To add a comment on the IGI (International Genealogical Index) database at www.familysearch.org, once you find an entry of an individual you are searching for, look at the bottom of the page of the entry for the source of the record. Some say they are extracted (from the original parish records) and others submitted by members. The submitted ones are sometimes in error. For accuracy, I focus only on the extracted ones.  If you find your person in an extracted record in the IGI, it's often good to look at the entire batch for that parish to find more records for the same family or other relatives. You can do so by clicking on the batch number, which brings up a new search screen, and then you have a choice to do one of two things: 1. either enter only the surname and then click search, which will get you quickly to any entries in that batch with that spelling of the surname, which helps if it is a huge file. But the problem is that some of the records were hard to read when transcribed and either misspelled during transcription or else the original record was entered by various clerks with different spellings, which means if you search only by one spelling, you'll miss other related entries. 2. So the other option is to not enter anything further into the batch request page, but simply click search with only the batch number entered on the request page in order to bring up the entire batch of records for that parish and then slowly wade through the records alphabetically page by page for the entire batch of surnames until you reach the surname you are looking for, with all of the various possible spellings, so you won't miss anything.  The benefit of doing so will be that in the process you may also find other records for related family surnames that occurred in the same locality.      The IGI records I've found to be a wonderfully helpful source for my searches, which I can look at for free from the ease of my own home computer.      For those who have not yet tried searching at www.familysearch.org, a tip is not to use the main search page to begin your search, but go immediately to the top tool bar and first click on "Search Records", then on the next page go to the left tool bar and click on IGI, so that the search engine will limit its search to only IGI records. Then you can use that search page to fill out the name you are looking for and click "search". Make sure to not check the box for exact spelling, so the search engine will pick up other possible records with different spellings, and also try a few spelling ideas of your own too.     Good luck!     Sandy Sandra Lee Blakley 336 South 30th St. Philomath, OR 97370 541-929-2259 --- On Tue, 9/23/08, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: From: [email protected] <[email protected]> Subject: Re: [BDF] FREE LOOKUPS To: [email protected] Cc: [email protected] Date: Tuesday, September 23, 2008, 2:11 AM Well said Peter, about time some people were reminded of this fact. I would also like to add that many answers can be found for themselves if people bothered to take a look at the IGI on www.familysearch.org where many of the baptisms and marriages can be found, especially for Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire, and for FREE, so no subscriptions or payments of any kind needed. Personally I like to do my own searching, it gives you far more of a buzz when you find something for yourself rather than get it handed to you on a plate. Newbies should also try and familiarize themselves with genealogy research by buying or borrowing from a library one of the many excellent books that are on the market these days. Patti > I just want to remind people that just like "Free Lunches", there's no > such thing as a "Free" lookup. > > The people who do these lookups have either paid a subscription or > purchased a book, CD or fiche that contains the information. In some case, > people also incur travel or petrol costs to visit a library where the > records are available. > > So next time you're asking for a lookup, please consider the costs > incurred in providing the service and be as helpful as you can in > providing > accurate data about your enquiry. > > And to all those who do lookups for free, we really do appreciate the > assistance you provide. > > Peter in Sydney > > > > > The List Guidelines > > http://bedfordrootsweb.blogspot.com/ > > The Bedfordshire Surnames List > > http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hughw/bedford.html > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > The List Guidelines http://bedfordrootsweb.blogspot.com/ The Bedfordshire Surnames List http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~hughw/bedford.html ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message