Genealogy Chat

By using the ancestral files on LDS, i've managed to trace back my family to thomas lister, b. 1691, in Halifax, and a lot of his descendants were Listers. I was wondering if they could be related to Anne Lister of Shibden Hall, and wondered if anyone on GC have come across her family tree on the web as i cannot find it anywhere, or knows what i could do to find out!! Thanks very much, Nicola

Nicola Don't rely too much on the ancestral files. They are submitted by a member of the LDS church. They are not always correct and have been described as sometimes a work of fiction. Always check the original registers yourself before assuming that this is your correct family tree. One mistake can take you off course. Margaret

Oh heck, I've been using it to trace my fathers great great grandfather, and when i found him, and his fathers siblings, it showed that one of them married a Cawood, and they moved to South Africa. I've gone on from there!! If i go to my local family history centre, will i be able to check to see if they are correct? Do you think its highly unlikely that this is even all my family?! Thanks, Nicola

Hi Nicola If you have used the IGI (International Genealogical Index)from LDS, it consists of transcriptions of whole sets of Parish Records. The Hugh Wallis site has reverse indexed these for England and Wales so that you can see what records for each Church have been transcribed, and whether there were any gaps. Via the Hugh Wallis site you can search for all people of a certain name in a Parish. The IGI records are reliable subject to the usual caveats about transcribers' interpretions of old writing. Consulting originals can sometimes give a different interpretation. If they copied the Bishop's Transcript rather than the Parish Record, there is also the occasional handwritten adjustment when the returns wwere sent in to contend with, such as the Betty in my ancestors who became Elizabeth for the Bishop's benefit. The LDS also includes Ancestral Records supplied by imdividual members of the Church. Some of these are useful where they have gone to Churches not in the IGI, but in many cases they must have been short of time, and guessed, as Margaret said. I have found an instance where a birth of a spouse has been invented, when there was a perfectly appropriate candidate of the right name and age born in an adjacent Parish. There are also instances of dates one year apart for the same person, due to the IGI and the individual member using different conventions for the calendar change on 25 March 1752. I believe the Family History Centres contain microfilms or microfiches of the original records, so you can check you own interpretation, and sometimes get additional information like address or occupation. The films and fiches are usually also found in local archives centres and main libraries in the area concerned. Hopefully you will find there are not too many false trails. Best wishes Stan

Thanks very much for your reply, im going to try my best to see if the records i've found are accurate or not!! Merry Christmas, Nicola