Reference Centre, LDS Resources

FAQs about the I.G.I. - The Answers

First, I would have to know what the batch number was that identified the entry to which you are referring.  I could then tell you from what source the information had been drawn.

The short answer is, though, that Salt Lake is no longer accepting corrections to Ancestral File or the IGI.  The entry into the IGI is conjoined with temple ordinances and there is no process by which temple ordinances can be undone.  Hence an impossibility of removing any incorrect or duplicate entries from the IGI.

What you can do is resubmit the correct information to familysearch.org via their online sharing facility known as the Pedigree Resource File.  The church also no longer accepts IGI submissions until the individual to be entered has had ordinances performed at a local temple.  If you are not a member of the Church you would have to ask the Bishop of a local Church if he could arrange to have the temple work performed on your behalf by one of the members of that Church.

Now, for the more complete answer.  There are 3 avenues through which entries arrive at the IGI and each of those avenues determine the submitter and the likelihood of contact with the submitter.

1.  extracted original records, such as is the case for Winchester K136744 and St. Peter Sheffield C007752 entries;

2.  membership records prepared and maintained by the Church for and concerning each of its' many millions of members, worldwide; and,

3.  submitted information from individuals - generally, also Church members.  I have a Batch Number Table on my website that help decipher from whence an entry was drawn, see the page at:  Batch Number Table.

Item #3, above, is the crucial avenue as there was, and still is, no requirement by the Church for any third-party submitted information to have been verified and/or proven through original source documentation.  The Church also, in it's fine print on the web, makes clear that it is not responsible for any information contained in its' submitted category and takes one step further and recommends that anyone using the IGI information verify that information in original sources.

With regard to the marriage in 1812, I ran a search of the IGI to see what the message source notes indicate.  The information, firstly, in angled brackets e.g. <1812> indicates estimated information only.  Secondly, the information was submitted after 1991.  This is unfortunate as many submissions started to be received by the Church in electronic format which were processed directly at a Temple and subsequently destroyed. Further, the remaining post-1991 entry forms that were submitted in paper format are being held 'closed' to honour the privacy of the individual submitter.  Under no circumstances will Salt Lake permit any individual, Church member or otherwise, to view those paper records.

You might strike it lucky if the information was also sent to Ancestral File - very rare for post-1991 submissions - or Pedigree Resource File.  Otherwise, the only thing that - if you were a member of the Church - you would see would be the proxy form for the performance of temple ordinances.  The proxy is sometimes the actual individual who submitted the information but is usually a person who works at the local temple having no consanguineous ties to the deceased subject of the submission.

The only other option is to wait until the Church gets around to filming the temple ordinance cards for the entries that interest you.  But, that could take years, yet!  Here's something from my website that you might find interesting - along the same lines as your query:  Question Number 5.

So, in any event, the likelihood of connecting with the submitter is very slim and may decrease even further when trying to elicit a response from the submitter.  In my own experience, church members that I have contacted have indicated to me that they have only completed their genealogy to honour their 4-generation commitment to the Church and are not interested in carrying the research any further or in exchanging any information with other researchers.  Not good news, I know!  Thankfully, you are one of the people who have been interested in finding the 'truth' of your lineage.  Just imagine how much "bad" genealogy is out there!  It is a frightening prospect!

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