Archive for the ‘Service update’ Category

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Enumerators’ summary book images are live

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

We’ve added a full set of enumerators’ summary book (RG78) images to our 1911 census records. When you view a 1911 census image you will now see links to the accompanying summary book pages in the frame above the image (as shown below).

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Find out what it was like in your ancestors’ neighbourhood

The enumerators’ summary book (RG78) images are filled with useful information about the neighbourhoods in which your ancestors lived and they can also reveal details of relatives living nearby. The new images include:

• the front page of the volume in which the enumerator’s summary sheet was stored.
• enumerator’s summary original page - this not only shows the names of heads of households and how many people occupied the houses (showing you the neighbours), but also lists other buildings, whether houses or not.
• population statistics for the area.
• a description of the Enumerator’s walk.
• a map of the Enumerator’s walk (in some cases).

See annotated sample images of the enumerators’ summary book pages

New household schedule images

As well as the RG78s, we’ve added some extra RG14 household (or institution) schedule images, which also make interesting viewing:
• the address panel from the back of the schedule, showing the address as written by your ancestors and the registration district and subdistrict
• the front page of the volume in which your schedule was stored, giving more detailed information on parishes and districts

Find out more about our new 1911 census subscription

Please note: some household schedules do NOT have Enumerators Summary Books, as a small number did not survive.

Posted in New features, Service update | 1 Comment »

1911 census subscription launched on findmypast.com

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

We’ve just officially launched the first and only 1911 census subscription available anywhere online, making us the only site to offer a complete 1841-1911 census collection. You can now access the England and Wales 1911 census for a fixed fee and without the worry of spending PayAsYouGo credits.

Find out more about our full subscription

Special offer – Save 20% on a full subscription (offer ends in 10 days)

Our full subscription can be bought at the following special discounted rates, but only until 31 October:

12 month full subscription – £119.95 (includes 20% discount)
6 month full subscription – £74.95 (includes 20% discount)

Existing subscribers don’t lose out

If you’ve got an existing subscription, we’ll automatically discount the price to reimburse you for any time left on your old subscription, plus you’ll also get the 20% special discount. The refund on your old subscription will be calculated at a pro-rata daily rate to ensure you don’t lose out. The precise price you’ll pay is shown on our payments page.

Claim your special 20% discount, buy our full subscription today.

What’s so good about 1911?

1911 is the most recent available England and Wales census – it holds the key to your nineteenth and twentieth-century ancestors. The 1911 census contains information you simply can’t find elsewhere and without it your family history is incomplete.

See your ancestors’ handwriting in crisp full colour

For the first time you’ll see scans of the actual forms filled in by your ancestors. These can reveal the quirks of your ancestors’ handwriting, as well as any mistakes or extra comments they made, in crisp high-quality colour.

New, in-depth information

The 1911 census holds more information on your ancestors than any census before it. You can discover:

  • how long a couple had been married.
  • how many children were born to that marriage (and how many of them had died).
  • details of nationality.
  • more detailed occupational information.

We hope you enjoy the new subscription,

The findmypast.com team

Posted in Interesting records, New features, Service update | 1 Comment »

Enumerators’ summary book pages coming soon

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

The 1911 census RG14 household forms are available in full. This means that you can search the census and find full details of your ancestors in the same way as you can on the 1841-1901 censuses.

To meet customer demand we have made the RG14s available at the earliest opportunity. We’re in the process of adding the accompanying enumerators’ summary book (RG78) images but, because of the vast number of images, these aren’t available just yet.

We’ll make all the surviving RG78s available very soon.

Posted in Service update | No Comments »

Increase in fair usage limit

Wednesday, October 14th, 2009

We’ve increased the fair usage limit for all our subscriptions from 1,000 credits to 5,000 per month (over a rolling three month period). That way you are able to look at lots of different images and transcriptions (particularly useful for the newly-added 1911 census) without running out of credit.

We have needed to set a limit in order to protect against abuse and the limit shouldn’t adversely affect the family historian.

Posted in Service update | 6 Comments »

Seven complete 1851 census counties added

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Hot on the heels of our recent five-county 1851 census update, we’ve added seven more complete counties.

These newly-transcribed records give you the chance to search for those ancestors you can’t find on other versions of the census. And all the ancestors you’ve already discovered can be viewed again on our new high-quality images – probably the clearest and most faithful online reproductions available.

The new counties are:

  • Kent
  • Shropshire
  • Staffordshire
  • Cornwall
  • Lincolnshire
  • Leicestershire
  • Westmorland

Discover your ancestor’s precise age

1851 was the first census to reveal the precise age of each householder – on the 1841 census everyone over 15 had their age rounded down. This ‘rounding down’ policy has proven a perpetual source of frustration for family historians the world over. If an ancestor was alive in 1851 but had perished by 1861, our new records could well be the only way you’ll track down their birth record.

Find your forebears on our high-quality 1851 census images

More counties coming soon.

Posted in Interesting records, New features, Service update | No Comments »

Mac users: using the DjVu viewer with Snow Leopard

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

If you use a Mac and have recently upgraded your operating system to the new Snow Leopard (OS X 10.6) release, it is likely that you will experience problems with the DjVu image viewer when viewing images on findmypast.com using the Safari browser.

Here is an article that describes how to solve the problem - it has been tested and is a simple fix that does not require a download.

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Posted in Service update, Tips | 1 Comment »

A glitch with our email system

Wednesday, September 30th, 2009

Yesterday we identified a glitch with our email system which meant that it wasn’t reading all customer account details correctly. This means that a small number of users may have received incorrect emails in the past few days. Some users may have received the same email more than once, or have had an expiry warning email despite having bought a new subscription or credits.

We have been working overnight to fix the problem and hope to have it working normally again soon, but in the meantime we have switched the system off until the fault is rectified, as we take email problems very seriously.

Our sincere apologies to users who have either received unexpected emails, or who did not get an email this morning - if you were waiting for an email that was part of a series, get in touch and we will be happy to send you a copy of the missing email.

Thanks to customers who reported unusual emails to Customer Support, allowing us to find the problem faster. Please always get in touch if you have any questions or concerns over email we send you, or any other aspect of your account.

We will update this post when we have more information - thanks again for your patience.

UPDATE September 30 4.30pm: we have now fixed the problem, tested the system and turned emails back on.

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Posted in Bugs, Service update | 1 Comment »

1911 Census available on subscription in October

Monday, September 14th, 2009

We are delighted to announce that the 1911 census will be available in October as a new subscription package on findmypast.com. 1911census.co.uk will continue as a PayAsYouGo site. Findmypast.com is the only family history website to offer the 1911 Census as a subscription.

The 1911 Census is of immense use to family historians, and even more comprehensive than the 1841 – 1901 England & Wales censuses we already provide. The project to digitise the 1911 census took over 2 years and involved over 300 staff.

  • It’s the first census where there is a form for every household rather than just a street-by-street summary: you get to see your ancestor’s own handwriting, and more information about your ancestors is recorded than ever before
  • Over 10 times larger than the 1901 census – because every household schedule has survived, there are over 16 million images to view
  • Glorious technicolour images – it’s the first census to be scanned in colour and at ultra-high quality, making the original images much easier to read
  • More personal details to help you build your tree – the 1911 Census provides information that wasn’t recorded before: number of years married, children born to the marriage, children living and deceased. Often, your ancestors have made mistakes on the form which can give you even more clues to tracking down family members
  • It’s the most recent census to be released – the 1921 Census won’t be released until 2021, so this is your best chance to find recent (in some cases, still living!) relatives

Don’t just take our word for it, see for yourself by viewing sample images from 1911census.co.uk.

Subscriptions to the 1911 Census on findmypast.com will be available as two packages:

  • 12 months ‘1911′ subscription: £59.95 - the equivalent of viewing 15 transcripts and images using PayAsYouGo credits.
  • 6 months ‘1911′ subscription: £39.95 - the equivalent of viewing 10 transcripts and images using PayAsYouGo credits.

Money saving tip: if you plan to view fewer than 10 households, it will be cheaper for you to use PayAsYouGo credits rather than buying a subscription.

The 1911 Census has not been included within findmypast.com’s existing Explorer subscription. If you want comprehensive access to findmypast.com’s records, you can buy the Explorer and 1911 Census subscriptions together at a special introductory price, for a limited time. These discounted prices will be available for at least a month after the launch of the subscription:

  • 12 months ‘Explorer and 1911′: £119.95 - a saving of 20%
  • 6 months ‘Explorer and 1911′: £74.95 - a saving of 20%

Existing findmypast.com subscribers will be able to upgrade to the new combined subscription using their loyalty discount (currently 20%) at any time - if you decide to upgrade, we will automatically refund the remaining days of your current subscription at a daily rate and deduct this from the price of your new upgraded subscription. Existing findmypast.com subscribers will also get exclusive early access to the 1911 Census before it is made available to the general public.

The 1911 Census will be available as a subscription on findmypast.com no later than October 21st - to receive updates on the launch date, make sure you have opted in to receive newsletters from findmypast.com.

Finally, a reminder that you can use your 1911census.co.uk sign in details and credits on findmypast.com, and vice versa. If you are planning to take up a 1911 Census subscription, now is a good time to use up any remaining credits on the millions of other family history records available on findmypast.com.

We will be adding more detail on the 1911 Census subscription to the site shortly - if you have any questions at the moment, please contact our Customer Support team.

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Posted in 1, Data, Service update | 6 Comments »

‘My account’ just got better, new hassle-free subscription option

Thursday, September 10th, 2009

We’ve added a host of new features to the ‘my account’ section on findmypast.com. As before, you can change your personal details, password, sign-in and email preferences. But now you can also view a history of the payments you’ve made to us, and update or alter your payment details.

Continuous membership

We’ve also added a new ‘continuous membership’ option for subscribers who don’t want the hassle of making a manual payment each time they renew their membership, and to guarantee you get your 20% loyalty discount. (Please note: continuous membership is for subscriptions only, and does not apply to PayAsYouGo credits purchases).

If you enable continuous membership on your subscription:

  • You’ll never miss a payment, and will always get your 20% loyalty discount.
  • Your card details will be stored securely by our online payment provider, DataCash.
  • You can turn continuous membership off (and, indeed, back on again) at any time through ‘my account’.
  • We’ll contact you by email shortly before your payment is due. If you decide you don’t want to renew, you can easily cancel continuous membership through the ‘my subscription’ page within ‘my account’.

How do I start using continuous membership?

If you’re not already using continuous membership, you can activate it through the ‘my subscription’ page within my account.

Posted in New features, Service update | No Comments »

Brand-new version of the 1901 census completed

Tuesday, August 11th, 2009

A brand new transcription of the 1901 census, complete with newly scanned high-quality images, is available on findmypast.com. We’ve just added the final 24 counties and other UK territories – which comprise over 5.6 million new records – so you can now search the census in full. 

Search the complete 1901 census for England and Wales now

The new additions are:

England:

Cumberland
Devonshire
Durham
Northumberland
Westmorland
Worcestershire

Wales:

Anglesey
Brecknockshire
Carnarvonshire
Cardiganshire
Carmarthenshire
Denbighshire
Flintshire
Glamorganshire
Merionethshire
Montgomeryshire
Monmouthshire
Pembrokeshire
Radnorshire

Other:

Guernsey and Adjacent Islands
Isle of Man
Jersey
Royal Navy at Sea and in ports abroad

New images, new transcriptions

Although the 1901 census has been available for some time, we’re confident our new transcription is the most accurate online and will reveal many individuals whose names have been wrongly transcribed by other websites. And in accordance with our commitment to providing the best images, all of the images have been re-scanned to a high quality.

If you’re unable to find your family on other versions of the 1901 census, then it’s well worth trying on findmypast.com. Remember, it’s free to search the census – you’ll only pay to view images or transcripts.

Search our new transcription of the 1901 census with high-quality images

Every census available soon

The completion of the 1901 census brings us a crucial step closer to a full set of 1841-1901 England and Wales censuses. The 1851 census – the only remaining incomplete census – will be available in full within the next few months, and a full set of high-quality 1881 census images will be added to the transcriptions already available. We’ll tell you about these and other exciting developments, as they happen.

Posted in Data, Interesting records, Service update | 4 Comments »

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