Twins or Quads?

[linmey]

It appears from the IGI that an ancestor of mine lost quads at birth. Their are four listings for babies who were born and died in October 1809, 2 male and 2 female. However, I am  hoping that she had twins and that they were just recorded twice on the IGI as I know sometimes happens. What do you think?
        Their are 4 entries for Child Cheney, first male, then female, then male then female born in Wellingborough, Northants. I know for confirmation I will need to check parish records but I just wondered if anyone has come across this before.
         Many thanks,  Linmey.

[Carmela]

Hi Linmey,
I just had to see that, so went in and took a look. They are all submitted by LDS church members, with no source
cited.  Definitely check the parish records. The babies were probably twins. Multiple entries in the IGI are the result of several people submitting the same records. Sometimes, you will find ten or more entries of the same baptism or marriage.

Cheers,
Carmela

[linmey]

Thanks for that Carmela, I do hope you are right, its bad enough the poor woman losing twins, let alone losing quads.
    Thanks also for the explanation as to why so many entries for the same event. That makes it a lot clearer.  Best wishes,  Linmey.

[JAP]

Hello Linmey,

It's not just that there are often multiple submissions for the same event in the IGI by members of the LDS but also that it is always wise to treat LDS submissions with great care; sometimes they are reliable but sometimes they are little more than guesswork.  On the other hand, entries in the IGI identified as extracted from church registers under the controlled extraction program of the LDS are usually reliable.  But, as Carmela says, it is always wise to go back to the original parish registers.

I looked at Hugh Wallis's site at:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers.htm
and the coverage in the IGI under the controlled extraction program for Wellingborough is very poor indeed - nothing at all from the Parish Church, and just three birth/baptism batches from non-conformist churches.

Doing a place name search in the Family History Library catalogue on the FamilySearch site finds that the Registers for the Parish Church of Wellingborough are on microfiche (more often, parish registers are on microfilm).  These could be ordered in to your nearest LDS Family History centre but, as you are in England, I guess you can visit the Northamptonshire Record Office.  They have a very informative website at:
http://www.northamptonshire.gov.uk/Community/record/about_us.htm

JAP

 

[linmey]

Thank you for that Jap.
          I had looked at the Hugh Wallis site and noted that coverage was poor for Wellingborough. I will check out the web site for the Northamptonshire Record office.
     I guess as with any historical source it is important to look at why it was made and in the case of the IGI there is another purpose behind it rather than just reasons of historical interest. I have found a number of mistakes but it is a wonderful resource to have.
    Many thanks for your advice.  Linmey.