International Genealogical Index - Advice

[haddockinthekitchen]

@Stan - thanks for that - I have read through this already, and am mulling on it as to how it works.
More reading needed I think.

[rosie99]

Gadget suggested that you only tick the box against
Community Indexed IGI (Vital and church records from the early 1500s to 1885)

These are the records that were extracted from church registers. However they are far from complete, a few parishes only record for example baptisms of females and not the males. I have also found a couple of  examples where information has been extracted from a film that contains records for several parishes and the records have been attributed to the wrong parish.

The other category as you can see from its title Community Contributed IGI (Personal family information submitted to the LDS Church) are the trees done by church members for the purpose of baptising their 'deceased' relatives . 

[Gadget]

A bit more about it. I've jsut found that the Hugh Wallis site on batch numbers is still online:

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers.htm


Gadget

[haddockinthekitchen]

@Gadget - I have also found some pages on the batching and indexing too....

@Rosie - Yes, I have managed to work that out - the individual entries were separated out a while ago (according to the WIKI on it) which would indicate that they too (LDS) that family entered info could be liable to error, which I guess overall is a good thing.
The "indexers" who put the "other" info on I am (again from the info on the LDS site) are more akin to our "Online Parish Clerks"?.
I notice LDS asks for volunteers to help with the indexing - they are currently asking for helpers who have a second language to help with non English records......

My gut feeling is to look at the indexers inputs as a guideline, and of course the search facility allows you to do that which is great.

I imagine that seeing "originals" of all of this is next to impossible, but you never know....

I think I am at a point where "research around the topic" has become very important now - as important as finding the relatives I am seeking.....and as they say, never underestimate the power of a good bit of research!

All this input has been of great help, and is setting me on to the right path - I am resigned to it taking longer, but that's half the fun I think.

As ever, Merci Mille Fois to everyone who has answered this thread!

[haddockinthekitchen]

Also!
From my reading, I am going through the info provided by the OPCs for Cornwall (currently Bodmin) and they have been kind enough to give the LDS batch numbers for searches for certain dates!

Devon is (seemingly) not as complete a project as Cornwall's....but again details as to what is in, and what is out, along with "gaps" due to the bombing of Exeter and the loss of records therein.
Once this is all sifted through I am  going to get a far clearer picture of what there is, and where to look for it.

Now, if only some of my relatives had not been so inconsiderate....being born in Cornwall, meeting a Devonshire lady and then marrying or dying in their neighbouring Devon - tut tut!

Sadly, I think the mainstream sites (I am using Ancestry) give the impression (as does Who do you think you are?) that you can tap in a name, and everything you ever wanted to know about one of your relatives from the 1500's will appear before your very eyes!

If only life we like that!

Happy hunting people!

[rosie99]

I imagine that seeing "originals" of all of this is next to impossible, but you never know....

The LDS has some family history centres scattered across the world where you can hire in films of parish registers for a fee.  They are however trying to put these films online. I was lucky as I had one of these centres within a reasonable distance from me and used to visit it weekly so was able to do most of my research from 'original' registers and not transcripts.

[Gadget]

I think FindMyPast has better coverage than Ancestry for Devon and Cornwall records. I found my ancestral in-laws using that route 

Gadget

[haddockinthekitchen]

I imagine that seeing "originals" of all of this is next to impossible, but you never know....

The LDS has some family history centres scattered across the world where you can hire in films of parish registers for a fee.  They are however trying to put these films online. I was lucky as I had one of these centres within a reasonable distance from me and used to visit it weekly so was able to do most of my research from 'original' registers and not transcripts.

Funny you should mention that.....I live in France, and there are two within driving distance to me.
Now, I am not sure if they will offer "English only" films, but I intend to go to one of them and ask......what a great facility.

On that note....I get SO MANY "TEXT ONLY" hits on Ancestry....they are referenced, and try as I might, I can never seem to "find" the original "text" in their collections  - I seem to end up with the same info, and not the original....does "Text Only" mean that it can only be viewed on film at the source? Or am I missing a vital piece of info here...I was staggered to see how many are in fact not "original" but these text only entries?

[haddockinthekitchen]

I think FindMyPast has better coverage than Ancestry for Devon and Cornwall records. I found my ancestral in-laws using that route 

Gadget

Yes, I agree with that, and I am finding the same....having read some OPC stuff for both counties, Find my Past seems to crop up as does Family Search, but not Ancestry.....