searching family history

[daisymumbles]

can anyone recommend any websites where i do not have to pay to look up records?

[fairkatrina]

The 1801 census is available free from thegenealogist.com any other censuses you have to pay for, but they do a pay-per-view service on that site, where you can search through the records, then pay for downloadable copies of the records you want, which works out quite cheap.

[scatty mare]

Assuming you're tracing family in the UK, ancestry.co.uk are still offering a free 14 day trial. You'll have to give credit card details when you sign up, but you can cancel at any time before the trial period expires. You'll be able to search all available census returns (1841-1901), BMD, military records etc. I've used this site more than any other for research and if you don't want to commit to yearly membership, it's only �9.95 per month and well worth it. I use FreeBMD quite a lot for looking up , not surprisingly, birth, marriage and death records, although indexes post-1910ish aren't yet complete. Familysearch.org is excellent for tracing pre 1837 BMDs. Bear in mind though, that if you're serious about tracing your family history, you'll have to pay for certificates and other documents somewhere along the line.