FWIW, my own experience as a casual observer at the local FHC is that many of the church members seem to spend time pulling existing names out of the IGI. There's not a lot of actual research with original sources going on. Which is fine - more time for me on the microfilm reader :-) >Meryl, > >I don't think proxy baptisms, nor the list preparation happens at the >local Family History Centers. > >It's not really a matter of tracking down anyone. As the LDS film >records they pull names and dates (usually poor transcriptions) from >indexes they come across. Those are the names, Jewish, Lutheran, >Catholic, Buddhist and so on, that are used. > >Debbie > >Meryl Rizzotti wrote: >> I believe that the reason that there are Jewish proxy baptisms still >> occurring is that there are a sufficient number of Jewish converts to >> Mormonism that are baptizing their deceased ancestors. I am a volunteer at >> my local family history library. As a Jew, I do find this practice >> disturbing--baptisms of Jews--as most of these people that are being >> baptized were most likely Orthodox Jews in their lifetimes. They would be >> "turning over in their graves" if they knew this was happening. I don't >> think that the Mormon church is tracking down and baptizing deceased Jews. I >> know that at the Family History Center that I work at they have pretty >> stringent requirements when someone wants to arrange for a family member to >> be baptized.Meryl Rizzotti >> -- --- Chris Smolinski Black Cat Systems http://www.blackcatsystems.com