Genealogy Chat

I have started using this more as I have pushed back my research beyond 1837. Obviously I understand that there is no substitute for seeing the actual records but to what extent can the IGI be relied upon to give a good indication of what should be looked for?

Hi Charles The IGI is not complete, and if you find a baptism of someone who you think is your ancestor, unless you are 100% sure, you have to look at other evidence before you can prove a link, especially with common names. There is an estimated 75% of all UK baptisms and marriages on the IGI but I dont know how accurate that is, as a lot of Essex and Oxfordshire records are quite patchy. Ben

Extracted records are reasonably reliable, but Patron submissions are highly suspect. It is best to regard the IGI as a finding aid to point you in the direction of possible Parish Records. Jennifer

If the record is extracted from parish records it might give a reasonable account of events but won't tell you the vital notes that can be so important when a vicar adds them in the registers. They can point you in the direction re. which parish to check though. If the notes on IGI have been submitted they may be OK ...but can be very wrong. I have seen notes of children being fathered by men, who died many years previously. Sadly not all researchers check the burials registers for a parish, when they make their wild assumptions. Gwyn

I do hope that IGI does not get hold of a cd that was put together of my father's family. I have no idea who did the cd, there was apparently a Meet of 'everyone' with this surname in 1999 ...... although I never heard about it, nor did any other of my close rellies! Anyway, late last year I got hold of a copy of the cd that was given to all participants at that meeting. When I eventually found my way (it's a very confusing set up) to 'my' family ........... I discovered I was the daughter of my brother and my mother's maiden name was that of my father's mother's! Now I know my brother was 10½ years older than me, but still ......!! Can you imagine the mess this is going to cause to future researchers? The sad part is that I have no idea how to contact any of the 'organizers' of the meet, or the person(s) who put together the cd ........ the one email address I do have just bounces right back to me every time, even though it is on a number of sites, old and new.

Also, some people I think do upload their GEDCOMs and similar files, which don't always have the complete information. I For instance, my Catholic Hurst 2xgreat grandad is on there - he, brother Joseph and sisters Martha and Ellen are there. All birth years are given as 'about' 1840 (or whichever date, and their parents' names are either given as John and Susan or John and Susannah. (second set are the correct ones). I still don't know what Susannah's maiden name is. It looks to me like someone has taken this particular family group from the 1851 census - the 1841 reveals two other siblings that don't get a mention in the IGI. I saw a recent post on here saying something along the lines of Catholic churches being reluctant to give their information to the LDS website and archives, so if there are missing details (there are no concrete details like birthdays or death dates for my Hursts on the IGI) or you're looking for people on the IGI on there, it may well be that the missing ones are Catholic. If they won't submit the information, the LDS can't add it. On the other hand, the nearby church at Aughton (I think it is St. Michael's) appears to have their records transcribed onto the IGI, but that is an Anglican church. Maybe it's down to the personal preference of each individual church.

I have been very lucky with the I.G.I. When I began researching my tree I used the I.G.I and got back to 1742. All my Gr.Gr Grandfather's family was there including marriages. I have since varified all the entries with the Parish Records. Sheila

Kate It was down to the individual Vicar or Priest of a parish as to whether permission was given to the LDS to film the church registers. Some said yes, others said no. The Roman Catholic church refused wholesale - but of course there are very few Roman Catholic records pre 1837 anyway! And don't forget - not everything that the LDS filmed has been transcribed - the transcription always relies on volunteers. Use their library catalogue (on the Site) to find out if they hold anything which has not been transcribed - there is an awful lot which hasnt been transcribed. OC

Don't always ignore the ''submitted'' IGI records, either! I have just found a g3gf by following up on a submitted IGI entry. The entry didn't name the church and gave a birth date rather than a baptism date, so I was highly suspicious at first. In order to find out where the info had come from I had to order the Temple Ordinance film at the LDS, which took several months to arrive as it had to come from Utah. When it finally came, it revealed that in fact the ''submitted'' records in that particular case were actually extracted from a register (Apparently before they started their big extraction program, all IGI entries were submitted in this way). Luckily for me, the submitter in this case had named the church on the original forms (though this info hadn't been transcribed onto the IGI record for some reason). The church turned out to be a baptist chapel (hence the birth date rather than bap date!). The register was listed on the LDS catalogue but had not been extracted to the IGI - so another few weeks wait for that film to arrive, and finally I had proof of g3gf's birth/baptism! Richard

I used to use and believe a certain site run by a religous order until i spoke to a rellie that enters info on there. I queried what she had entered because i knew it was wrong, i had all the certs etc to back me up. Turns out she entered what her Mum had told her - and it seems her Mums memory had faded over the years. So as other have said, use it as a guide but dont take it as gospel (no pun intended!!)

We see different trees every day from people all over the world. We don't question the data or the people or the results of the research into these trees, if the customer says that the people on those trees are theirs, so be it. As already stated by others, use the IGI as a guide only, it's full of errors, research and verify the information you get from there don't just assume it's correct, right name, right time, right place does not mean, right person. Use the data you get from the IGI to point you in the right direction, county, records office, etc. where you may be able to find documentry evidence to back up the data and PROOVE it's the right person, that's what family history research is all about. Ron www*genealogyprinters*com

Hi Charles its definately good just as a guide. There are patron submitted records for my Hewitt family of polesworth and sealings for the dead. The thing that always tickled me was that they have sealed the wrong Mary Orton to Thomas Hewitt. I have visions of this poor woman looking around and thinking who is this man and these 11 kids. Regards Tania Currie