Genealogy Chat

I think that it is just a matter of luck as to whether the parish that you are interested in is on there, and for the right dates. I have found loads of stuff on there for some of my family, but absolutely nothing for others.

Hi Rita - I have also found out a great deal of information from the LDSC about my Mother-in-law's family, I have verified most of this and it is all correct. It would have been put on the site since 1983, I'm sure it was added by some family member but I've been unable to find out who. Would be great to be able to contact them. Grace

Rita, hi, glad to see somebody else has joined the club. TED.

I agree with Rita. The IGI seems to promise so much, but when you drill down the info is either utterly irrelevant (USA census, BMD etc) or ultimately non existent. Just tried the Batch number site ... found a link to Staindrop in Durham, got a search screen, put the family name in .... ZILCH!!!!!!! J.

Hi you get zilch from Norfolk area aswell - the churches refused to hand info over to the Mormons.

Sherlock sorry but I do beg to differ. Quantity rather than quality. Because many members would try to find the same people and often didn't get the right answers. They wrote to their relatives over here asking for as much information as possible. They only had cards then so collating the information was a lot harder. We are talking very early 1900's. After 5 years looking at the IGI they have removed a lot and added the correct information. Still more to do though. Example my gg grandfathers brother went to Utah 1850. His granddaughter was one of the people helping to set up the genelogical library. I have a lot of letters that were sent back and forth (I'm very lucky to have so much information sent to me also letters my g grandparents wrote.) From the forms that were sent back if they didn't know the answer (that's us over here) then they would put abt etc. My gg grandparents were put down as having married in the parish church 1844, when in fact they married in Bath 1841, I found this at the start of my search 5 years ago. As both gg had died by 1870 the children probably didn't know and there would not have been anyone else to pass this information on. Early 1900's people would not have had access to the indexing like us, travelling was expensive and took a long time, that's if they could read and write not everyone could. Amateurish, innacurate and inadequate As with most genealogy sites when first started lots of mistake are made. I know the reason they started but it was family members who were trying to find their families. Its wasn't until later that the family members came over looking to see what they could find. They in turn started to check the indexing in London. But for those early members finding and writing to their rellies we would not have had the start we did. I am not a mormon nor do I intend to became one, but I am thankful to Daniel, William and mostly Nellie who took the time writing to so many relatives getting what information they could before it was lost altogether. Maybe the Catholics are not on there because they do not have the records needed. All marriages and christening had to be through the Church of England to be legal and recorded. If you were Jews or Quakers that was ok. If a parish does not have any entrys then there was probably no one from that parish in Utah at that time. I know that some churches refused to let the Mormons look at their books, but how would they know if it was a relative that lived in the village looking. But then you have to look at our own record keeping, writing so poor its hard to read, very little information to go on depending who was doing the writing. Guernsey has better records than we do before 1837. Even in French its clear and neater giving more information, even I can understand it and I don't speak French. Sorry didn't mean to go on so. Irene

Instead of doing the IGI just do the Family Search by entering ONLY the surname and Search. The result is that you will see on the right hand side of the page ALL the censuses that your surname is on AND then a list of each IGI by Region.

Hi all A belated thank you to Irene Jenny Helen Sheila Joy Debby, and last but not least Sherlock's etc. Rita

I've had very little luck with this site but the info that I have found on there has so far turned out to be pretty accurate. Debby

Rita It depends what you are looking for. If you go to Hugh Wallis' batch numbers site {google 'Hugh Wallis batch numbers' to find it} you can pick a county and then a parish/town and it will show you which parishes are covered for when - C batch numbers are baptisms and M batch numbers marriages. Not every county is covered, there's not much for Norfolk for example. Lots of parish records on the IGI stop at 1837, so again you may not find people there. I've found loads of info for some relatives, and hardly any for my Norfolk or Warwickshire lot. nell

Hi Rita, How specific are you at putting in info? Sometimes I find if i enter just the county rather than a specific location along with first & last names this is better. Also you can do a parent search by inputting the parents names in the boxes on the right leaving the child names blank and putting in a county put the date that the parents married plus about 20 years and this should find all children for those parents (siblings as well) .You will then have to open each record to see if it is the right John & Mary ,sometimes the mothers maiden name is listed and this helps. hope this helps Jenny

Rita Where are the places that you are looking. Some counties like Somerset and Sussex are very very poor, other like the north of England seem to be covered very well. It is getting better and the Mormons are now putting on parish records. But before that it was the Mormons themselves who were doing their own family history. So if you were lucky enough to have had one in your past like me them the parish were they were will be covered. Try Hugh Wallis batch numbers this will take you to the county and then parish, you may find more there. Good luck Oh and we all have to learn so well done for even trying. You soon will be giving tips to others. Irene

Hi all - I have noticed that other members seem to get get screeds of information from the site - huge lists of people and family connections. Is this because these families are particularly well documented? Is my lack of success in finding info. due to my family being less well or even undocumented or am I missing something in my research technique (not very clever with PCs). I need enlightenment. Thanks Rita