MLFHS Data On-line

FamilyHistoryOnline is a pay-to-view web site operated by the Federation of Family History Societies (FFHS) as an outlet for member societies to publish genealogical indexes and transcripts. Users can search the combined databases (which contain in excess of 65 million records) by name and for a small charge can access the data supplied.

FamilyHistoryOnline is significantly different from other commercial web sites:

• All proceeds, net of operating costs, remain within the family history community. There are no commercial interests. Income from sales is divided between the society contributing the data and FFHS.
• FamilyHistoryOnline offers data which is seldom available from any other on-line source.
• The transcripts and indexes published on the site have been compiled by local volunteers with local knowledge and substantial experience in the transcription of English manuscript sources. Material is not shipped out to third world workers whose abilities in this respect may be wanting.

Manchester & Lancashire FHS is gradually adding data to the FamilyHistoryOnline database. Our current offerings are:

• Index to Deserters from the British Army and Honourable East Indies Company's Forces 1828-1841. This index of over 36,000 entries provides age, birthplace and former occupation of the deserter and a reference to the Police Gazette issue in which further details may be found.
• Index to Marriages at Prestwich 1754-1800. This lists 7,385 marriages and is indexed by both bride and groom.
• Lancashire Burials. Full details of over 150,000 burials. These currently relate to churches in the Oldham area. The data is more detailed than that published on the National Burial Index CDROMs.
• Unfilmed Census of 1851. MLFHS volunteers worked for 14 years to transcribe the water-damaged census returns for much of Manchester and virtually all of Salford together with parts of Ashton-under-Lyne and Oldham. The published data offers a choice between a transcript of the recovered details for a named individual, or for an additional charge, an image of the reconstituted enumeration book page on which they appear. All recovered data is now available on the site.

We expect to add further data to FamilyHistoryOnline during 2007.

Last changed 24 January 2007 - John Marsden