Ancestry or Findmypast for family tree research without contacting relatives?

[Battytwatty]

I have decided to research my family tree and was planning to use Ancestry or Find my Past. Can anyone advise which one is the best. I’m not really interested in connecting with relatives if that makes any difference.
thank you

You could try free sites such as freebmd, freereg, freecen, findagrave first if looking for UK records. Wikitree for recording the tree but be careful with living relatives privacy. Also consider Myheritage which has a more international scope. Not used ancestry or findmypast much. The incorrect 'hints' were not helpful.

I think that Ancestry would have everything you need.

You will find the GRO certificate ordering website useful too.

If you don't have your parents' marriage and birth certificates, order those to start with.

https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/login.asp

I think both will offer a free trial so why don't you do a week on each and see how far you get on each?

I have used Ancestry for a long while but recently signed up to FMP for a month to get access to a particular record set which Ancestry didn't have. Having tried both, I have confirmed that I prefer Ancestry, although the newspaper search on FMP was interesting. I think it's a matter of personal preference.

Ancestry will offer you the use of other people's research (if their trees aren't private)... my tree is set to private and I tend not to use the suggestions (have turned them off) as I find other people's trees often contain mistakes or are not backed up by sources. Sometimes though, they can be useful in getting you past a brick wall. I don't think it actively suggests relatives unless you do a DNA test, but even then you can turn that off.

If you use Ancestry and get links to other trees on there...check any information multiple times! People copy each other's errors.

This question has been asked a couple of times recently. My personal opinion is that if you are going to go for just one of them then Ancestry is probably the better one for most people.

Here are links to a couple of earlier threads about this with other people giving their opinion

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/genealogy/5524832-what-is-better-find-my-past-or-ancestry

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/genealogy/5387309-best-website-to-join

Thank you for responding. I might take up a posters suggestion of trying a free trial of both. And I will look through the previous threads about this too. Thanks again x

I prefer findmypast but my local library offers free use of ancestry so ive used both.

You can also contact local parishes via emails obtained online.

I've used both many times over the last 20+ years and Ancestry is my go to. I use Find My Past occasionally as they do have some databases that Ancestry don't but overall, Ancestry wins for me.

My local library has Find my Past and unlimited access to the British Newspaper Archive, so I use those in tandem with my own sub to Ancestry.

@Battytwatty The best advice I can give is to work backwards from the known to the unknown, and check & double-check at every stage; and I agree with a pp about not relying on other people's uploaded research or trees.

I find that the search function on find my past is easier to narrow down than on ancestry, though I use both.

It also depends in part on which part of the country the majority of your research is going to be. Eg fmp has Leicestershire records online but not Nottinghamshire; ancestry is the opposite.

I'd second making the best use you can of all the free websites, and also registering with rootschat (it's free) where you can get a lot of help and guidance from experienced researchers.

for easy of use I prefer ancestry, but the issue with ancestry is the terrible organisation of the parish registers and thus baptisms and burials can be tricky to find along with the woeful transcriptions for example some transcribers used base as the surname of the child - mistaking it for the surname instead of realising it meant born out of wedlock

so I would also check with the other if using one - many libraries have one subscription or the other

I keep my family tree on Family Search and do my first searches on there, as it’s free. I use Find My Past, as imo it’s search function can be more precise than Family Search, and newspaper articles can add flesh to an ancestor’s life story - rarely good in my family! I haven’t used Ancestry.