ONE of the fundamental pillars for anyone looking for his pedigree is the International Genealogical Index, or IGI.

The IGI is a tool to find a computer file that lists hundreds of millions of names of deceased individuals worldwide.

Also, lists vital information such as birth or marriage date and place.

Many names in the index come from the transcripts of the proceedings of civil registration since early 1500 to 1885. Others have been submitted by members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as the Mormons.

The IGI is available on the Internet, compact disc (CD), and on microfiche.

Copies of the GII can be viewed at any LDS Family History Center worldwide, or any genealogy societies established and the capital most of the municipal libraries city.

It is primarily an index of the Mormon temple work for individuals, which explains why there are often multiple entries for the same person.

LDS Church members often have submitted names for temple work done, without finding out whether it has done before.

There is several reasons why this has been very difficult to do in the past.

There seems to be a general recognition that there are two main types of entries in the IGI, the by members of the church (often called clients) and extracted directly from the original records.

And family historians other researchers tend to rely on the inputs of the latter, and is relatively easy to verify the original source. When using the IGI on microfiche, these entries extracted usually have a lot number from C or M or occasionally another card, but some start with numbers.

Editing CD-ROM provides comprehensive information on each entry. But if youâ ™ €'re using the IGI on sheet there is no substitute for reading instruction materials details on this.

For anyone with an Internet connection, the GII can be found online at the following address: target = "_self" title = "Click here to go to the online IGI."> www.familysearch.org. It's free.

About the Author:

Professional genealogist, local historian, broadcaster, editor and author, Peter N. Collins, founded Garrison Communications Family History Research Services in 1995. He whet his genealogy appetite with the launch of the Alexander Henderson Award-winning book, Ordinary People, Extraordinary Lives: A History of the Maudsley Family, in 1988. Offering commissioned family history and archival research services, Peter serves an Australian and international clientele who typically have ancestral links with Queensland. Garrison Communications stocks state-of-the-art genealogy research software and other information technology equipment (including the ScanPro 2000).

Article Source: ArticlesBase.com – ‘IGI’ is a road map to your ancestry

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