Use Other Databases
One of the great perks of being the editor of this magazine is that I get a subscription to all of the main websites. There have been numerous times when I have struggled to find a family on one database but they have been easily found on another. This is nearly always down to transcription differences, but can sometimes be a matter of how a particular site prioritises potential results.
However, you don’t need to have a subscription to multiple websites to benefit from this tip. Most sites let you search without having a paid subscription, and if you get a potential hit that hasn’t come up on your site, you can either visit an archive, library or Family History Centre that has a subscription to the site, or sign up for a free trial (although you can’t do this more than once!). And don’t forget the free websites. Familysearch. org has transcriptions, although not images, of all of the UK censuses. The site mostly uses Findmypast’s transcriptions, but another free resource, freecen.org. uk, has its own transcriptions. Although FreeCEN doesn’t have a complete collection yet, many counties are fully transcribed for specific censuses (note that the website does not include 1901 or 1911).