won't be rushing to join now that they are dead.

Just imagine a Viking who is sitting in Valhalla with a horn of strong mead in one hand and a flaxen-haired wench in the other, swapping war stories with his pals. He is not going to react well to a suggestion that he move to a heaven with harps and white nighties, and no sex, just because a descendant a thousand years on has sent the invitation.

love that picture!

I love it too! Sorry Tegan, I should have been clearer.

I can also imagine what my Irish granny might have said.....
But Elegran, I think personally I will give Valhalla a miss. Sounds boring.

But I am still asking, can anyone say, please, what are their particular difficulties on fmp?