Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Actually, the library version is not exactly the same. Also, libraries often don't allow for downloading images--fear of viruses. Believe me, I've tried.
The OP's title refers specifically to Ancestry.com, and yet there have been several suggesting that the service be free. It is a private, for-profit corporation, isn't it? I don't see how that could be reasonably expected.
If we want to back up and say, well all those public records should be free. Yeah, OK by me...but who pays for that? Is the government (national, state, local) going to pay people to create indexes for lookups, and put this service online, and have family trees on their sites, and ways of hooking up with other researchers - all for free...ooooeeeeeeeeeeeee, imagine the howls of outrage!!!!!
Ancestry.com is selling their web site and all the software development that makes it possible to search these archives, plus being able to link with people who have similar interests/projects. Without this aspect of their site, online records themselves would be largely useless, unless one already knew pretty exactly the data you were looking for. I have had to page through some unindexed state censuses, and it is a killer....takes hours, is extremely difficult to read, and in the end I am not certain but what I have missed what I was looking for. I am on record as complaining about some of the sloppy transcribing work on the site, but without all the indexing they have done I cannot imagine having been able to accomplish a quarter of what I have in a relatively short time.
I find it difficult to see how such a service could truly be provided free.
As for profiting off of the lives of our ancestors. C'mon, we're not talking white slavery here! For that matter any history book or historical bio profits off of someone's ancestors. Our ancestors are DEAD they are not the slightest bit affected by any of this; furthermore, we don't own them nor have copyrights on them.
The OP's title refers specifically to Ancestry.com, and yet there have been several suggesting that the service be free. It is a private, for-profit corporation, isn't it? I don't see how that could be reasonably expected.
If we want to back up and say, well all those public records should be free. Yeah, OK by me...but who pays for that? Is the government (national, state, local) going to pay people to create indexes for lookups, and put this service online, and have family trees on their sites, and ways of hooking up with other researchers - all for free...ooooeeeeeeeeeeeee, imagine the howls of outrage!!!!!
Ancestry.com is selling their web site and all the software development that makes it possible to search these archives, plus being able to link with people who have similar interests/projects. Without this aspect of their site, online records themselves would be largely useless, unless one already knew pretty exactly the data you were looking for. I have had to page through some unindexed state censuses, and it is a killer....takes hours, is extremely difficult to read, and in the end I am not certain but what I have missed what I was looking for. I am on record as complaining about some of the sloppy transcribing work on the site, but without all the indexing they have done I cannot imagine having been able to accomplish a quarter of what I have in a relatively short time.
I find it difficult to see how such a service could truly be provided free.
As for profiting off of the lives of our ancestors. C'mon, we're not talking white slavery here! For that matter any history book or historical bio profits off of someone's ancestors. Our ancestors are DEAD they are not the slightest bit affected by any of this; furthermore, we don't own them nor have copyrights on them.
I hate when they lead people on. A lot of obituaries cost money to read, too. We want to get a handle on where we came from, becuse a lot of us don't resemble our current relatives. We look more like great grandpa, and we are just as weird. Tracking his life may show us why we are so drawn to certain parts of the world.
The LDS Family Search has the 1880 Census, along with the British Census. The 1890 Census was partally destroyed by fire. It is available online too, but you will have to be very, very lucky if the place where your ancestor lived has survived.
I hate when they lead people on. A lot of obituaries cost money to read, too. We want to get a handle on where we came from, becuse a lot of us don't resemble our current relatives. We look more like great grandpa, and we are just as weird. Tracking his life may show us why we are so drawn to certain parts of the world.
See if you can find them at a local library for free.
Just weird or unique!
Quote:
Originally Posted by TANaples
The LDS Family Search has the 1880 Census, along with the British Census. The 1890 Census was partally destroyed by fire. It is available online too, but you will have to be very, very lucky if the place where your ancestor lived has survived.
Yes, familysearch.org has the US 1880 census, the UK 1881 census and the Canadian 1881 census. All are free to view.
Ancestry.com has a 1890 census substitute. A great deal of it is drawn from city directories. If a family lived on a farm or in a small town, they may be more difficult to find.
Occurred to me today as I'm working with it: it doesn't seem you can just browse some databases. I just want to see what they have and can't. Have to specify a name. That's a serious flaw.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
