Why you might need subs to different census sites

[Phoenix]

Chasing up Mary Jane Domoney in 1861. Her surname can be spelt (and transcribed) in a variety of ways, so losing sight of 17 year old servant was not altogether surprising.

There was no trace on Ancestry, so I looked on Find My Past.

https://search.findmypast.co.uk/reco...f1333%2f00010a


She's the last entry on the page, perfectly clear, so I checked the reference.
Ancestry code their entries differently, so I looked for different names


Andrew Vernon
Georgina Luff
Mary Prockter


No joy.


Then I searched for Blandford Forum. And I discovered that the first SEVEN pages of entries are not merely unindexed, but missing.



If anyone else has spotted this, Ancestry has not corrected it in the many years since the records were first put online.


In theory, both sites should have the same total of entries. Does anyone know how the numbers differ? I can forgive transcription errors or illegible entries, but the lack of controls to ensure that every page is filmed does worry me.

[Merry]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

In theory, both sites should have the same total of entries. Does anyone know how the numbers differ?

Ancestry:

1861 England Census 18,423,689
1861 Scotland Census..3,062,830
1861 Wales Census......1,151,025
1861 Isle of Man..............52,466
1861 Channel Isles...........92,463
Total....................... .22,782,473

FindMyPast................22,611,932

I don't know whether there's anything that effects the numbers such as with empty properties etc.

[kiterunner]

You don't need a sub to FMP to view a few census entries, because they have a pay as you go "micropayments" system available now.

[Phoenix]

That's interesting, Merry. And cunningly designed so you can't actually compare like with like.

The total should be over 23million.

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by kiterunner

You don't need a sub to FMP to view a few census entries, because they have a pay as you go "micropayments" system available now.

This is true, but the number of times I have to refer to them, it's cheaper to have a sub.

[HarrysMum]

I have found The Genealogist best for census, but I can’t afford a sub at the moment.

[Merry]

I think The Genealogist is the site I'm, supposed to be barred from, though in recent years they send me messages asking for me to join. I won't try on principle!!

For census records I tend to use Ancestry first and FMP second - I think FMP search system is better than Ancestry but the way the results are displayed is unhelpful) and sometimes the free search on UK Census Online, which is useful in some circumstances.