Series: Family History Centers Subject: New Online Site The new online site of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- Day Saints contains two types of records: 1. The IGI (International Genealogical Index) 2. The Ancestral File IGI. The IGI is a composite of extracted parish registers in the US and 42 countries. Also, it contains Family Group Sheets submitted by members. Batch Numbers. An important item to watch for is the "Batch Number". If the batch number is preceded by an alpha letter, such as C803406 - that means that the information came from an extracted record, such as birth, christening or marriage record. It does not include death records. You can order this record from the church (film number is listed), however, no additional information will be found. The best thing to do is to go to a local Family History Center, look under "Parish Registers", and locate the parish register in question. You can order that register on microfilm, and take a look at the "mortuary" or "deaths". This additional information is quite helpful, as it helps identify the oldest ancestors residing in that parish. If the batch number is a plain 6 digit number (such as 330906), that means that the information came from a Family Group Sheet submitted by a member, and, you can order that record on microfilm to view for yourself. It may or may not have additional information about other family members. That depends on the time-period involved. For example, during the 1970's, sheets for "individual" were used (as well as regular family group sheets) which did not list the whole family. ANCESTRAL FILE. This a composite of pedigrees submitted to the Ancestral Unit of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints by members and non-members alike. Essentially, here is what happens: When the pedigree is received the "computer" determines if there is a family match, and if so, merges any new information with the old information. For this reason, you will sometimes find an example like this - John b. 1800, John b. 1803, listed as separate children. Since the date was not exact, the computer treated both Johns as separate individuals. The Ancestral File is "full of errors". Although a source or reference may have been included by the submitter, the program does not yet allow this into it. (They are working on that). It is not uncommon to find multiple errors and entries in any given pedigree. Best to treat this information as a "worksheet". What I do is print out the pedigree chart and family group sheets, then go to work trying to prove it. The IGI also contains error. Many of those errors are in the marriage portion (event). What happens is people frequently list the marriage license date, instead of the date it was performed. In Georgia, for example, the top portion of the marriage certificate is the license date, and the bottom half is the actual marriage date. These records should be used as guidelines, not fact. Accepting other people's work can really confuse our genealogy, and cause us not to get anywhere on it. We must search census records, county records, - census records, county records, on and on and on, to validate the genealogy. So, when you access the information online, please keep this in mine. LDS site - http://ldsonline.com/family.htm Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints - Family History Center Online - - Mormans - This is the site where you will be able to view the Ancestral File and IGI (International Genealogical Index) online. ================