IGI Christening Records
Overheard in GenForum, February 14, 2002
Q: Can anyone tell me what type of information is on the IGI records for christenings in England in the mid-1800s? I am trying to decide if it's worth ordering the film in from LDS or is the info that is listed just parents names and christening date. -- Marie
A: Information in the IGI, or International Genealogical Index comes from one of two places. The information is added to the IGI through the extraction program and through patron submissions. The key is in knowing where the IGI entry you are interested in came from.
Once you determine where your entry came from you may need to do some research on the possible records. The information from a patron submission may supply you with more information about the family, but it is secondary in nature, as the forms have been created by fellow researchers. The information from an original record may give you some additional information depending on the type of record.
IGI acts like an index to other records and resources.
Decoding the Batch Number
The online entries in the IGI give you not only the batch number and source sheet, but also the film number. Even with this information, though, it is still a good idea to understand where these records are coming from.
- A : LDS temple sealing, only available in Special Collections. Original record open only to certain LDS members
- C : Birth and christenings from LDS extraction work - records usually on microfilm
- D : Patron notification, should have another Batch number listed, which is the one you would actually concentrate on
- E : Marriages from LDS extraction work - records may be available on microfilm
- F : Family group records that are available on microfilm
- H : LDS church membership records of deceased individuals
- J, K : Birth and christenings from LDS extraction work - records may be on microfilm
- L : LDS temple originated record
- M : Marriages from LDS extraction work - records usually on microfilm (with the exception of M17 and M18)
- M17, M18 : Early LDS temple sealing records
- P : Births and christenings from LDS extraction work - records may be on microfilm
- T : Information comes from family group records, work done by the special groups, such as work on Royalty, and information from the Temple Records Index Bureau (TIB)
- 0000001 to 0000023 : Patron submissions to temples outside the United States
- 500: Similar to F above, family group records
- 60 to 68999999 : Patron submission that were automated through PAF
- 694: Early LDS ward and branch records available on microfilm
- 6940405 to 69449426 : Card index to early LDS ward and branch records
- 69407: Early LDS ward and branch records from Scandinavia
- 69409: Family group records
- 696: Records not open to the public
- 725: Marriages from England indexed by J.S.W.
- 744: Several extraction projects
- 745, 754 : Extraction from statewide vital records indexes
- 766: Patron submissions on Marriage Entry form or entries from extraction (requires the 766 Batch Cross Index to get the actual batch number)
- 8-4 to 8-9 : Patron submissions
Patron Submissions
If the entry in question has come from a patron submission form, then you will find more than one entry on the form. Patron submission forms are either the original special form that allowed for five entries or a family group sheet.
If the entry was on a patron submission form, you can expect to find spaces for the name of the individual, the dates of birth (or christening) and death, the place of birth (or christening). The name of the parents, whether or not the parents are deceased. While not always filled out with useful information, there is also space for the sources used for the information. Many of them will list something like "family sources," but sometimes you will find that the individual has include original records, perhaps even the microfilm number of the records if they are available on microfilm.
Patron submissions have also been sent using a standard family group sheet. Over the years they have gone from all handwritten to some computer generated forms. Since they are family group sheets, you'll usually find additional information on the parents and perhaps also siblings. Like the patron submission forms, you may find information as to sources used.
Extraction Entries
Extraction entries come from the extraction program. Original records such as birth records, christening records, and marriage records have been used. Extractors pull out the pertinent details for the birth or marriage event. The entry information is then extracted by another person and the two entries are compared by yet a third individual.
Extraction entries take out the middle man in a way. You are taken directly to the original document. Of course, this means that you need to do a little research on the record type used, and remember that information may change depending on the period of time in question.
For the mid-1800s in England, if the christening record came from one of the Church of England parish churches, then you may pick up a little additional information about the parents. The forms used included the name of the church, the date of the event, the name of the child being christened, the name of the father, the name of the mother (sometimes the maiden name). You will also learn the place of residence of the family at the time and sometimes the occupation of the father. Finally, you are sometimes provided with the name of the minister who officiated.
In Conclusion
Once you have determined where the entry in the IGI came from, you can better evaluate if the film is worth ordering. I usually find that I order the original records, even if it will not give me any more on the entry. This is because I have sometimes discovered additional family members or another entry on the film that supplied me with the place of birth for the parents or some other identifying piece that leads me farther back in my research.
Rhonda R. McClure is a professional genealogist specializing in celebrity trees and computerized genealogy. She has been involved in online genealogy for fifteen years. She is an award-winning author of several genealogy how-to books, including The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Genealogy, The Genealogist's Computer Companion, and Finding Your Famous and Infamous Ancestors. She may be contacted at [email protected].
See more advice from Rhonda in her columns Expert Tips, Tigs and Trees, and Overheard in the Message Boards.