Roy, Thank you - I read your article, as ever, clear and authoritative. At least the entries in this particular batch number are all identified as Sowerby St Peters, so I can do some checking with the actual register. Gordon Dyson has offered to help with this, but I hesitate to put such a large task on anyone else! The big probelm, which i'm sure you've come across in other cases, is of first names repeating generation after generation. So you get families which can't really be identified without a monther's name, and getting the right relationships is very difficult. I don't want to be casual about this, so it's good to know where checking is essential. And I may still not get one definitive truth at the end of it! best wishes Maggie >>I have written an explanation of batch numbers in the IGI section of my Newbies' Guide which you may find useful. >>Basically, baptismal entries starting with C, J or K are official extractions from either the parish registers or bishop's transcripts and can usually be relied upon. However, it's always advisable, if possible, to look at the originals since they very often contain extra information. >>All-numerical batch numbers are private LDS member submissions and, whilst they quite often are accurate, there are an awful lot of dodgy ones in there as well - often just a wild guess or invention! Unfortunately, there is no way of telling which are which. I have asked the LDS why they could not state the source on these submissions, but I've never yet had a satisfactory explanation. The thing you have to remember always about the IGI is that, at root, it is not done for the benefit of non-member family historians but for their own religious purposes. For this reason, it seems to me they do not apply the same standards of evidence that we do.