Hello all, Thought I would share with you a couple of "tricks" I have learned to make the IGI on <www.familysearch.org> work harder for us! First of all, for British records the Custom Search link is : <http://www.familysearch.org/Search/searchigi.asp?region=3> We have a new subscriber looking for the family group of a Sarah Dewhurst in Lancashire... Known info is that she married a John Earnshaw and they had a daughter Alice in 1840... An initial search provides no data on a marriage between such a couple, so do I give up... NO! I entered Sarah Dewhurst, British Isles, England, Lancashire in a timeframe of "+or- 5 years" of 1820. 10 hits were produced! Going thru those records, I see right away that some are birth and christening records for the same individual. But, I go to each record, note down the names of the parents and the BATCH or FILM number. Here are the results for Sarah Dewhurst: NAME: Sarah PARENTS: Jas & Mary BAKER (note: CHR record didn't offer mom's maiden name, BIRTH record did!) BIRTH: 1818 Bolton Le Moors, Lancashire, England BATCH# 0970357 CHR: 18 Oct 1818, Deane By Bolton, Lancashire, England BATCH# C005892 NAME: Sarah PARENTS: Richard DEWHURST & Mary CHR: 13 Jun 1819 Stand Lane Independent, Pilkington, Lancashire, England BATCH # C094981 NAME: Sarah PARENTS: Thomas DEWHURST BIRTH: Abt. 1820 Heaton Norris, Lancashire, England FILM # 442380 NAME: Sarah Ann PARENTS: John DEWHURST & Sarah BIRTH: 1 Oct 1820 Lower Darwen, Blackburn, Lancashire, England FILM # 442682 NAME: Sarah PARENTS: Thos. DEWHURST & Jane PICKLES CHR: 10 Mar 1822 Trawden Wesleyan Methodist, Whalley, Lancashire, England BATCH # C094681 NAME: Sally PARENTS: Jno. DEWHURST & Nancy CHR: 26 May 1822 Saint Peter, Bolton, Lancashire, England BATCH # P007154 NAME: Sarah PARENTS: John DEWHURST & Margaret CHR: 10 Nov 1822 Saint John, Preston, Lancashire, England BATCH # C007133 NAME: Sarah PARENTS: Thomas DEWHURST & Ann EASTWOOD (note: mother's maiden name on BIRTH record only) BIRTH: 3 Feb 1825 Padiham, Lancashire, England FILM # 446009 CHR: 22 May 1825 Padiham, Lancashire, England BATCH # P005412 So we "net" 8 Sarahs in the initial search... here is what I do next: 1) if you have names for Sarah's siblings, pay attention to them in this next step as naming patterns often emerge which can offer important clues or direction! 2) go back to the initial search page, take out the name "Sarah" and just leave Dewhurst in the surname box; take out the timeframe info as well 3) put one of the BATCH or FILM numbers in its proper box, be sure British Isles, England is selected (you don't have to worry about the county here) and hit enter You will see the "hit" you found for Sarah originally PLUS often a whole bunch of other names. All these names will be in the same area, often the same parish! You have now rounded up all the DEWHURST on a particular BATCH or FILM group. I go through these names looking for the same parent names... often you will get ALL the names of the other children of the couple this way! I like to chart this up in in spread sheet then sort it by date and by parents' names to cluster the family groups... you can use this Sarah as an example or enter your own favorite Dewhurst... The results produced the following children for James DEWHURST and Mary BAKER using just the data from the first Sarah BATCH # 0970357: Elizabeth DEWHURST Birth: 1810 Bolton Le Moors, Lancashire, England Sarah DEWHURST Birth: 1818 Bolton Le Moors, Lancashire, England Ann DEWHURST Birth: 1822 Halliwell, Lancashire, England Matilda DEWHURST Birth: 1825 Lancashire, England James Jonathan DEWHURST Birth: 1827 Halliwell, Lancashire, England Caroline DEWHURST Birth: 1829 Lancashire, England Roger DEWHURST Birth: 1832 Halliwell, Lancashire, England John DEWHURST Birth: 1834 Lancashire, England Jane DEWHURST Birth: 1836 Lancashire, England Mary DEWHURST Birth: 1838 Lancashire, England Remember, I haven't even checked the data on the FILM # yet for this person - it should only get better! Because I was "on a roll" here, I went back to the Search page, put in James & Mary Baker in the "parents" boxes, took out all other date references, left in the batch number and hit enter again... I got the same 10 children, letting me know I had gotten them all! 20 years of child bearing is enough, don't you think ;] In any case, not only am I fairly certain I have a family group and a mother's maiden name here, I can use the same BATCH info to look for Mary BAKERs family and for James' parents. Personally, I would want to use this as a guide and go get the actual records, however, I suspect this information will prove out. Now, I may not have found YET the particular Sarah Dewhurst I am looking for, so I would repeat the same process with all the other "hits" from the above list. And, I would go get copies of the actual records until I can actually positively link something up. The point is, there is a LOT you can do from home using the IGI without going to the UK! Imagine if we could all figure out our family groups then have that reunion ;] in the UK - anyone found a likely castle yet?!?!?!? Have fun, good luck and let us know if you hit "pay dirt" so we can all share - your family group and mine may turn out to be the same ;] Jana