Mr. Lewis, Thanks for the prompt reply J<im Ward MS USA ----- Original Message ----- From: "Christopher Lewis" <christopher_n_lewis@yahoo.co.uk> To: <berkshire@rootsweb.com> Sent: Tuesday, October 06, 2009 11:30 AM Subject: Re: [BRK] Berkshire Burial Index vs IGI > The parish microfilms, at the > Family History Center (SLC), while having the deaths and > burials included, does not list many deaths/burials in the > IGI. In addition to not finding them in the IGI I can not > find them in FreeBMD. Possibly due to spelling or FreeBMD is > not fully transcribed. The Church of Latter Day Saints is not interested in deaths or burials. Hence there are few in the IGI and related databases, and most of those are Patron Submissions rather the systematic entries from Parish Registers. FreeBMD is a transcription of the GRO indexes to Births, Mariages and Deaths. Civil Registration did not start until 1837, so if your people died before then they will not be in the database. Age at death was not included in the indexes until later (I think in the 1870s, but I'm sure someone else can correct me). In addition the transcription is not complete but you can look on the FreeBMD website to check the coverage. Most of the quarters that you will be interested in are estimeated >99% complete. HTH Christopher