Who Do You Think You Are Magazine Forum

[meekhcs]

Hello All

Has anyone subscribed to/ looked at Fold 3 via Ancestry please, and if so what did/do you think of the site?? I appreciate there is a 7 day trial on offer.

Ancestry have just released further military records but they can only be viewed via the above.

Many thanks Sally

[MaureenE]

There is a topic on the Great War Forum
http://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forum ... nt=2453622
which indicates there are new Military records on Ancestry. If you click through to the links, they are on Ancestry.

There is also mention of Fold 3. Are these the new records you are referring to? If so, they do seem to be on Ancestry

Cheers
Maureen

[AdrianB38]

I thought that Fold3 was exclusively US records - a lot of their military plus newspapers etc. Is that what you're after?

Sent from my MotoG3 using WDYTYA Forum mobile app

[meekhcs]

Thanks Guys

Yes Maureen they are indexed on the Ancestry website BUT can only be viewed through Fold 3.

Adrian they are UK records but only viewable via Fold 3 on Ancestry. I suspect any new military records, which ever Country they apply to, are only going to be available in this way through the Ancestry website from now on.

I managed to get an hour to myself last night, and I did take advantage of the free trial, cancelling it after finishing my search. I think I managed to find a couple of records pertaining to my Family, using details I already have. The images are of poor quality and very difficult to read even on zoom, but I did get a couple of trial dates. There was no personal data available so unless you have an idea of what you are searching for it is not possible to link "new" data to Family members, but the records could confirm info you may already have.

I searched the set "UK, Naval and Military Courts Martial Registers, 1806-1930" If I get time I will have another look, and explore the US records to see if the images are of a better quality.

Thanks again Sally

[ianbee]

Adrian they are UK records but only viewable via Fold 3 on Ancestry. I suspect any new military records, which ever Country they apply to, are only going to be available in this way through the Ancestry website from now on.

Just added on ancestry
UK, Royal Hospital Chelsea Pensioner Admissions and Discharges, 1715-1925
Source is Disability and Royal Artillery Out-Pensions, Admission Books in WO 116 at TNA
Again the full record can only be viewed via Fold3. Not a happy development!

[AdrianB38]

If they think I'm buying a subs to Fold3, they can think again. Why on earth would I want stacks of stuff for American Civil War soldiers?

I would suggest that people double check first what's available (a) on FMP and (b) through TNA Discovery.

Finding what's in FMP is not always easy. They tend to take high-level titles like "British Army Service Records" and put stuff under there, whereas the likely only way to cross-compare is to use the TNA catalogue reference. I did find that http://search.findmypast.co.uk/search-world-Records/british-army-service-records-image-browse on FMP has, under the heading "Available Series", a list of 10 TNA Classes. (WO116 isn't in there).

Some of WO116 is available on for download through TNA Discovery. I have no idea whether these TNA images are generally to their old, poor standard of black and white - no grey. However, I just downloaded WO 116/165 and it's to excellent grey-scale reproduction. But what is odd is the financial aspect there. WO116/165 is free. Earlier pieces in the class are pay per view. Some are not digitised by TNA at all.

So caveat emptor....

[meekhcs]

Am I going mad?? What is going on??

This morning I found the new Chelsea pensioner records mentioned by Ian listed as a recent addidtion to Ancestry, and one of my ancestors was listed, but the record wouldn't open.

Having just read the replies on here I looked at the added records again only to find it had disappeared and if I search records for my ancestor it doesn't appear now.

Sally

[ianbee]

Hi Sally
You are right, the Chelsea pension records, and another set from Kilmainham, also just added, have been removed. It may be temporary, there were certainly problems searching those databases this morning. Results appeared only after a good many attempts. So perhaps they are sorting out technical issues.
But as things stand they will link to Fold3 for the images (don't know if they are still on fold3 at the moment)

Adrian - brilliant post. Thank you very much, I did not realise that any of WO116 was on TNA's website.
While the index was still kind of working, I found someone on ancestry, in the artillery, WO116/134. Then after reading your comments was able to find it on Discovery, seeing it via their image viewer. And then downloaded the piece (this one was free!).
And, as you said, they are really good images.
Ian