Genealogy Chat

If the name I want is not on either of these, does that mean that he won't be on the Parish records either ??? Is it worth me ordering the Parish records on cd from somewhere do you think? I am looking for Bedfordshire. Thanks Joan

As far as I know, Hugh Wallis IS Familysearch, it's just a more useful tool to find out index numbers. The parish records will have the names you need, but you will have to work out which parish they were from. You can order these from the LDS, using the ref from the Hugh Wallis site, or you can go to the local records office of that parish.

Not all records are fully transcribed yet so Is it worth ordering the Parish records on film, Roy

Joan Not all the records are on the Hugh Wallis site, which is the same as the IGI, just easier to look at on Hugh Wallis. If they are not on theHugh Wallis/IGI sites now, they probably never will be, as many Bishops refused permission for the Church of the Latter Day Saints to film their church records. LDS did not initiate the IGI for the purposes of family history for everybody but because the Mormons claim each person on their ancestral list now belongs to the Mormon Church and can include all their ancestors retrospectively to be part of the Mormon Church. Because of this there are many counties without these IGI Records and Northamptonshire is one of the worst counties with very few names on the IGI rom that county. I have never been able to find any of my English Ancestors on the IGI. However I have found all of mine through the Northamptonshire County Record Office back to the 1600's in the ordinary parish records. I think you will find that Beds will also have very poor coverage on the IGI. If you are into Beds in a big way, it is worth belonging to Beds Family History society and purchasing the parish records on CD throgh them. They have excellent CD's going back to 1500's. Scotland coverage for IGI is very good but Irish covearge is quite poor. The only records that will come on to the IGI now is through a relative or friend putting the record on there and that method can be very innaccurate. Janet

Hi Joan Unlike Northants and Hunts, virtually all of Beds pre 1812 is on the IGI as controlled extracts, with a lot of post 1812 also on. Which parish are you after? I've got a lot of the transcripts. ALL of Beds pre 1812 has been transcribed and is available either as fiche or as hard copy from Bedford and Luton Archives and Records Service - these were done after comparing the Parish registers with the BTs. Any Beds batch on the IGI starting with 'P' is taken from these transcripts David

Thanks for that Janet. I didn't want to waste money on cds etc if the record wouldn't be there anyway! David I have pm'd you. Thanks everyone. :0) Joan

Janet I have to take issue with your statement that Parish Records which are not already on the IGI, never will be.... I recently found a TRANSCRIBED Parish Record, which was new (for the Isle of Man, actually). I mentioned this at my Fam Hist Centre and the manager there said 'Oh, we add new Parish Registers practically daily'. I know a transcription isnt as good as a film, but its better than nowt! (Oh, and by the way, useful as Hugh Wallis is, if you know the area, nothing has been added to Hugh Wallis for about 5 years, so when youve searched via HW, try a direct search on the IGI - you may find a recently added record) Olde Crone

Thanks for that Olde Crone !! :0) Joan

Old Crone I did say that they PROBABLY would never be added, not that they would never be added, so if your knowledge is that they do add then I apologise for possibly leading anyone astray, but I have to say that after many years of looking in Ireland, Scotland and Northants that I have never found any of my ancestors added from parish registers or even transcripts. The only ones I have ever found added are those by other people. Janet

To get back to the original question, if the Hugh Wallis site lists the parish that you are looking for and the dates that are included in the batch(es) cover the date you want, and the name is not on the IGI in that batch, then it is pretty likely that it is not in the parish records, but not certain, as it could have been left out by mistake or could have been too difficult for the transcriber to decipher, especially if we are talking 16th-18th century, but I have come across some very faded 19th century ones too. If you are looking for a particular name in the parish records, and the names are almost impossible to make out, then you can often tell whether each name matches the shape of the name you want at least, but you wouldn't be able to actually decipher them all. So, yes, it is possible that it could be in the parish records but not on the IGI. Oh, but as for on CD... these will be transcriptions again. The best way to find out for sure would be to get a look at a microfilm or microfiche of the parish records themselves. Kate.