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Here is background for me asking this question ...

I have located a Baptism Entry using Ancestry:

  • Name: Austin Harries
  • Birth: 1914
  • Baptism Date: 2 Sept 1914

This is what I see when using Ancestry on PC:

Image 1:

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Image 2:

enter image description here

At this point in time I am not in a position to acquire the complete record / image. However, when I use the Ancestry App on my tablet it actually exposes some more information for me:

enter image description here

Also:

enter image description here

I know that this is correct baptism because of the address information. But the transcriptions are wrong. They should be:

  • Surname: Harris
  • Mother’s Name: Esme.

But I can’t report this at the moment.

Thus, I wondered if there are any alternative websites for viewing this Baptism Entry / Media?

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    familysearch has I believe the transcription with the right names but you can't view the actual record
    – depperm
    Jan 19, 2021 at 18:24
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    I'd like to see this question edited to be more generally useful. For example: asking how to find a record you see on Ancestry on another website (without specifying the cost of access) also helps people who are using Ancestry but can't read the image there because of poor image quality. See the meta question: genealogy.meta.stackexchange.com/q/2057/1006
    – Jan Murphy ♦
    Jan 19, 2021 at 23:35
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    @JanMurphy I have edited my question. Feel free to tweak it if it does not quite meet what you had in mind. Then we can delete these comments.
    – Andrew Truckle
    Jan 20, 2021 at 11:23

2 Answers 2

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Some public library systems subscribe to Ancestry Library Edition through ProQuest. Patrons of the library can access the full Ancestry records by logging in through their library (usually using a library card number and password/PIN).

In my case, my library subscribes to Ancestry Library Edition, which is normally available only at the library from the library's wi-fi network. During the pandemic, since the libraries are all closed, ProQuest has generously opened access for patrons to use Ancestry Library Edition remotely, still with a library card login.

Ancestry Library Edition links

That allows me to look up your Austin Harries' baptism record and see the image:

Austin Harries baptism

It actually looks like it says HARRISS with two Ss. And yes, that does look like Esme.

Ancestry has a "Report Problem" link on the Tools menu at the right, which is available in ALE.

ALE Tools menu

You can select the type of problem you're reporting. A bad indexing is probably "Inaccurate information," maybe "Problem with an image."

ALE report a problem

TL;DR: Use your library.

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  • 2
    I don't think it is either appropriate or useful to use the "report an issue" link simply because you disagree with the way a record is indexed. Transcriptions should reflect what is actually on the record, and Ancestry gives users the ability in the image viewer to add alternate readings for many fields. Reporting is more useful when an entire page of the index is defective, if the viewer points to the wrong image, etc.
    – Jan Murphy ♦
    Jan 19, 2021 at 23:28
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    On most records, there's also a menu item "View/Add alternate info" which lets you provide more information - and two of the choices are "Transcription Error" and "Incorrect in Image". Note that this is on the record, not the image.
    – Marshall Clow
    Jan 20, 2021 at 3:05
  • @MarshallClow Is "View/Add alternate info" available from the free version?
    – shoover
    Jan 20, 2021 at 3:15
  • @shoover - I do not know
    – Marshall Clow
    Jan 20, 2021 at 4:45
  • Note that I do have access to the ALE. Didn’t think about using it. But on the one I just tried it does not seem to have any of the tools for recommending changes to transcribed data.
    – Andrew Truckle
    Jan 20, 2021 at 5:26
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Since I don't have the Ancestry app installed at the moment, I'll use the web interface for these examples.

Whether you have a subscription or not, you can learn more about the records from the main search page for the collection.

Glamorganshire, Wales, Anglican Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1570-1994.

On the top right, a banner shows us this collection is part of a partnership agreement.

Provided in association with Archifrau Cymru: Archives Wales

Underneath the search form, Ancestry gives us Source Information (and under that, About the Database information).

Source Information

Ancestry.com. Glamorganshire, Wales, Anglican Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1570-1994 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2020. Original data: Glamorgan Baptisms, Marriages and Burials. Wales: Archives and Records Council Wales.

Use the information given, you can learn more about the records at the website of the repository which holds the records. You can also learn a little bit about how the records are arranged and which records are included in the database by looking at the Browse Box on the right-hand side of the page.

Browse Box

Ancestry subscribers can also get more specific data about which register is being referenced from the individual record page. Here we don't get an archive reference on the record page, but we can see from the app that the baptism date was 2 Sep 1914 and the baptism place was Cardiff, St John, Glamorganshire, Wales.

The most straightforward path is to get access via Ancestry Library Edition. Let's suppose for the moment that the Archives has decided not to continue the partnership and the image is no longer on Ancestry. What then?

  1. The Archifrau Cymru / Archives Wales catalog may say which partners now have digital images.
  2. Use GENUKI's pages for Cardiff to find more information about Church records for the area.
  3. Do a place search and a keyword search on FamilySearch.org. See the FamilySearch Wiki articles FamilySearch Catalog Places Search and FamilySearch Catalog Keywords Search for details.
  4. Contact the local Family History Society to see if they have transcriptions or online images. Find local societies via the Family History Federation (formerly the FFHS, The Federation of Family History Societies).
  5. Check other big sites like Findmypast. Article on Parish baptisms 1538-2005.
  6. Use finding aid sites like DustyDocs or UKBMD's listings for Parish Registers.
  7. Use finding aid sites like Linkpendium and Cyndi's List.
  8. Do a Google search for the parish name (when known) and "baptisms" to see if you can find transcriptions or published works, or news articles about which site may be offering access to images.

Adding information to indexes on Ancestry

Subscribers on Ancestry have two ways to submit alternate readings of names.

Use the link to Add or Update Information underneath the green View button. (Report a Problem is for cases where the linked image is not the correct register or correct register page.)

View, Add information, report

Use the "people" icon to the right of the image number at the bottom of the Image Viewer to open the index underneath the image. The information that can be corrected will show as a link.

Index in Image Viewer

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