Unusual entry in IGI...

Angusfifer · Post by **Angusfifer** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 3:09 pm

On familysearch.org I was searching for children of James Thomson and Jean Archibald.
Amongst the results were two identical christening events. Both were of a "Mr. Thomson" dated Aug. 1797 in Ceres, Fife. Another sibling, Moses Thomson's birth was recorded as 1st December in the same year.

Anyone got any clues or come up with something similar?

Post by **Anne H** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:10 pm

Hi Angusfifer,

The two stating "Mr. Thomson" are submittals by a member of the LDS church and should only ever be used as a guide to further your research. The fact that "Mr. Thomson" is entered would indicate that the submittar didn't know his christian name.

You can rely on the extracts since they are taken from the actual official records of the Church of Scotland. The extracts for Marjory, May, Moses and James are the ones you want.

Regards,
Anne H

Angusfifer · Post by **Angusfifer** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:15 pm

Aha! Thanks Anne.
I may need to go back and check the source of some of my other records...

Post by **paddyscar** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 4:59 pm

Hi Angusfifer:

Just to elaborate a bit on Anne's post ...

The extracts are the ones you want, but it is worth knowing that human error does play a part. Often the records are transcribed by people who don't know the local handwriting, traditional names and local place names, so there is room for error, eventhough they are taken from the original church records.

Think of those records as a road sign to point you in the right direction to verify that you're looking at the right person. You don't need to verify every single record on ScotlandsPeople, but enough of them to confirm that you are dealing with the right family.

Best wishes,
Frances

Angusfifer · Post by **Angusfifer** » Wed Jul 16, 2008 5:06 pm

I'm confident about the direct Ascendants but some of their siblings might have a question mark in relation to the source, in light of Anne's information...