IGI Information

Parish Records and other sources

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alan w
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 11, 2008 11:31 pm

IGI Information

Post by alan w » Sun Oct 12, 2008 9:52 am

Looking at info supplied on the LDS IGI site, I wondered about the accuracy or origin of such details as, for example,

Birth:
About 1694 Of, Inverkip, Renfrew, Scotland

Is this sort of data an educated guess or based on some firm evidence ?

AndrewP
Site Admin
Posts: 6189
Joined: Sun Dec 12, 2004 1:36 am
Location: Edinburgh

Post by AndrewP » Sun Oct 12, 2008 10:35 am

Hi Alan,

I take it this is a submitted entry on the IGI rather than an extract from the records. Submitted entries are a hit or a miss. They can be based on good information, or they can be estimates. In some cases the estimates are based on dates estimated for the next generation, so you can see that the information could get well wide of the mark. However, equally it could be from a more reliable source, such as calculated back from a date given on a headstone; or from details written up in a family bible. There is no information given on the IGI to what type of source has been used to attain that information. My own method is only to take as good those which have been extracted from the records, as these can be verified by seeing the records, usually from the Old Parochial Registers (OPRs).

It is really for you to decide if you want to keep to the verifiable facts, or if you are prepared to go along with someone else's (unverifiable by you) information or estimates. My own advice is to keep to the verifiable facts, but the choice is yours.

I see the earliest surviving birth records for Inverkip are from 1694, so it is worth seeing if there is an entry in there that matches what you are looking for.

All the best,

AndrewP