‘Essex Ancestors’ is a pay-per-view service offered online by the Essex Record Office displaying images (not transcripts) of parish registers (baptisms, marriages and burials). The service was originally free of charge, although not as extensive as now, but in these difficult times Essex County Council (who runs the excellent archive service) has found it necessary to charge. This has upset a minority of researchers who believe that access to archives should be completely free. One-day access costs £5, with prices on a scale up to £75 for a year.
The latest News from the Essex Record Office:
“Essex Ancestors was officially launched on Monday 7 November 2011 and it is clear the new service has been welcomed by genealogists and family historians. The project has been a demanding and complex one, resulting in Essex County Council’s first international trading. UK customers are in the great majority among our new clients so far, followed by Australians. The Americans have some catching up to do.
We are planning to expand the range of images by completing parishes and wills. Other collections and record series are included in our digitisation programme and we welcome suggestions.
The online accessibility of images of archives is an important contribution to the public’s awareness of historical documents, old handwriting and a long-lost way of life. We hope more people will be motivated to use original documents and become local historians.”
To use Essex Ancestors visit:
www.essexancestors.co.uk
or
http://seax.essexcc.gov.uk