Ancestry have just announced the release of the PRs for Somerset on the same lines as those for other counties - images and indexed I assume. This is my main county of research and would you believe I cancelled my sub last week! Have to get the cheque book out I think Steve
Thank you for flagging this up. I had despaired of finding any birth record for my Gt grandfather and now I have his baptism, for some reason although his cousin on the left hand page has been transcribed by Free Reg he seems to have been missed out. Still no registration though but at least I have a closer date now to search for.
Make sure you ask for a discount - it works Thanks Molly May, but I'm afraid in my case it doesn't - tried that this morning and told they would not offer a discount. I pointed out the annoyance of established members like myself seeing offers from time to time, when we pay out year after year an annual increase, but no joy. What is galling is that they will be offering a discount to members of the Oxfordshire FHS on October 1st when the Oxford PRs are released - luckily I'm a member of that so shall probably wait until then, Steve
What a shame - when I phoned as my sub was up for renewal (and I complained about the offers and that re-subscribers get nothing) hinting I may not renew, I was give 25% without so much as an ask, it appeared that it was a 'given' policy for moaners like me. Hopefully they will be doing one of their 'cheap' deals soon and you can take advantage of that.
And at last I have a baptism for my 3x Gt grandmother, the wife of my bankrupt brewer. I had a theory about her parents but could only find her brother, but now I have her, and the image of her parents marriage in which her mother signed her name spelt as I expected and not as it was recorded by the person who filled in the register. I've had a busy weekend trawling these records and working out how to find what I am looking for. So satisfying to have a theory justified.
Well I bit the bullet and resubscibed and have straight away found many items just not visible on the microfiches I have of several parishes. Well worth the money I suppose, even if I could have saved £24 if I waited until October Steve
Do I gather from this that these are new images and not the ancient negative images which the Somerset Record Office flog?
Yes, they are full colour photos of the original registers. I have Chewton Mendip on fiche (negative) which has been transferred for me onto a CD (positve) amongst others and the difference is amazing. There are very many pages on the fiche on which I cannot read a single entry. On the new Ancestry images most are clear and sharp. Only one thing puzzles me however - I assume they have photographed the originals held at Taunton, yet there is a marriage register for Chew Magna from 1754 which is still held by the parish; this is in the Ancestry images and yet there is a pair of missed pages (which includes, of course, my ancestor's marriage) which are also missing from the original fiche. Did the parish let them photograph it and the pages were missed twice (perhaps they are stuck together?). There are also quite a few parishes missing altogether - I understand more will be added in due. course Steve
Thanks Steve, that's really useful. I expect the Ancestry people are very much like the original LDS photographers - careful in the physical sense but perhaps not otherwise very engaged. It's just the equipment which has improved so much. Anyway, I have lots of Somerset connections, on the paternal and maternal sides, so it will be worth a trip to the library sometime........ Thanks again, John
I have found many of my Somerset ancestors through the release of the PR's for Somerset. Its pretty interesting stuff and I keep trolling through....... mrshuma aka Wendy
