On Sun, 4 Jun 2000 09:07:53 -0500 "Mathew A. Page" <MAPAGE@prodigy.net> writes: > Since were on this subject...how does the IGI records that are on film work? > Do the films also contain the source information from the submitter and the >relationship?............. and other responses Mathew and others, In earlier years, say pre 1970, information was submitted to the IGI on family group sheets and they were sent in by individuals but often they were sent in by large family organizations who pooled resources and had a designated "family representative", who became listed as the "relative." This was to try and avoid duplication of submissions by many people descended from the same person. Usually they submitted only linked family group sheets, but sometimes they would submit all of a family name in the area where their family lived, as chances were great that they were related, especially if the name was uncommon. If a relationship was known, such as gggdau, it was usually put in if it was sent in by an individual not an family organization, the family organization always said "relative". Later (in the 1970's?) the submission process was changed to an individual entry or marriage entry form. These are the ones that are listed by batch numbers, and contain the name and address and phone # of the person who sumbitted it and usually a relationship to the individual. But sometimes in this time period too individuals would submitt everyone from an area with their surname, or do their own extraction of a book, like Monmouth co marriages or something, although it was not encouraged. Some of you may have ordered these films into your FHC, you may hit a gold mine ( I got a disk from a relative with info taking my VanWickle line and extensions back to 1500s in Holland, but often I have found nothing, it is a chance you take, addresses are often old, so are the submitters sometimes :-) In the 1990's the process was changed to computer disk submission. Information on who submitted it is not available for retrieval on these submissions. (about 1993 to the present) Since it appears you have an early submission, and the film number you listed will not help you as it will contain only what is there all ready, you could try to order in to your Family History Center film #0420848, (Family Group Record Collection, Patrons Sheets 1921-1962, Oyen, K - Parson, W. ) note this is only this small section of the ABC list) I can't guarantee that the sheets that your Pages were submitted on will be there, but it is a possibility. The sheets should have a small section on the bottom right corner for sources, which lists sources for the entire sheet, but not specific as to where each bit on info came from as would be nice. Sometimes they weren't filled in at all, or said something like "family records" :-) I don't know when your sheets were submitted, there are several different collections of submissions for different years I have given you the ones for 1921-1962. They weren't always strictly ABC, an addendum is at the end of the filmings I understand for ones missed and the backs which may have info that was missed. If you went to Salt Lake you could look at the bound books of these. To find them in the catalog go to place (locality) >Salt Lake City, Utah> Archives and Libraries,(since they are housed in Salt Lake City, I know it seems a little strange, I only found out resently how to find them myself) then there were several choices which began "Archives and Libraries..." and to be honest I can't remember which I selected at that point. Your best bet for research would be to check out the Family History Library Catalog and see what films are available of records of churches and county etc. for the locality that your family lived and do your own research. It is on line at familysearch.org (go to browse categories > libraries> Family history library catalog> then to place or maybe all searches then place, can't remember.) I find the online version slow and annoying and rarely use it and prefer the CD version at the Family History Centers, and it is coming out right now (I have not received mine in the mail yet, but some people have) on CD for home use, in a windows form which is different than either the online or the FHC CD versions, but has the same information only more up to date. It will be available to anyone for $5.00. This is the first addition of this version and they will be adding more features soon, I understand. Read this as information only not as an advertisement, you know at $5.00 they aren't turning a profit. Includes postage and no tax, unless maybe you are in Utah. You can order at the site. It catalogs over 2 million films and microfiche which can be ordered into a Family History Center or viewed in Salt Lake City. Hope this helps some and that I haven't muddied things more. To answer some of the other responses and dispell myths, this is how I see it: 1) The IGI is not strictly submitted by members, but the vast majority of it is. I am a director of a family history center, and we have had nonmembers who request that their data be submitted so that it will appear in the IGI, but this is rare. In this case it would still say submitted by a member I beleive. In the past many nonmembers have submitted to the Ancestral File just to have the exposure of having their research and address available, but not as many are submitting now that there are so many places other places on the internet to post the information. A choice when submitting to the ancestral file is "do you want it submitted to the IGI also?" 2) When an entry is "extracted" from an original source (and I have done some of this extraction) the information is taken from a single entry, say a birth or marriage entry in a vital statistic record, and not combined with any other information, so that little bit is correct*, it is triple checked before submission. *However mistakes and misinterpretations do occur, due to legibility. Information on people by the same name is not combined. When I did it we were working from paper copies of the film frames, sometimes extractors work directly from the films. If you find an extraction you can put in the film number into the catalog at the FHCs and on line and I am assuming on the new home CD version, but i have not used it yet, and it will tell you what is contained on that film that the record was extracted from (ie births Monmouth co. 1848-1868) then you could order that film and check the entry yourself. 3) Not all films at the Family History Library in Salt Lake have been extracted. Only certain films have been selected for extraction, those with the pertinent information, ie name, date, parents and place of the event, only some qualify. It takes many volunteer man hours to extract even one film. There are 250 microfilmers around the world filming records and the catalog is updated periodically to reflect this new information. So if information on your family isn't in the IGI or Ancestral File it does not mean that there are not records at the LDS FHC's (Family History Centers) for you to order in the films and to dig out your family, quite the contrary. Sorry this is so long, Anita