Feedback on findmypast.co.uk for finding UK->USA pre-1776

Question

Is anyone using findmypast.co.uk and do you find it useful in connecting pre-1776 ancestors who came from the UK?

Answer 1

I find it extremely useful for finding UK ancestors (although there is a World selection as well).  Better than Ancestry (although there may well be Ancestry users who say that Ancestry is better LOL).

Answer 2

It will probably depend on which part of the UK the ancestors came from. I’m usually researching English people, but for example, FMP has good records for Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire, but Ancestry is better for west Yorkshire and Northamptonshire.

Comments

If I knew where it would be a step forward… I think maybe Cornwall area for maternal. Paternal I do not know at all. Thanks for the answer!

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Unfortunately I don't think there's any single website which contains all the records you could ever want. They all have their strengths and weaknesses.

But perhaps FamilySearch is as good a place to start as any, in terms of the breadth of their coverage. The wiki pages can be helpful when you're trying to work out which records are available where, eg. https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Cornwall,_England_Online_Genealogy_Records (it doesn't just cover FS).

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If I were looking for someone in Cornwall, I would use a combination of 

https://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/ (indexes, good but not complete coverage)

https://www.familysearch.org/search/collection/1769414 (images but not all indexed)

Otherwise, unless you have more info or a really uncommon name, searching England at random for a name born at about the right time is looking for a needle in a haystack.  If you have siblings then it might be easier. The population of Britain in 1776 was considerably larger than that of America.

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Allen, I see you've done DNA tests so I'm sure you've already covered this, but I have managed to work out a few transatlantic matches going back this far. 

For example, I spotted that I had several matches on Ancestry who were descendants of Richard Rowe (and luckily there was a decent tree which said he was from Middle Rasen, Lincolnshire, where I also have ancestors). With that info it wasn't too difficult to go back a couple more generations and find our common ancestors, Robert Chatterton and Elizabeth Arnold, who married in 1750.

(I just managed to extend back the tree of another shared match to the same couple – will have to build some more profiles)

As Helen observed, an unusual surname really helps!