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Web Appetizers
by Val Atkinson
Article ID: 14, First Published: November 2004Internet genealogy is the ‘in thing’. We just go online in the comfort of our own home and ‘discover it all’ from a choice of web sites.
Whatever would we do without .com?
Well, we’d:
• Get out more
• Meet people
• Have some fun
• Discover there’s a ‘non computer’ world out there
• Learn to use technology wisely
Let’s focus on one of the most well-known and perhaps most used genealogy site:
familysearch.org sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which includes Ancestral File, census returns, Pedigree resource file, some vital records, US Social Security Death Index, and the renowned
INTERNATIONAL GENEALOGICAL INDEX (IGI).
THE IGI: WHAT IS IT?
Members of the LDS Church research and record their family history as part of their religious duty, and the IGI was set up as a record of this work.
Also, the Church microfilmed religious records, gave copies to the donors, and slowly released dated details onto the index.
These are the films we read when we visit archives doing family history.
The IGI was never intended as a research tool, but has come to be used as one because of the vast number of useful records it contains.
CONTENTS OF THE IGI:
Dated births, christenings and marriages. There are no specific burials, but occasionally baptism or marriage entries give death or burial information.
You might have noticed two kinds of entries. These are:
• Names submitted by members of the LDS Church
• Names ‘extracted’ from religious records of many denominations, which have been microfilmed by the Church
LDS ENTRIES:
These people are deceased relatives of Church members. The entries can be:
Vague/inaccurate in detail:
• Thomas GATISS born about 1859 Durham England married to Francis about 1884 Durham, England.
Comprehensive and informative:
• Henry GATIS christened 12 Nov 1820 Lamesley Durham married Hannah DOWSON 20 Dec 1847 Brancepeth Durham. Also in this case, if you click on ‘family’, children of the couple will come up, as well as full details of the birth of Hannah DOWSON.
NB Sometimes there are ‘dual’ entries that could relate to the same people. For example, compare the following entry with the vague one above:
• Thomas GATISS married Frances COLLETT 28 Mar 1870 at Register Office Gateshead Durham England.
•
The dates aren’t the same but the names are. The second entry has been researched in detail, and a certificate obtained to confirm the register office wedding. Thomas’s date and place of birth are also shown on this IGI marriage entry.
EXTRACTED ENTRIES :
These are birth/christening/marriage entries transcribed from parish records for different localities, which have been microfilmed by the Church, and slowly released onto the index.
Examples are:
• Ann OSWALD christened 25 Apr 1794 Sedgefield Durham. Parents Tobias and Ann OSWALD
• Anne OSWALD married Richard GIBSON 25 May 1630 Conniscliffe Durham
Extracted entries should give accurate details from the original record, but they will only be as accurate as the transcriber.
Keep a weather eye IGI extractions and check regularly for the names you’re researching because it’s constantly ‘on the move’.
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND:
The IGI gives the basic details of names and dates. In most cases the original record will say more. Here is an excellent example from
Parish Records and Dissenters Ford Northumberland England.
IGI:
• Ann CROSBY Birth 8 May 1801 baptism 23 May 1801. Parents George CROSBY and Catharine LOCKIE
ACTUAL PARISH ENTRY:
• Ann CROSBY born 8 May 1801 and baptised 23 May 1801 2nd daughter of George CROSBY husbandman of Mardon, native of Donnington, by his wife Catharine Daughter of Samuel and Sarah LOCKIE native of Wooler
Here the IGI has given us the bones, but the parish entry puts the meat on!
We need to stop thinking of the IGI as the main meal because it’s more of a tasty starter. The original microfilmed records are the real feast, and if you ever have the opportunity to hold an original record in ledger form, well that’s a banquet .com can’t provide!
Occasional errors tell us to ALWAYS check the original. For Example:
IGI:
• Married 15 Feb 1873 Tanfield Durham England
• Elizabeth Jane JONES aged 21 and Thomas GATISS aged 24
ACTUAL PARISH ENTRY:
• Married 15 Feb 1873 Tanfield Durham England
• Elizabeth Jane TONES aged 21 and Thomas GATISS aged 24
Plus the extra information a post 1837 marriage entry gives of
• Marital status of bride and groom
• Occupation of Groom
• Addresses of bride and groom
• Names and occupations of fathers of the couple
• Names of witnesses
In case you’re thinking this is a ‘Pick holes in the IGI’ exercise, you couldn’t be more wrong. I don’t moan about my friends, and the IGI is my second best friend after parish records.
I take my hat off to the people who devised it, and who maintain and update it totally free of charge, as are many other genealogy aids the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints provides.
Think of the IGI and all .com opportunities as the springboard to your research, and not the research itself.
The IGI is the bus stop, train platform or airport, and the records themselves the journey of adventure.
NB. You won’t ever arrive, because families, unlike journeys, are never ending. They don’t have destinations, they just have a multitude of passing points where a legion of lost relatives wave you on to a successful discovery of their history.
GET ABOARD .COM AND USE IT WISELY.
