Family History and Genealogy

Does anyone know if there are census records in existence for Foleshill and Coventry between the years of 1801 to 1831? I know that only those from 1841 to 1911 are generally available, but I wondered if the earlier records can be viewed.

I don't think you are going to have much success. "The 1801 census asked local officials to provide information on the number of inhabited and uninhabited houses in the parish and how many families occupied them; the number of people in the parish and their employment; and numbers of baptisms, burials and marriages in the previous 100 years. A similar format was followed for the censuses of 1811, 1821 and 1831, with the addition of further questions. Most of the early returns for 1801-1831 were destroyed, only statistical summeries being published. Those few returns that survive are now usually in the local County Record Office. The returns usually only name the householder and list the number of people in the house, although occasionally the whole population is listed."

I used to subscribe to both Find My Past and Ancestry, but this year haven't bothered to renew the subscription on the former as Ancestry seems now to have all the information I need. There is a very useful website called "Lost Cousins" which publishes a newsletter which includes information about various genealogy websites and any special offers and discounts they may have.

I 'chat' with a friend in South Island NZ every evening over Skype. We met on a photographic forum a few years ago. Sometimes our friend from Scotland joins us so, as she is profoundly deaf, we type our messages rather than using a video link. One time I was visiting our Scottish friend and I had my smart phone with me. We were on the road between Lanark and Hamilton at night and I connected to New Zealand. Told him the villages we were passing through. His response was "Get George (our friend's hubby) to flash his lights and I'll find you on Google Earth." Not current reality of course but no doubt it isn't that far away. Kip and I have the ability to regularly make each other laugh, but we also discuss social history, photography, computing. What is terrific is, if we are not sure of some fact or other, we have much of the world's knowledge at our fingertips. His forebears are from the area around Scarborough and his branch emigrated in the early 19th century boarding the boat at Gravesend. As I used to live in Gravesend I was able to send him pictures of the riverside where they departed from. We all make the world a much smaller place than it was just 50 years ago.

I recommend trying familysearch.org rather than either findmypast or ancestry. For one thing it's free, but depending on what part of the world your interest lies, it often has better coverage. And if you store your family tree there it won't be removed when you no longer subscribe, future generations will benefit from your research without having to pay them to see what you provided for free. Their granite mountain storage facility should enable your family history information to survive even a nuclear war!

Familysearch is same organization as findmypast. If you got onto the Mormon site there was a box on the right for actual records sending you to their "parent" site, FMP! Now with all the problems and complaints, it just says that no images are possible. See this: FamilySearch/FindMyPast Announce Agreement FamilySearch and FindMyPast owner, DC Thomson Family History, announced yesterday the family history strategic agreement du jour. More than 13 million records from FamilySearch.org launched yesterday on findmypast.com, including major collections of births, marriages and deaths covering America, Australia, and Ireland. Around 600 additional collections, containing millions of records, will follow. "The convenience of searching many treasures from FamilySearch.org along with our own extensive collections will provide rich new insights for our customers," said Annelies van den Belt, the new CEO of DC Thomson Family History. "This partnership with FamilySearch will accelerate the momentum of our next phase of global growth into new non-English-speaking markets." Unlike the MyHeritage announcement earlier this week, which explicitly identified the value each organization received, this announcement was vague on the value to be received by FamilySearch. The press release says the two will collaborate "to deliver a wide range of projects including digital preservation, records search, technological development and the means to allow family historians to share their discoveries." In recent weeks FamilySearch has entered into strategic agreements with Ancestry.com, MyHeritage, and DC Thompson Family History, giving each access to millions or billions of FamilySearch's records. FamilySearch CEO, Dennis Brimhall, said that "expanding online access to historical records through this type of collaboration can help millions more people discover and share their family's history." DC Thomson Family History was formerly known as BrightSolid Online Publishing and owns both Genes Reunited and the FindMyPast family of websites.

Trouble is Ancestry gives some info like wills but FMP actually go years further forward, also FMP have great electoral lists 2002-2013 which Ancestry don't. I subscribe to both, actually I subscribe to FMP but with Ancestry I buy a CD Rom from Amazon or ebay making sure it says on the box "FREE 6 months PREMIUM SUBSCRIPTION" then delete Ancestry every 6 months, and load disc into PC! Voila, can get premium records again! Costs about £30? or so every 6 months but it's darn cheaper than paying for a yearly subscription!!! Lostcousins site told me about that and I've been doing it ever since!!!!

Are the Electoral Registers for Coventry in the 1920s/1930s available online anywhere?

Not really sure, but I think it unlikely. Someone would have had to transcribe them or photograph them all and I can't think of a group which would have done that. I might be able to do some checking for you as long as you are reasonably specific but don't have hours of spare time for long searches. Contact me by email with details if you would like me to help.

Think charabanc is right - the only way to access them is in person (as far as I am aware). The Herbert History Centre stores old Coventry electoral rolls. "Electoral registers are available from 1931 to the present day. Earlier registers are available on request but are kept in storage as many are in a fragile condition. We have the full registers up to 2004 and edited registers from 2005 onwards. If you require access to the full registers from 2005 onwards then you need to go to Coventry Council House." (from their website). Luke.

Remember you had to 21 to be on the electoral roll then and until 1928, 30 for a woman. There are street directories for this period in the History Centre. I don't know if they would do lookups for you. 024 7623 7583 Tue-Sat 1030-1530. You would have to be specific with name and address. If you can wait two years the 1939 register is planned to be online. Of couse it's then only 6 more years before the 1921 census should also be available.

I have just found out that the Coventry Family History Society have published a new London Road Cemetery Burial Register on CD which now goes up to 1972 - the old one stopped at 1937. Cost is £15 plus P&P . This is an invaluable tool when researching family history. One very useful feature is that it lists all the people buried in one grave, a very good way of finding "lost" family members and verifying family connections.

Many of the record collections that FMP charge for are available for free either at familysearch.org, freebmd or freecen.

I am trying to find information on relatives who came to Coventry around about 1912-1920, they lived in Cox Street in 1918 according to the marriage certificate, but I have no other information on addresses other than this. Would there be any records drawn up during this period? If so how or where would I find it? Hoping to hear from anyone who may be able to help. Thank you.

You would probably find them in the electoral registers for the period.