Greetin’s aw,
I have been underestimating the value of the IGI site.
Before this week, I used it mainly as a guideline.
However, after corresponding with members on here, discovered it has a great deal more to offer.
When checking on a birth, (record submitted by a member of the LDS church) I then went to “family” and discovered that, they not only had the correct date, but the parents birth and marriage.
Also correct.
Even more surprisingly, well, to me anyway, it gave not just the parish, but the village where the parents were born as well.
How common is information like that?
I would appreciate any other tips on using the IGI.
I don’t mind if you tell me the blatantly obvious, but I am sure I am missing out on the site.
Awrabest
Davie
Getting the best from IGI
Moderator: Global Moderators
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AndrewP
- Site Admin
- Posts: 6189
- Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 1:36 am
- Location: Edinburgh
Hi Davie,
As far as Scotland goes, the IGI can be considered in different sections.
1) Entries taken from the statutory records.
2) Entries taken from the OPRs (Old Parochial Registers).
3) Entries submitted to the IGI.
The entries form the statutory records are transcribed from the birth records (1855-1874) and marriage records (1855-1875). These are the same records as can be found on ScotlandsPeople, in New Register House and Park Circus. The bonuses on the online IGI are that for births the parent(s) names are in the index, and it is free of charge.
The entries from the OPRs are from however far back the OPRs exist for each parish up to 1854. One disadvantage of the online version of the IGI is that some parishes list only the male births. This disadvantage is only on the online version. Male and female births are there on the IGI - microfiche version (as found in many libraries) and computer version (in LDS Family History Centres). The OPRs have mostly baptisms and calling of banns, rather than births and marriages.
Submitted entries on the IGI should be verified elsewhere if you are after provable facts. The information may well be good, but it is also recognised that numerous submitted entries are estimates made based on such loose data as ages on censuses, or assumptions of age at marriage or the like. So the onus is on you to find the information from a primary source. Some of the information may have been derived from the OPRs, so it can fill in some gaps from the male births which some are not on the online version of the IGI.
For any of the above, there are the additional searches that come from their style of indexing that is not available elsewhere, such as ScotlandsPeople or New Register House.
Most valuable, I find, is the "parent search" where you insert the parents' names in the appropriate search fields, and "British Isles" in the Region field. Assuming the couple are unique, then all going well you get a complete family of children listed.
Also, the IGI is quite tolerant of spelling variations, and give results that soundex or the like would struggle with.
Or if used in conjunction with Hugh Wallis's website, the batch numbers can be useful. If the spelling of the surname is so inconsistent that the spelling variations given above do not catch all members of a family, then insert the appropriate batch number and maybe a first name (either parent or child). As an example, you can search in a particular parish for all the children born to a Thomas and a Jean. Such well used names will produce a number of family groups, but with a little imagination you may find your family members with wilder spelling variations. This method does depend on you knowing which parish(es) you expect to find your family in.
As with all indexes, there is still room for mistranscriptions. None of them are perfect, but the error rate is generally low.
All the best,
AndrewP
As far as Scotland goes, the IGI can be considered in different sections.
1) Entries taken from the statutory records.
2) Entries taken from the OPRs (Old Parochial Registers).
3) Entries submitted to the IGI.
The entries form the statutory records are transcribed from the birth records (1855-1874) and marriage records (1855-1875). These are the same records as can be found on ScotlandsPeople, in New Register House and Park Circus. The bonuses on the online IGI are that for births the parent(s) names are in the index, and it is free of charge.
The entries from the OPRs are from however far back the OPRs exist for each parish up to 1854. One disadvantage of the online version of the IGI is that some parishes list only the male births. This disadvantage is only on the online version. Male and female births are there on the IGI - microfiche version (as found in many libraries) and computer version (in LDS Family History Centres). The OPRs have mostly baptisms and calling of banns, rather than births and marriages.
Submitted entries on the IGI should be verified elsewhere if you are after provable facts. The information may well be good, but it is also recognised that numerous submitted entries are estimates made based on such loose data as ages on censuses, or assumptions of age at marriage or the like. So the onus is on you to find the information from a primary source. Some of the information may have been derived from the OPRs, so it can fill in some gaps from the male births which some are not on the online version of the IGI.
For any of the above, there are the additional searches that come from their style of indexing that is not available elsewhere, such as ScotlandsPeople or New Register House.
Most valuable, I find, is the "parent search" where you insert the parents' names in the appropriate search fields, and "British Isles" in the Region field. Assuming the couple are unique, then all going well you get a complete family of children listed.
Also, the IGI is quite tolerant of spelling variations, and give results that soundex or the like would struggle with.
Or if used in conjunction with Hugh Wallis's website, the batch numbers can be useful. If the spelling of the surname is so inconsistent that the spelling variations given above do not catch all members of a family, then insert the appropriate batch number and maybe a first name (either parent or child). As an example, you can search in a particular parish for all the children born to a Thomas and a Jean. Such well used names will produce a number of family groups, but with a little imagination you may find your family members with wilder spelling variations. This method does depend on you knowing which parish(es) you expect to find your family in.
As with all indexes, there is still room for mistranscriptions. None of them are perfect, but the error rate is generally low.
All the best,
AndrewP
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StewL
- Posts: 1396
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 12:59 am
- Location: Perth Western Australia
Davie
I was also a bit reluctant to use IGI especially if it was a submitted entry. But this changed a week or so ago, when I decided to use the online censuses to try and find my mysterious deid punters. (Again thanks Jack for converting me to using censuses
)
My suspicious find on IGI was in my Graham line where both my ggranny and her sister were submitted entries. Lo and behold I got the 1851 census for Wullie and Elisabeth and who was on it but the mysterious Grace, and some more siblings. I knew my ggranny was not on that census as she hadnt been born yet
So in future I wont be so quick to discard submitted entries on the IGI
Ps. I even found Graces marriage thanks to the informant on Elisabeths death
I was also a bit reluctant to use IGI especially if it was a submitted entry. But this changed a week or so ago, when I decided to use the online censuses to try and find my mysterious deid punters. (Again thanks Jack for converting me to using censuses
) My suspicious find on IGI was in my Graham line where both my ggranny and her sister were submitted entries. Lo and behold I got the 1851 census for Wullie and Elisabeth and who was on it but the mysterious Grace, and some more siblings. I knew my ggranny was not on that census as she hadnt been born yet
So in future I wont be so quick to discard submitted entries on the IGI
Ps. I even found Graces marriage thanks to the informant on Elisabeths death
Stewie
Searching for: Anderson, Balks, Barton, Courtney, Davidson, Downie, Dunlop, Edward, Flucker, Galloway, Graham, Guthrie, Higgins, Laurie, Mathieson, McLean, McLuckie, Miln, Nielson, Payne, Phillips, Porterfield, Stewart, Watson
Searching for: Anderson, Balks, Barton, Courtney, Davidson, Downie, Dunlop, Edward, Flucker, Galloway, Graham, Guthrie, Higgins, Laurie, Mathieson, McLean, McLuckie, Miln, Nielson, Payne, Phillips, Porterfield, Stewart, Watson
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Davie
- Posts: 607
- Joined: Fri Aug 12, 2005 4:36 pm
- Location: Glasgow
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Rab
- Posts: 359
- Joined: Wed Jul 20, 2005 1:24 am
The Hugh Wallis site is a fantastic resource. The first time I found the link on these forums I spent the rest of the night looking for surnames as middlenames. To my surprise it did open up a few new possibilities which is always great.
[b][i]Researching...[/i][/b]
[color=darkred]Marr, McCann, Parker, Kennedy, Sharp, Connor, Robinson, Russell, Drummond and a few others.[/color]
[color=darkred]Marr, McCann, Parker, Kennedy, Sharp, Connor, Robinson, Russell, Drummond and a few others.[/color]
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Morag
- Posts: 143
- Joined: Tue May 03, 2005 9:55 am
- Location: Fife, Scotland
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Jack
- Posts: 1808
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 5:34 pm
- Location: Paisley
Parent Search & Batch Numbers
Hi Morag,
Underneath is part of what i'd written to someone a good while back, but as i've often found, unless you're pretty sure
of where the birth etc took place, the "Batch Nos." can be very time consuming...!
But i've discovered...eventually...many births that, without those Batches, i might have missed.
======
"...the children of a couple can sometimes be found by doing a "Parent Search" in the IGI.
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/ ... _form=true
Don't enter ANY name in the *First Name & *Last Name boxes.
In the Father / Last Name box at top right - type in father's forename & surname.
In the Mother / Last Name box - type in at least the mother's forename, surname is optional but it can cut down the number of results.
(i sometimes leave blank if mother's surname might have an unusual spelling)
Select Event - Birth/Christening.
The Year Range, Region, Country, County (if you know them) can also help narrow down the number of results.
Snags with the Parent Search is getting the father's names correct & mother's forename, but if you find maybe one or two children,
and think (or know) there should be more - possibly in the same area,
then this where Hugh Wallis' excellent "Batch Numbers" may help.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/
Select the Country, then the County, then the Town or Parish.
Don't click on the batch no as it takes you to a surname only search page which isn't of any great help - i don't use it myself.
Just take a note of the number you want, then open a new window with the IGI displayed and type in the Batch No - see below.
The IGI is great for doing a "Parent Search", but you need to know father's names and at least mother's forename.
Sometimes you don't know all, or any of these, or names are spelled in some obscure way.
Or there's an unexplained gap in the children's births.
This is where the Batch Nos come in handy (though you need to know what particular parish the event might've taken place).
But if you can't find them in your first choice, and you've a lot of time (and patience!), it can be done by widening the search to other parishes in the area.
(this isn't a sure way of finding - births could be in counties very many miles apart, but you usually have an idea where they might be)
Each Batch No. says what years are covered in it, so select the one you want then,
type that number into the box at the bottom left of the IGI page, and then select the
Event (birth or marriage), Year Range & Year (if you want to it narrow down), then the
Region, Country, and the County that the Batch No. you have chosen is in.
A really good bit about Batch searches is that you don't need a surname if you aren't sure of it or the spelling; but you can enter one if you want.
You could also, for eg, just enter "Mary" in the First Name box, and this would give every Mary in that particular Batch (probably very many...).
Or a father's forename only, surname only, or both - likewise with the mother.
In fact, any combination of your choosing.
You could even leave all boxes blank, but this would give ALL the names in that particular Batch - usually very, very many.
But if you know within a year or so when the event was then this would cut the results down a fair bit - though there'd still be a lot of them.
So just enter according to what you think is needed to find someone - but occasionally "Less is More".
What's meant by this is that too much entered detail might give negative results.
and so it pays - at times, to use the minimum that's possibly required to identify who you are looking for.
On a marriage search, there's no need to enter the couple's parents' names even if they are known - it doesn't help any.
Just play about with the Batches till you get the hang of them - they can be very useful..."
------
Jack
ps, but i think these searches were well explained some time ago on TS?
Underneath is part of what i'd written to someone a good while back, but as i've often found, unless you're pretty sure
of where the birth etc took place, the "Batch Nos." can be very time consuming...!
But i've discovered...eventually...many births that, without those Batches, i might have missed.
======
"...the children of a couple can sometimes be found by doing a "Parent Search" in the IGI.
http://www.familysearch.org/Eng/Search/ ... _form=true
Don't enter ANY name in the *First Name & *Last Name boxes.
In the Father / Last Name box at top right - type in father's forename & surname.
In the Mother / Last Name box - type in at least the mother's forename, surname is optional but it can cut down the number of results.
(i sometimes leave blank if mother's surname might have an unusual spelling)
Select Event - Birth/Christening.
The Year Range, Region, Country, County (if you know them) can also help narrow down the number of results.
Snags with the Parent Search is getting the father's names correct & mother's forename, but if you find maybe one or two children,
and think (or know) there should be more - possibly in the same area,
then this where Hugh Wallis' excellent "Batch Numbers" may help.
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/
Select the Country, then the County, then the Town or Parish.
Don't click on the batch no as it takes you to a surname only search page which isn't of any great help - i don't use it myself.
Just take a note of the number you want, then open a new window with the IGI displayed and type in the Batch No - see below.
The IGI is great for doing a "Parent Search", but you need to know father's names and at least mother's forename.
Sometimes you don't know all, or any of these, or names are spelled in some obscure way.
Or there's an unexplained gap in the children's births.
This is where the Batch Nos come in handy (though you need to know what particular parish the event might've taken place).
But if you can't find them in your first choice, and you've a lot of time (and patience!), it can be done by widening the search to other parishes in the area.
(this isn't a sure way of finding - births could be in counties very many miles apart, but you usually have an idea where they might be)
Each Batch No. says what years are covered in it, so select the one you want then,
type that number into the box at the bottom left of the IGI page, and then select the
Event (birth or marriage), Year Range & Year (if you want to it narrow down), then the
Region, Country, and the County that the Batch No. you have chosen is in.
A really good bit about Batch searches is that you don't need a surname if you aren't sure of it or the spelling; but you can enter one if you want.
You could also, for eg, just enter "Mary" in the First Name box, and this would give every Mary in that particular Batch (probably very many...).
Or a father's forename only, surname only, or both - likewise with the mother.
In fact, any combination of your choosing.
You could even leave all boxes blank, but this would give ALL the names in that particular Batch - usually very, very many.
But if you know within a year or so when the event was then this would cut the results down a fair bit - though there'd still be a lot of them.
So just enter according to what you think is needed to find someone - but occasionally "Less is More".
What's meant by this is that too much entered detail might give negative results.
and so it pays - at times, to use the minimum that's possibly required to identify who you are looking for.
On a marriage search, there's no need to enter the couple's parents' names even if they are known - it doesn't help any.
Just play about with the Batches till you get the hang of them - they can be very useful..."
------
Jack
ps, but i think these searches were well explained some time ago on TS?
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Russell
- Posts: 2559
- Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2005 5:59 pm
- Location: Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire
Good description though Jack
And it pays from time to time to bring that kind of topic to folks notice again.
It still doesn't explain how you can come up with answers twice as fast as anybody else though.
Keep 'em coming. we slowcoaches appreciate them.
Russell
And it pays from time to time to bring that kind of topic to folks notice again.
It still doesn't explain how you can come up with answers twice as fast as anybody else though.
Keep 'em coming. we slowcoaches appreciate them.
Russell
Working on: Oman, Brock, Miller/Millar, in Caithness.
Roan/Rowan, Hastings, Sharp, Lapraik in Ayr & Kirkcudbrightshire.
Johnston, Reside, Lyle all over the place !
McGilvray(spelt 26 different ways)
Watson, Morton, Anderson, Tawse, in Kilrenny
Roan/Rowan, Hastings, Sharp, Lapraik in Ayr & Kirkcudbrightshire.
Johnston, Reside, Lyle all over the place !
McGilvray(spelt 26 different ways)
Watson, Morton, Anderson, Tawse, in Kilrenny
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Morag
- Posts: 143
- Joined: Tue May 03, 2005 9:55 am
- Location: Fife, Scotland
Hi Jack
Thank you for your very clear reply. I have been doing most of what you suggested - I just hadn't worked with both the sites together and missing out the surname ! This will now keep me busy as most of mine were from a few nearby parishes in Stirlingshire , so shouldn't be too time consuming !
Thanks again
Morag
Thank you for your very clear reply. I have been doing most of what you suggested - I just hadn't worked with both the sites together and missing out the surname ! This will now keep me busy as most of mine were from a few nearby parishes in Stirlingshire , so shouldn't be too time consuming !
Thanks again
Morag
Searching mainly Stirlingshire - Hastings,Nicol,Honeyman,Nisbet,Tough,Miller - among others
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Jack
- Posts: 1808
- Joined: Sat Dec 11, 2004 5:34 pm
- Location: Paisley
Re Batch Numbers
Hi Morag and Russell,
Here's Bob G's excellent description - i was sure it was somewhere on TS!
http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4771
Jack
Here's Bob G's excellent description - i was sure it was somewhere on TS!
http://talkingscot.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4771
Jack