Here is some useful information that was posted on another mailing list at which time the author was no longer known. Dori ~~~~~~~~~~ NOTES ON USING THE IGI [courtesy of an unknown Northeast Roots researcher and PLACE user list] The International Genealogical IndexTM (IGI) is valuable source of data for your genealogical research. There are some things you should know and take into account when using these data. The purpose of the IGI is to record and co-ordinate the proxy Temple Ordinances completed for the ancestors of members of the LDS Church. The data contained in the IGI is primarily only that sufficient to qualify that individual for these ordinances and its accuracy is dependent upon the source of the data. Data for LDS members is not entered in the IGI other than for proxy ordinances until 110 years after birth or 95 years after marriage. The information in the IGI comes from three main sources: 1 - Extracted records. Half of the names have been extracted from civil and church christening, birth and marriage records. Death and burial records are usually not extracted.) 2 - Records submitted by Latter-day Saint members. Some names were submitted by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for temple ordinances. Some of this information came on Individual Entry Forms, Marriage Entry forms, and Family Group Records. This also includes information from selected temple records of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 3 - Membership records. Some of the names are deceased members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Prior to using data from the IGI, the source should be identified and evaluated. The source of the data is found through the Batch Number. Associated with the Batch Number is found a Source Call number which in most cases is either a LDS Film number or a Library Book call number. IGI Batch numbers fall into five basic categories. Numbers beginning with: A, L, M17, M18, T0, T90, 69409 are Temple Records. Numbers beginning with: C, E, J, K, M (other than M17 & M18), P, T5, 725, 744, 745, 754 are Extracted Birth, Christening, or Marriage Records. Numbers beginning with F, T96, T998, T9990, and All-digit numbers such as 8434961 are Submitted forms (Family Group Record, Individual Entry, or Marriage Entry). Numbers beginning with H, 694, 6949405-6949426, 69407 are Latter-day Saint Deceased Membership records. Numbers beginning with T990, T9991, T696 are Forms submitted by the Medieval Family Unit of the Family History Dept. or Temple Dept. records. Some entries do not have a batch number but list only a film number. These films are located in the US/CAN microfilm collection in the Family History Library. Of all these sources, the extracted records are the most reliable. These are copied from the actual primary record and are subject to copy and entry errors otherwise should be accurate. These data could be accepted as being as accurate as the data contained in any published extraction such as those vital records volumes published by The Essex Institute and other publishers of this type data such as Savage, Hoyt, Bond, Goodwin, Noyes, Pope, Barbour, Bailey, and others. If you find duplicate names in the IGI use the one that lists a Batch number in this category. Most of the other listed sources must be checked for any listed bibliography included and then cross checked for accuracy. Most Family Group Sheets contain the absolute minimum in source references and also much of this data has been subject to poor interpretation, minimum evaluation, and a great deal of estimation, assumption, and guesswork. Accuracy is usually not very reliable and can vary greatly from one submitter to another. One should be careful and not enter these data into their database without extensive verification. The author of this information highly recommend you pick up a copy of the Research Outline "Finding an IGI Source" at the local Family History Center. There are also available Research Outlines on other aspects of the IGI as well as most other research topics. ------ name of author unknown-------- _________________________________________________________________ Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com/intl.asp.