I recently asked a question about "the best genealogist" on yahoo.?

Question

Now I am asking which country has the best data online, ie: UK, USA,Australia, which in your opinion.

Answer 1

I think it is the USA and that it follows the population patterns, for the same reason there are better restaurants in San Francisco, California than there are in Turlock, California. There are more people who like to in eat in nice restaurants in SF (population 600,000) than in Turlock (pop. 50,000), simply because there are more people. More people means more demand, and restaurants spring up to meet that demand.

There are more people in the USA interested in genealogy, as customers of fee sites and volunteers to provide data to free sites, mostly because there are more people in the USA.

Part of it is that some Brits can just wander down to the thatched-roof stone church in their quaint little village and see their dead ancestors back to the Norman Conquest, either in the parish register or out back in the graveyard, so why bother cranking up the Internet? But mostly it is population.

The US Gen Web is hard to beat.

Answer 2

I can understand what Evelyn and Itjustme has stated.  In the U.S., each state is autonomous in many of its laws.  Some states are very helpful about allowing its records on line. Also different states have different privacy laws.  Then there is Louisiana.  They feel it cuts into their revenue to allow their records online.  The U.S. just doesn't have one BMD as records like that do not come under the federal government.

Answer 3

I don't know which country has the best records, but I do have an opinion on which states have the best records.  For me, anyway.

But if you can't find what you are looking for, what does it matter?

Is this some kind of report you are putting together?

Answer 4

UK answer.

I think the UK are quite a way out in front of the USA for BMD records, as you probably already know, civil registration in the UK became mandatory on 1st July 1837, prior to that we had the *Parish Records* which began in 1538.

Electoral records began in 1832, although women weren't allowed to vote until 1929, and men and women had to be of *full age* (21) to be eligible to vote.

We have the 100 year  closed law here in the UK in relation to the census. The census actually began in 1801, but it wasn't until 1841 that the census was actually deemed to be of genealogical use. We are actually up to census date 1901 here in the UK and we eagerly await the 1911 census due to go public January 2nd 2012, the 100 years is counted from 31st December 1911.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

I'd say it a tie between the United States and the United Kingdom primarily because much later censuses are available to American researchers through Ancestry.com than their British cousins:  Census records are available to the American public from 1930 to 1790, but because of very strict privacy laws, the last year British census records is available is 1891.  I have distant relatives in Canada as well, but I haven't had much luck there.

That said, the United Kingdom is much further along on making data available to the public on line free-of-charge: England, Wales, and Scotland have free birth, marriage, and death records on line.  Perhaps because the United States is a larger country, some state and county records are available on line while others clearly are not available--yet.   Volunteers through the GenWeb project are transcribing US Census Records, a process that will eventually make all censuses available to the public free-of-charge on line, but for now, most researchers need to make the trek to their local public or university library to obtain access to these records, which are readily available to the public on microfilm.  Of course, most libraries also allow their patrons to use Ancestry.com free-of-charge.  British birth, death, and marriage records, of course, extend back in time much further than American records.

Answer 6

Scotland have been quickest to take full advantage of the internet.  You can spend credits very quickly over at scotlandspeople.gov.uk, but at least you can see the records there and then without having to camp outside the door for the postman for the better part of the next week like you do when ordering English certificates.

England and Wales keep records going the furthest back of most countries.  With the exception of the 'commonwealth gap' between 1649-1660, many English parish registers go back to 1538, and if you can read and understand Latin, many manorial documents go back even earlier than this into the 1200s and 1300s.  Wills too often go back well into the 15th and 16th centuries or further.  Quite a lot of these records are starting to find their way online, but not quite as fast as Scotland.  Someone up there saw the advantages of the internet very quickly!

The problem with the USA I believe is that records aren't centralised - they're held at state level, and each state and county within a state have different laws.  Some places have better online coverage than others.  It mostly depends on where you are searching.  I don't have many relatives in the USA.  Those who did emigrate overseas went to Canada.  My experience with Canadian records hasn't been too bad as Ancestry covers Ontario pretty well and has the census too.  The worst English-speaking country to try and search in is definately Ireland.  That is one big headache, but that's mainly because so many old records just don't survive so they have nothing to put online in the first place.