Hi Dora, I am under the impression that most of the IGI comes from records transcribed by the young men from the Mormon Church who spend time in Britain doing this as part of their "missionary" work.. I can remember coming into contact with 2 young men who were here back in the early 60s They were not primarily interested in genealogy as we are. They wanted to "seal" the dead so needed to gather these names for their own purposes. (This is one aspect which has worried me although probably no reason for this.). The other purpose these young men had was to convert to their faith. I know we tried avoiding tea and coffee and my husband went along to their church. However the idea of giving a tithe (Tenth) to their church when we didn't have enough money to actually pay our own bills was my stumbling block. we had young children, no car in those days so couldn't go together as one had to baby sit. I was impressed by the fact they came from America. Back in those days Britain was not as used to travel and overseas visitors as they are today. I didn't know about their views of a man having several wives mind you. I am also under the impression that not all ministers were willing to allow this transcription to take place, don't lose sight of the fact the Christian church doesn't consider the Mormons to be Christians so what surprises me is that they have done as much as they have with the IGI. (I would imagine this is the real reason why large portions are missing). I agree with you people can make errors, they are human but if the church hadn't had this mission in the first place, genealogy would possibly still have been back in the dark ages for most of us. It's popularity and the financial gains to be had are the reason so much is now available to us on line and even in libraries. Researching prior to 1837 and 1841 census data is still hard and has to be done the traditional way by using local parish records and the IGI. If nothing else an entry in the IGI might give a clue as to where to look for the original Parish records. FHS often have people who were and are willing to do much the same thing and provide Parish transcriptions in booklet form but this isn't as useful as the IGI initially even if it might be more accurate it is limited. e.g. it is of little value knowing that someone of a certain name died in a specific Parish unless you happen to have more information. I had a great time taking people from one census to the next and if they were missing then I tried Free BDM to identify a possible marriage, if that failed then I would try death and then with my Meltham family I could often find them by age or name once I had some idea of when they were likely to die. Prior to the census data, they seem to have used only a few Christian names which makes it hard too. I don't think the majority of IGI entries come from individuals. I think anyone who is of the Mormon faith probably submit their family entries because of their belief but the majority of genealogists don't do this. I just wish they made it easy for us to contact them with proof when we find an entry wrong and then correct it. Ancestry is doing this, they are printing our corrected information alongside the original particularly with census data, to help us find information. So it is important to check the details with other sources carefully. This can involve using what you know, what you think, and asking others. Genealogy is a skill which you develop with time when you can almost intuitively feel something is wrong and then you search out all resources until you feel happy with the results. And if there is any doubt record that doubt. The more you are able to put in the more accurate you are likely to be and the more you get out of it. Jean in S. Australia. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Dora Smith" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, March 19, 2010 9:54 AM Subject: Re: [WRY] IGI differs from parish record > Huh? Don't think it's deliberate. > > Seriously, first of all, most of the records in the IGI are individual bmd > events submitted by individuals from their own work. It is often > approximate > and prone to error. If the record is an extraction from a local record, > it > will say so. Of course the transcribers tried to be accurate. But > sometimes, being human, they do make mistakes. It is frequently advised > that people should always check the original record with the office that > holds it, especially if it is important. Most of us, of course, don't. > But it can always be wrong. > > But maybe Andy is one of the rare people who never makes mistakes, and > therefore he can contentedly conclude that if someone did make a mistake, > something is really wrong with them. > > Yours, > Dora Smith > Austin, TX > [email protected] > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Andy Micklethwaite" <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]> > Sent: Thursday, March 18, 2010 1:22 PM > Subject: Re: [WRY] IGI differs from parish record > > >> Hi Maggie >> >> At 18:21 18/03/2010, you wrote: >>>but my question is really why does >>>the IGI, which has large batches for Halifax St Johns, not include >>>Lydia's >>>marriage? >> >> It is my belief, based on the PRs I've looked in the Huddersfield area, >> that the IGI deliberately misses off 10%. I don't know why, but that's >> the >> way it looks to me! I suppose some could be unreadable, but the ones I've >> found missed have always been readable. I don't know what figure other >> listers might guess at. Someone I know on another list reckons 20%. >> >> The IGI submissions can lead you well astray - once someone puts up a >> wrong guess, sorry - submission, other members will use that info on >> which to base their own guesses. Stick to your guns - if you have the >> research to prove it, that's what matters. >> >> Best Wishes, Andy. >> >> >> >> >> Some useful websites - >> FREECEN - http://www.freecen.org.uk/ >> FREEBMD - http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ >> Want to know where a place in Yorkshire is - Try Genuki >> http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ >> >> ------------------------------- >> To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to >> [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the >> quotes in the subject and the body of the message > > > > > Some useful websites - > FREECEN - http://www.freecen.org.uk/ > FREEBMD - http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/ > Want to know where a place in Yorkshire is - Try Genuki > http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/YKS/ > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message