Free Ancestry access (General)
by gwrmad 
, Caister on Sea Norfolk, Thursday, May 23, 2013, 16:28 (4197 days ago)
Ancestry has free access to military records this weekend just received an Email from them but I am not a member so it must be available to all -Regards Kelvin
Free Ancestry access, or FindMyPast in USA only ?
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Friday, May 24, 2013, 17:26 (4196 days ago) @ gwrmad
Hi Kelvin and thanks for your helpful message.
However I fear you may be be a little in error, altho I do hope not.
Please can you clarify what you know of this offer, thanks ?
Are you in the UK ?. I am and am subscribed to Ancestry.co.uk emails and have not heard about any free access,; similarly I cannot see this offer via their website or by thoroughly searching tinternet.
However I have found various American sites saying that FindMyPast.com are offering free access to US records this weekend to lead up to their Memorial Day. I cannot think of any similar reason why the UK sites would be offering free access, as they do near our November "Poppy Day" for example.
See this link, however when I tried to access the free access they directed me to the UK site which didn't want to help me without paying.
http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2013/05/findmypastcom-will-offer-free-ac...
"Memorial Day Free Access to findmypast.com Military Records
In honor of Memorial Day on May 27, and in remembrance of all who died while serving our country, findmypast.com will offer its collection of US and International military records for free in the days leading up to national observance.
With more than 26 million US and International military records available, findmypast.com is encouraging people to explore and learn about the heroic efforts of their ancestors this Memorial Day. Record sets such as ‘Draft Registration Cards,’ ‘Casualties Returned Alive,’ ‘POWs’ and others will offer a captivating glimpse into the lives and experiences of our veteran ancestors.
The US and International military records will be available free of charge starting at midnight EDT on Thursday, May 23 until midnight EDT on Monday, May 27. Anyone can access the records by registering for free at findmypast.com"
Cheers, Jeff
Free Ancestry access
by selbyfamily , Friday, May 24, 2013, 22:32 (4195 days ago) @ gwrmad
I have also had the message from Ancestry.com for free Military Records this weekend. It covers American and British WW1 Army records. I have used it and found relatives.
Free Ancestry access
by downunder , Saturday, May 25, 2013, 02:57 (4195 days ago) @ selbyfamily
Cheers for this info
Free British Army WW1 Ancestry Records access
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Saturday, May 25, 2013, 18:41 (4194 days ago) @ downunder
Hi all and thanks for helping clarify this offer, I'm very pleased it is widely available.
From my UK viewpoint as an already registered user (but not paying subscriber) of the UK website I cannot see any emails or promotional web pages c/o Ancestry.co.uk promoting free access. Presumably as I was using the same email address I wasn't allowed to also subscribe to the USA website, I hope other non-USA-based people can access these free records perhaps as new subscribers especially using different email accounts to their UK registration.
Thatsaid, I'm very pleased to see some WW1 Record Sets within the UK site are still available to UK users f-o-c, presumably just for this weekend ?. Unusually these are different than the normal offers and don't include the Medal Cards which is the most complete Record Set they have, so sadly many people won't find their ancestors within these less-complete Sets. Whether I can access US Records for free I don't know. The available UK sets are British Army Service Records and the equally informative National Roll of the Great War (altho' this is not great for West Country parts of the UK).
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/category.aspx?cat=39
As suggested before be patient when searching as altho' initially a Service Record Set may not look like "your" particular A.B.Smith then the enlistment details may well include personal details such as next-of-kin and home addresses. The key when researching Army Records is knowing "your" soldier's Service Numbers; this may well be found in advance using the National Archives' free-access Medal Card set. These hints will hopefully help
http://www.forum.forest-of-dean.net/index.php?id=39109
Thanks again for highlighting this offer.
Free British Army WW1 Ancestry Records access
by selbyfamily , Monday, May 27, 2013, 16:25 (4193 days ago) @ Jefff
Just had an e-mail from Ancestry.com to say access ends tonight in case anyone wants to take a last minute look.
Free WW1 Ancestry Records this Remembrance Weekend
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Friday, November 08, 2013, 18:39 (4027 days ago) @ selbyfamily
Once again Ancestry are kindly allowing free access to some of their Military Records this Remembrance Weekend;
"We’re remembering 100 years since First World War by making some of our most important collections free. From the 8th to the 12th of November find stories from FWW right up to modern conflicts in our WWI Service Records, WWII Army Roll of Honour, Navy Medal and Roll Awards and the Victoria Cross Medals.
These records will be available to search for free from 00:00 on 8th November 2013 until 23:59 on 12th November 2013. To view these records you will need to register for free with Ancestry.co.uk with your name and email address."
http://www.ancestry.co.uk/start_military?o_xid=57642&o_lid=57642&o_sch=Email
Please also visit the informative, helpful and thought-provoking website of The Royal British Legion, and please support their most worthwhile cause, thankyou.
"Wear your poppy with pride"
PS: may God forgive the shameful individuals responsible for yesterday's theft from Drybrook Church....
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-24849496
1911 UK Census FREE Ancestry website Access
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Wednesday, July 24, 2013, 20:14 (4134 days ago) @ gwrmad
Ancestry UK have just announced they are offering free access to the 1911 England & Wales Census from tonite until 14th October, see this link.
http://www.ancestry.co.uk/1911census?o_xid=56535&o_lid=56535&o_sch=Email
This appears to be another genuine offer without strings attached, altho' you will need to signup by email nothing else should be necessary and certainly no payment should be asked-for. My own experience of such offers is all good, I receive occasional informative newsletters and warnings of offers such as this, but never any spam or promo emails. The website also allows you to plot family trees and gain (and add) usefull info including the free-to-access 1881 Census and FreeBMD data, even if you're not a paid subscriber. There are of course other websites that may well allow this.
Happy Hunting, Jeff.
1911 UK Census, Improved Images on Ancestry
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Saturday, July 27, 2013, 14:36 (4132 days ago) @ Jefff
You may recall some while back we were discussing the fact that Ancestry's images of the 1911 Census were somewhat "marred" by their inclusion of a white mask hiding the "Infirmity" column at the righthand side. Because of this I've found myself also collecting the FindMyPast site's images of the same Census forms as these were not masked, although they were poorer images. I did this via my local Library's free access, which I've not revisited in the last few months.
I now see that Ancestry have removed the masks from the 1911 Census images, or at least those I've seen this week, and perhaps more importantly they've further improved the quality of the images themselves. Maybe I'm over-pedantic but for me this free access is a good opportunity to upgrade all the 1911 images and into a smaller database toboot.
I hope this is of interest, atb J.
Passenger Lists
by selbyfamily , Friday, August 30, 2013, 10:22 (4098 days ago) @ gwrmad
For information - Immigration and Travel Records are free on Ancestry until 2 September.
Free Ancestry Access across Easter Weekend
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Sunday, April 13, 2014, 15:03 (3872 days ago) @ selbyfamily
Ancestry have just announced they're offering free Access to certain UK Records including the 1901 and 1911 Census this coming Easter weekend. As before this requires simple registration by email, no request for payment or spam emails afterwards.
Indeed, I learnt this news from one of their occasional and often helpful newsletters; how pleasant it was to receive this notice well in advance compared to past times. Hopefully this is a sign of them "upping" their game due to healthy competition, I've noticed other suppliers recently promoting favourable offers too.
Free access is from midnight Thursday 17th April until midnight Easter Monday 21 April 2014. The free access will include WW1 Military Records and Probate Records.
Free Ancestry Access across Easter Weekend
by downunder , Monday, April 14, 2014, 14:13 (3871 days ago) @ Jefff
Thanks as always.
xx
Free Ancestry access to WW1 Medal Index Cards
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Friday, July 11, 2014, 21:07 (3782 days ago) @ downunder
I've just been received an Ancestry newsletter/email to advise they're offering FREE access to their WW1 Medals Index Cards collection, from now until end of December 2014. As in recent years for new users this requires just a quick email registration, but should be no requests for payment etc, unless one is tempted to stray elsewhere within the Ancestry website.
Just tried it and worked fine for me, despite my not using Ancestry these last few weeks while they solve their technical issues, and notwithstanding my never having paid an Ancestry subscription.
Hoping this helps, Jeff.
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/db.aspx?dbid=1262&o_xid=61484&o_lid=61484&a...
Free Ancestry access This Weekend
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, February 05, 2015, 22:10 (3573 days ago) @ gwrmad
Ancestry UK are offering free access to their UK records from Friday until midnight Sunday. Users can also download a copy of a 22-page "Getting Started" guide.
see
http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/news/free-ancestry-access-family-history-guide
This appears to be another genuine offer without strings attached, altho' you will need to signup by email nothing else should be necessary and certainly no payment should be asked-for. My own experience of such offers is all good, I receive occasional informative newsletters and warnings of offers such as this, but never any spam or promo emails. The website also allows you to plot family trees and gain (and add) usefull info including the free-to-access 1881 Census and FreeBMD data, even if you're not a paid subscriber. There are of course other websites that may well allow this.
Happy Hunting, Jeff.
Free Ancestry access tomorrow Feb 19th - 21st.
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, February 18, 2016, 22:45 (3195 days ago) @ Jefff
Ancestry UK are offering free access to all their UK & Ireland records from tomorrow Friday until midnight Sunday.
see http://www.ancestry.co.uk/cs/free-access
This appears to be another genuine offer without strings attached. You will need to sign-up by email but nothing else should be necessary and certainly no payment should be asked-for. By signing-up you'll receive occasional email newsletters but in my experience no spam, some of the newsletters give notice of useful offers such as this.
Happy Hunting, Jeff.
Free Irish Records access on Ancestry throughout March
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, March 03, 2016, 19:19 (3181 days ago) @ Jefff
Some of you may have Irish blood in your trees, I have via my Vurriner wife's line. If so then you'll know they can be particularly tricky lines to trace, this month's free access from Ancestry may be of help, their newsletter reads
"March is the perfect time to look back at Irish history. We’re marking the occasion by helping you discover if your family played a part in the building of the Irish nation — with free access to all our Irish records for the entire month.
Our commemorations start with the release today of 10 million new Catholic parish records. This is the single most important collection of Irish family history prior to the 1901 Census, and could help you trace your family’s history right back to the 1600s.
Access to the records in the featured collections will be free until 31 March, 2016 at 23:59 GMT "
This link should take you to the Ancestry search page, and the full list of their Irish collections;
http://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/group/ireland_collections?o_xid=70060&o_lid=700...
The FindMyPast site have also recently added Irish Records to their database. More info about both is on the "WDYTYA" website, which I found from their latest email-newsletter, which I recommend signing-up for.
http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/news/irish-catholic-parish-records-now-fully...
Hope this helps, Jeff
Free UK & Commonwealth Records on Ancestry this Easter.
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Saturday, March 26, 2016, 01:04 (3159 days ago) @ Jefff
Apologies for the late notice, I've just seen a email advising Ancestry are currently offering free access over the Easter weekend until midnight on Monday 28th March. This includes access to "billions of records from all over the UK and the British Commonwealth, from Australia to Canada"
Quite fitting as our most recent forum post discussed an emigrant to Australia.
Free UK & Australia WW1 Records on Ancestry this Weekend.
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Wednesday, November 09, 2016, 19:11 (2930 days ago) @ Jefff
As in the past, this coming Rememberance Weekend will see free access to various WW1 Military records c/o the "Fold 3" website, which appears to be the name of a new sister website to Ancestry.co.uk. As in previous offers, new users will only need to register with name and email address, no charge or request for payment card details should be required.
I do hope this is the case, altho' this year's other changes to the Ancestry "business plan" maybe suggests we proceed with a degree of caution - I'm a paid subscriber to Ancestry and today's email is the first I've heard of their new "Fold 3" site. The site contains their new "British Commonweath Military Collection", which includes the following databases;
Australia WWI Service Records
British Army Lists
British Army WWI Service Records
Distinguished Conduct Medal Citations
Military Books
U.K. Navy Lists
British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards
Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Admission & Discharge Records
Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Soldier Service Record
Royal Hospital Kilmainham Pensioner Records (Ireland)
U.K. WWI War Diaries (France, Belgium, and Germany)
U.K. WWI War Diaries (Gallipoli-Dardanelles)
The free access period is the "3 days of Friday 11th - Sunday 13th November", probably starting from midnite GMT Thursday until midnite Sunday.
Use this link to the Fold 3 site.
https://go.fold3.com/commonwealth/?o_xid=74228&o_lid=74228&o_sch=Email+Campaigns
"They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them".
This is just one verse of a poem by Laurence Binyon first published just two months into the Great War....
http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-people/48-brothers-arms/81-going-down-...
Free UK & Canada Military Records on Ancestry this Weekend.
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Wednesday, November 08, 2017, 16:42 (2567 days ago) @ Jefff
Once again Ancestry are offering free access to their "UK Military" Records this coming Remembrance weekend. The following list shows the relevant records, not only WW1 records but WW2 as well, for UK and the Commonwealth.
Free access to the records in these featured collections will start early on Friday 10th November until midnight at end of Monday 13th November, 2017.
Today's email from Ancestry first suggests to use this link to start searching, best opened into a new tab or browser window.
https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/category.aspx?cat=39&o_xid=82516&o_lid=825...
Today's email also gives the following link, which suggests more record collections will be available beyond the WW1 scope suggested by the link above, eg Canada etc. I don't know for sure if this is correct or an error on their part, especially given that the notes relate to this time last year 2016, but worth a try...
https://search.ancestry.co.uk/search/group/uk_military_collections?o_xid=82516&o_li...
Free Military Records on Ancestry & FindMyPast this Weekend.
by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Thursday, November 09, 2017, 17:29 (2565 days ago) @ Jefff
Just seen that as well as Ancestry, FindMyPast are also offering free access to their military record sets this weekend. This has already started and runs for 5 days until midnight at end of Sunday 12th November. Apologies for the late notice.
In some ways FMP is a better site than Ancestry for researching British soldiers during the many and various Victorian campaigns.
"Findmypast is offering five days of completely free access to its entire collection of world military records. The collection of over 80 million records includes the First World War, Second World War, Navy, Air Force, prisoner of war records dating back to 1715 and Pals Battalions."
Use this link, probably best to open it in a new browser tab or window.
https://www.findmypast.co.uk/military-records/