What is the IGI

[Christopher]

I hope I'm on the right thread This one seems to be my maternal grandfather ... Alexander Erskine Alexander. Why's he entered three times? In each instance the parents are Andrew Alexander and Janet Erskine. You'd think one entry would be adequate. These Latter Day Saints appear to be doing much the same as the rest of us do .. ie posting information found on the internet. Why on earth can't their computer, or even a person, run some sort of a check to see whether or not a person is already on the list. They're not too accurate. I wonder if there's a prize for the highest number of entries for one person. Do you think my Grand Dad is in the running?

Results for:  Erskine Alexander  [refine search] 
Birth/Christening, Northern Ireland
Exact Spelling: Off   
Matches: All Sources - 3
International Genealogical Index - British Isles
1. Erskine Alexander Alexander - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Christening: About 02 APR 1879 Ballyeaston, Antrim, Ireland
 
2. Erskine Alexander Alexander - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Christening: About 02 APR 1879 Ballyeaston, Antrim, Ireland
 
3. Erskine Alexander Alexander - International Genealogical Index / BI
Gender: Male Christening: About 02 APR 1879 Ballyeaston, Antrim, Ireland
 
Matches: International Genealogical Index/British Isles - 3

[Mum44]

I realise this thread is now quite old - but I only joined Rootschat last week and have just read this.

I expect Guy will shoot me down in flames, but - I was told (can't remember who by) that church members received (for want of a better word) brownie-points for each deceased ancestor they brough into the fold.

Might this not explain why there are multiple entries for what are obviously the same person?

I have more than a few like this and I do agree that  filter would be a good idea!  It can be especially frustrating when three or four people have entered a whole family - using parent search you think you've found 12 children but its the same 4 children 3 times!

[Christopher]

Why don't the submitters have a titter of wit If one person has submitted a family what's the point, other than gaining brownie points within their church, of annoying people who are searching for their ancestors? Unless a couple of submissions are submitted at the same time there's nothing to stop checking the dates being posted prior to duplicating or triplicating information already on the familysearch.org site.

[patrexjax]

Hello all, Yes, there can be duplications; however, I have found that it pays to check each entry, as there are some entries that do have additional information that the other apparent "identical" ones do not....Pat

[Sylviaann]

Having spent a great many years researching my family and using a family history centre(LDS) near me for 10 years I am most greatful for the IGI.  I did find the microfiche was more useful than the internet version as it often gave the wife's surname on a baptism and that is not shown on the computer version.  I am now looking at Jersey ancestors and all the information is submitted and a lot of it is rubbish but without going to Jersey or paying someone, there is no way of researching

My advice is to take all the information you can from the IGI, make up a tree and then go and check everything on the original records.  You can go to an LDS centre near you to look at the films.  They only charge a small amount.

Sylviaann

[Mean_genie]

I agree with Sylviaann, and have defended the IGI in other Rootschat threads; it's a wonderful thing provided you are aware of its weaknesses as well as its strengths. I too feel on safer ground with extracted entries, where there is an identifiable source that you can check. Submissions can be OK too where there is an obvious independent source that you can check - for example anything in England and Wales after 1837 where you can use the Civil Registration indexes, national or local. It's the 'about' entries that worry me, so I generally ignore them to be on the safe side.

But one of the biggest pitfalls you can fall into is in not realising how complete or incomplete coverage is for particular areas. The old microfiche version used to come with a Parish and Vital Records listing, so you could see exactly what was included for each county, and the major disadvantage of the online version is that it does not include such a list. So you have to be aware when using it of the extent and date range of the records you are using. The Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers can give you a rough idea - for example a glance at their respective county listings will show that there is excellent coverage for Lincolnshire, but not much for Kent.  The IGI Batch Numbers site http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers.htmis very helpful in working out what parishes and periods are included, although you still need to know what other parishes there are in the county that aren't included - you can use Genuki www.genuki.org.uk:8080/big/for that. Some of the more recent additions to the IGI unfortunately are in batches that don't include any source information, although they are extractions from registers - many of these start with 'I', and they include quite a lot of entries from the notorious so-called Fleet Marriage Registers.

Mean_genie

[Guy Etchells]

It seems some don't realise how submissions were made for the IGI.
Many submissions were made in bulk.
A researcher could have been compiling a tree for many years before submitting a thousand ancestors as a temple ready file.
Each one of those thousand entries would then undergo the ordinance that was indexed by the IGI.

Remember the IGI only indexes the ordinances that took place in a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple it does not index parish registers.
Cheers
Guy

[Berlin-Bob]

There have been various topics on the IGI on RootsChat. 
Some of them, including this one, can be found under IGI in the
RootsChat Reference Library => Lexicon ^{(click here)}

If you click on the category IGI - on the right of the entries - you will find other related topics.

Bob