About Find My Past

Find My Past is the new online family history resource available within all Westminster Libraries. It is available in addition to Ancestry.com containing several resources which are unavailable on Ancestry and more orientated towards the UK.

Databases

The databases on Find My Past cover births, marriages and deaths in the same way Ancestry does. However, content is entered slightly differently which could be helpful if you could not find what you wanted with Ancestry. There are some features though which are unique to Find My Past, including the 1911 census and the facility  to search census records by address. Furthermore, the UK emphasis really helps with lists such as military and migration records amongst other things.

Find My Past compared to Ancestry

So what should you use for what? We recommend that if you wish to search through the registers of births, marriages and deaths that you use Ancestry. The Census appears to be very good for searching and its results on Find My Past with for instance the household transcript being clearly readable translated into text (the original is also available). Find My Past also allows you to search by address as well which can be both interesting and very helpful.

In brief: Use both Ancestry and Find My Past to find what you need.

Access

Please remember that as with many databases Find My Past will not let you use the Back button on your browser doing so could cause (Ancestry does allow to use the Back button).

• Go to Find My Past
• Go to Ancestry
• Visit the Gateway's Family history section