Thursday, February 26, 2009

UK's FamilyHistoryOnline.net site is disappearing

The web site of the Federation of Family History Societies in the United Kingdom is going offline on 2 March 2009.

If you check all of the databases that they had online (see http://www.familyhistoryonline.net/database/index.shtml), you see that many of these are not just census, vital or military records. This web site was an excellent resource for listing which records are available at local or regional repositories, including the County Record Offices and the FFHS county societies, and for obtaining index entries and some images through the FFHS.

The good news is that the databases are not going away, they are just changing the location where they are stored and ordered from. Almost all of these databases will be at the FindMyPast commercial web site - www.FindMyPast.com. There is a FAQ page about this transfer of data at http://www.familyhistoryonline.net/general/fmpfaq.shtml.

Obtaining a copy of, or an image of, these records usually cost money through the FFHS site in the past. They will also cost money when obtained through www.FindMyPast.com. The FAQ says:

"Findmypast.com offers a choice of ways of accessing the data: pay-per-view or subscription. Payment can be accepted online by credit card or by ‘BT Click&Buy’, and vouchers are available from an international network of stockists including libraries, archives, family history societies and by mail order. The costs of viewing individual records have been reviewed to bring them into line with other datasets."

The benefit to researchers is that these records from the FFHS databases will augment the large collection of online databases already indexed and imaged at www.FindMyPast.com. It has become even more of a "one-stop-shop" for United Kingdom genealogy records.

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