Genealogy Chat

While bearing in mind that the IGI is incomplete and in places very inaccurate you may still find these tips handy.

It can be overwhelming if you download a lot of marriages or baptisms but I try to simplify matters a bit. It does help if the surname isn’t too common! I would either go straight to the Batch Numbers site (Remove brackets) http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb(.)com/~hughwallis/IGIBatchNumbers.htm and find the parish or I might do a general search on FamilySearch and make a note of the Batch number of any possibly useful people. I sometimes download all the baptisms or marriages for a surname in a particular parish and put them on word documents. I go through them slowly and find out and type in each set of parents or spouse. Then print them out. I get coloured pens or highlighters and colour all the children of the same parents all the same colour. If I find the parents’ marriage it also gets coloured that or given a coloured spot to show it. Sometimes I print them all out with enough space to cut each individual out and spread them about on the floor like a family tree. It’s a good job we have a largish living room floor! I’ve got a very visual memory and I need to see the pattern. That then means I can see which family groups fit nicely and which people seem out on a limb. What you then have to remember is that the IGI doesn’t usually give deaths so you need to try to find out who didn’t survive to have children and also remember that male ancestors especially may have gone to their spouse’s parish to get married. It does all give a sort of clue though. Good luck Sue