Searching for ancestors

[Gaynorvj]

Hi,

I'm trying to find ancestors back from my great grandfather on my mums side.  I know his name and he was born in London, but that's about it.  How can I trace back further.

I've tried different census sites, but they charge a lot.

Does anyone have any good sites that don't charge yet give me more information than just a name.

Also has anyone had any experience of the 1901 census website.  When I looked at the payment tables, it seemed like they charge you as you go along, depending on which pages you visit.  I looked as though it could become very expensive if I searched too much.

Thanks in advance.

[Grunty]

If you go to the Family Records Centre in Myddleton Place, London (near Angel underground) you can search the censuses free and get a printout for a few pence.  Also you can search the births, marriages and deaths records free.  If you find what you want in the indexes, you can buy a copy of the certificate.  Last price I knew was �6.50.  The staff are very helpful.  If you don't live near London, your local library might have the indexes.  Your local registrar of births, deaths and marriages will let you search the indexes for a small fee.

[Sammy Snake]

Certificates cost �7 now.

The census for 1881 can be viewed for free at www.familysearch.org but all the other censuses that are available (1841 - 1901) are on pay per view sites (with a few exceptions).  You usually get name, address, occupation, age, place of birth etc

The best site is www.ancestry.co.uk - you pay about �70 per year for this but I'm sure anyone who uses it will agree that it is well worth it.  You can also take out a quarterly subscripton or pay about �7 for 20 searches.

The 1901 website is also good, last time I used it you bought �5 of credits and then paid about 50p for each search result you looked at and about 75p to look at the actual page.  I can't rememberthe actual prices as I have Ancestry now.  The credits don't last very long so you need to use them in about 48 hours or you lose them.

Tracing your family history is a really interesting hobby but as you have discovered, you need to pay to get most of the info (unless you go to your Libraray/Records office as mentioned in the other reply) and it can get very expensive - I don't want to even think about how much I've spent on mine!

[d0gsb0dy]

If you live in London, or within easy reach of it, you might find it useful to become a member of the Society of Genealogists. The facilities are first-class, with immense archives. I have been a member for quite a few years, now, and have traced my ancestry back to the time of Charles the first. A lot of the research was done there.
The cost, currently, is about �40 a year, but money well spent if you are doing a serious study. Their address is The Society of Genealogists, 14, Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London. EC1M 7BA.

[Peter Pedant]

Whichever one is the latterday saints site - has an 1881 census for free, whcih is useful.

A large library near you may have the 1881 census on CD ROM and also a variety of censuses of their own area. - Around Manchester for example, Knutsford and oldham are very good.

[dothawkes]

before you do go searching the actual census films, you should firstly check all the available surname index for 1901 and 1891 to at least eliminate alot of districts.  This way you know that what you are gowing to look at will at least contain the name you are after, and the exact folio number is included in each district index, therefore it takes seconds to check a household this way. 

[spudqueen]

There are a lot of books (you could try your local library) and also quite a few magazines (try WH Smiths) out now on this very popular hobby. They will be able to point you in the right direction of tracing your ancestors.