Genealogy Chat

See below... I

don't understand why there are all those entries on the IGI that are just 'presumed' - you know, the ones that say 'Born ABOUT 1728 in South Newton' or 'Married ABOUT 1753 in South Newton'... Why do the submitters submit information that is just made up? If they haven't found the actual parish entry, then they obviously can't be sure of the PLACE, let alone the year! If you want an example, to see what I mean, have a look at this Batch Number: F226275 (Wiltshire). And what's the point of adding a spouses name as Mrs So-and-so? (e.g. I have a William Sanger who married an Elizabeth - the IGI has put a marriage entry for 'About 1753' and his spouse is listed as Mrs Elizabeth Sanger - that's a GREAT help, isn't it? Not! Sorry, maybe this should be on the MOANS thread LOL

Athena Most of the submitted entiries on the IGI are from church members. Members of the LDS faith have a religious duty to identify their ancestors - at least 4 generations, I believe - in order to have them baptised posthumously into the LDS faith, thus ensuring that they will all meet up again in Mormon heaven one day. Now, some LDS members take this duty more seriously than others and some others are frankly, not up to genealogical research. To be fair, I don't have a clue about US geography, so if I was in the US and found some Holdens living in Lancashire - well, they would probably do for me, without much further investigation.. I believe that they are also instructed by the Church to put 'Mrs Joe Bloggs' if they dont have a clue who their GGF married, or whatever. God will know who that person was, even if we mortals don't. They are also told that the AVERAGE age at marriage for a man was 25, and that the AVERAGE was four generations per hundred years. In other words, lots of these submitted entries are a wild guess, based on averages and likelihoods - not worth the paper they are written on in my estimation. I totally ignore anything which does not give a definite name, date or church - it means the submitter doesnt know. OC

I suppose the day I saw Priors Hardwick transcribed as 'Priore, Hardwick', I accepted that Americans won't know much about tiny farming villages deep in the Warks countryside. And if it was a distant ancestor of theirs who lived in Priors Hardwick, they prob havent gone to the trouble of researching the place online. It can be frustrating tho. Mind you, Im indebted to the IGI really. I dont rely on them 100%, but a lot of info HAS proved to be accurate or near-accurate. And its free!

Aha...thanks for explaining OC. I was so frustrated earlier. You get all excited when you put in a search and see something pop up...only to discover its all based on guess work. I've just ordered a load of Wiltshire parish entries (marriages and baptisms) from Genfair so hopefully I'll get to the truth of some of those IGI entries, eh?

Well thanks to the IGI i have 11 generations of one line.......... All Mr Brownings married to Mrs Brownings,absolutely fantastic,i would never have guessed in a million years. I know i'm being sarcastic,but it's a waste of webspace when the entries are so enlightening. Glen

Athena I used to get really cross about some of the rubbish, particularly when I saw the tiny village of Wheelton transcribed as Chawleigh of Whee. This turned out to be information lifted and copied from two adjacent pages in the PR which was headed Parish Registers of Chorley, In the County of Lancastershire. Of the chapel of ease of Wheelton. Someone had obviously photocopied only ONE page, which meant it was headed with the words Chorley, of Wheelton. This info must then have been passed on by word of mouth and the result was the above rubbish. OC

Glen There is a HUGE tree on the IGI, all the descendants of a man called Justinian Holden. Many many people have copied it and added their own bits of conflicting info, making the whole thing a complete and utter mess. One day I was bored enough to look up the baptism of this Justinian Holden, because I had borrowed the PRs for my own research. Yep, there was the baptism alright, written in Latin. Justininian Holden was a girl, though! The reg actually said Justinia, not Justinian, filia. OC

Back in the 1970s I submitted my research to the IGI, as did a lot of other people, some keen researchers, some just mere guessers. As with all the information you have not personally gathered you can only use the IGI as a Route Map. As you follow it from person to person you can check the accuracy. A great benefit can be when you have an ancestor living in a place, but not born there. If the IGI, or another researcher suggests a place of birth then you can check that first rather than looking every which where.

Strange as I was going to post a warning about 'records submitted by a member'. Found several of Mums rellies on that site and the info is not based on fact. Some is taken from early census records. All submitted by members. One record I found suggested that a marriage happened about 1858 - which is strange as the lady in question was having children at least 10 years later and all with different fathers - not one with the same surname shown against the marriage entry. Got all the birth certs. Maureen

I have my gg grandfather on there with a birth date guessed from his third marriage which would make him about 10 when he married my gg grandmother.

Hi again Athena The IGI has my great great grandfather fathering children 6 years after his death. Good trick. Pat