Genealogy Chat

Hi, Wondered if anyone knew if the IGI and other sources on the Family Search website were updated (baptisms etc). I just wondered if new data was entered/submitted Steve

Hi, I'm not sure how exactly it works but I believe the information is rotated on a 6 week cycle, so there are always things coming in and going out - best to keep checking on a regular basis. I am sure someone will explain later exactly how this functions for you. Dea

Thanks Dea

Yes someone recently discovered the info is on a cycle, so if you see it once and then cant find it the next - you arent going mad. The other info on there is submitted by 'lay contributors', people like you or me who submit their trees without any qualification - I believe they go on about once every couple of months.

Steve As well as the above, there IS completely new information going on regularly, usually as the result of the transcription of a PR - one not previously done. I believe all new transcriptions are now done using the 'controlled extraction' process. This means two transcribers enter the same information independantly of each other, into a special programme. This compares their entries and automatically throws out any two lines which do not 'match', down to commas, spaces, capital letters etc. A third person then examines these rejects and after consultation, re-enters them. This system is as near to perfect as it can get - no missed lines or pages etc. However, as a nitpicker, I still think you should check the original source document. However, I rather bad-temperedly wish they had though A. to enter the actual name of the Church on the individual records - it is sometimes surprisingly difficult to find this out. And B - wish they had a 'sort' facility, so that when printing of 50 or so records, I could at least get them into date order! Olde Crone

Olde Crone - I agree on the date-sort hing. I usually end up copy-pasting into Excel; find-replace to get rid of redundant info; putting the year-numbers into a separate column (i.e. keying them in myself) and then sorting on that column. I suppose it should be possible to get Execl to identify a four-digit number in a string, but I've only just thought of that! Christine

Nudging for future ref - thanks to you all for the advice

n- so I can find it.

Old Crone Holden, I can't imagine why you would want to print 50 records from IGI - I've only ever found a handful at a time. Am I doing something wrong or have I just been unlucky? Am fairly new to IGI. Regards

Heather, Are you saying that the site changes, i.e. it only shows so many records at a time and they alternate? Why would that be? So that might explain why my ggggm disappeared. Margaret

Margaret I am well past the stage of looking for individuals (well, I do, but that is a separate exercise). I trawl for surnames at a particular church e.g. all the Traffords mentioned (ever) in Gawsworth, Cheshire and print them off, to construct a mini tree, which often leads to, or links in with, my known Traffords. OC

Old Crone Ooh, I have rellies from Gawsworth. Have you got any Weavers, Warhursts or Hollands? So am I right, that the mormon site only gives access to selected records at any one time? Or have I misunderstood. I'm a bit like you, running out of people to find on the normal sources. Regards Margaret

Margaret There is an ongoing debate as to whether the IGI rotates its records. All I can say is that some of my relatives appear and disappear, so I play safe and search again in six weeks, if I cannot find them the first time. Yes, got a few Hollands from Gawsworth! Every family in Gawsworth married every other family in Gawsworth, so there will be a connection somewhere. OC