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Archiver > ESSEX-UK > 2002-04 > 1019029471


From: "jayne perry" <>
Subject: Re: Batch Numbers
Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 19:44:31 +1200
References: <000001c1e5cc$c1b099b0$d8dc3c3f@noel> <032601c1e5ce$3b516be0$d7544fcb@home> <001301c1e5d6$8968e6c0$0b7a66cf@default>


Hi Stella,

I understand what you are saying..and thanks.
I will explain, from my perspective, how I use and have found the IGI
invaluable.
First of all, I live in New Zealand and at this point, I don't have access
to Parish records. So short of asking one of the lists that I belong to, for
a request to look up everybody that they can find for me, I have to do some
of my own background work....which I thoroughly enjoy, I should add.

I use a combination of IGI, ancestry.com and Free BMD.
I go to the IGI and lookup the name I'm trying to find. If I am lucky it
will be there, mostly I have had success. I then sift through all the
results to find the right area or Parish with the person I have searched
for.
After clicking on this result, I get the batch number at the bottom of the
screen and go back to the search page,type in the batch no., surname and
region and click search. Usually there is a good result of people from the
same families as this is the parish they all belonged too.
This gives me leads on other family members, when I am not having any luck
tracing my original one. I either jot them all down or copy and paste them.
I check these different people against ancestry.com records and Free BDM.
At this point I compile my information and then send a message to the list
asking if anyone has these people on their family tree, or for a lookup. I
can honestly say that I have found a huge amount of people this way.

I don't rely on the IGI results to fill my family tree and I wouldn't
suggest that anyone else does either. Apart from the fact that, if you don't
make contact with people, it is no fun anyway.

I do have several people that I don't have death records for and I don't
understand why, without them, it is not a family tree.
Please correct me if I am wrong but the reference to compiling a family tree
and not realising one or two links have died in childhood or birth, I am
confused about. If these particular people have died, then I would think you
wouldn't find any records about them on the IGI, so your person would just
be a name on your tree- without spouse or children so it shouldn't be too
much of a problem. If you really wanted to know what happened to that
person, you would research other avenues from there.

Sorry about my long email. I didn't know how else to explain how useful I
find the IGI.

Have a nice day,

Jayne


----- Original Message -----
From: "Stella Howlett" <>
To: <>
Sent: Wednesday, April 17, 2002 6:10 PM
Subject: Re: Batch Numbers


> Jayne,
>
> Any deaths that you see in the IGI are from private submissions and
> are not always very reliable. Often they are just guesses. The LDS
> aren't interested in deaths or burials, and their controlled
> extractions don't include either of them. The IGI should only ever be
> used as a direction pointer. As one lister has pointed out, one can
> very easily compile generations one's family tree using the IGI
> without realising that one or two of those links actually died in
> infancy or childhood. The IGI is not a substitute for actual research
> in the parish records.
>
> Regards,
>
> Stella Howlett
> BC, Canada
>


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