Using LDS Microfilms

Summary

This page contains instructions on how to use the LDS (Mormon) records to find Family History in India. It is not an official page of the LDS church and the author is not a Mormon. To find your nearest LDS Family History Centre (FHC), look up your telephone directory under Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Or ask a fellow genealogist - they'll know! To find your nearest FHC at the official LDS website go to FHC Locator. If you want to know more about what a Family History Centre is, then visit the page About Family History Centres.

Background

British India was divided into three Presidencies :

• Bombay, which covered the west and north of the country, including what is now Pakistan;
• Bengal, which covered the east of the country and included Burma and what is now Bangladesh;
• Madras, which covered the southern portion of India. The main cities of the Presidencies were Bombay, Calcutta and Madras, respectively.

The first British church in India was St Mary's in Fort St George, Madras, which was consecrated in 1680. Many other churches were established after that date and records exist for most of them from the time of their consecration. Every year on Lady Day (25th March), British churches were required to send copies of their ecclesiastical records to the capital city of each Presidency. The Presidencies then indexed the records and sent them to the India Office in London (now the Oriental and India Office Collection of the British Library, or the OIOC). The Mormons have microfilmed all the ecclesiastical records, including the indices, and made them available to Mormons and non-Mormons alike.

Index

The first step is to determine which Presidency your ancestor lived in, as each one is indexed separately. If you have no idea, then start with Bengal, which was the largest Presidency. If that doesn't work out, try Bombay and finally, Madras. If you have a location name and are a member of the INDIA-L Mailing List then you could ask its helpful members for advice on which Presidency to search. For the following steps, you may use either the microfiche or computers at your local FHC. First, select the Family History Catalogue Locality Guide (either a CD for the computer, or a drawer of microfiche). The Locality Guide is divided into countries, regions, cities and so on, then sub-divided into subject headings. Look up INDIA, then under that country's listing, look up the Presidency (BOMBAY, BENGAL or MADRAS). Then look up the subject heading CHURCH RECORDS.

You will be presented with a very long list of microfilms. The first section is the index for that Presidency, followed by a list of microfilms of the actual church records. In the index, go to the type of record you require (BAPTISM, MARRIAGE or BURIAL). Select the period in which you are interested. Each index covers around a ten-year period, although many of the early ones cover considerably longer periods. When you find the time period (e.g., 1860-1870) write down the microfilm number that appears opposite it (e.g., 480960).

Alternatively, you can look up the microfilm number on this website, under Bombay Church Records, Bengal Church Records or Madras Church Records. You will still need to go to the Family History Centre to order the microfilm of the actual index, however.

Now go to the friendly FHC librarian and tell them that you wish to order that microfilm. You will be charged a small fee (in the vicinity of $6 Australian) to cover postage. In a couple of weeks (approximately!) your microfilm will arrive and the FHC will notify you. Make a booking to view the microfilm at the FHC and start looking for your ancestors!

View the index on your microfilm. The index is semi-alphabetical, which means that for each year, all the names beginning with a certain letter are listed in the order in which they were transcribed. You will need to look through all the names for that letter, for each year in which you think the event (baptism, etc.) may have taken place. Note that marriages were indexed by the Groom's name only until the 1890's. If you are looking for the marriage of a female ancestor, whose husband's name you don't know, you will need to look up EVERY marriage for the year(s) in question.

Once you have found your ancestor's name, write down the details :

year volume number page number

Don't forget the volume number - it is sometimes only written at the top of the page, so you may need to scroll up to see it. If the volume number doesn't look like a simple number (e.g. it has a letter over a line over a number) then your ancestor's record is part of the Omissions and Corrections series. Go to the page on Non Presidential Records to learn what this is all about.

The Church Record

Now that you have found your ancestor's name in the Index, you will now need to go to back to the Locality Guide, described above, to find the number of the microfilm for that volume. Look up INDIA, then the Presidency (BOMBAY, BENGAL or MADRAS) then CHURCH RECORDS. Go past the index listing to the volume listing. Look up the volume in which you are interested (it should match the year in which you are interested, but there are exceptions - always go for the volume number). Then write down the microfilm number opposite the volume number, and go to your friendly FHC librarian and order that microfilm.

Alternatively, you can look up the microfilm number on this website, under Bombay Church Records, Bengal Church Records or Madras Church Records. You will still need to go to the Family History Centre to order the microfilm of the actual record, however.

When the FHC informs your that your microfilm is available, make a booking and view the microfilm. Simply look up the volume (there are usually only one or two volumes on a microfilm), then look up the page number of the volume you require. There will be your ancestor's records of baptism, marriage or burial!

If you only have one or two records that you wish to extract from the actual records, then another method of obtaining the same information is to ask the LDS to make a photocopy of the record for you. You must give the FHC librarian the equivalent of $US2, and supply them with the microfilm number and page number, obtained from the index. Fill out a Request for Photocopies form, and the photocopies will be sent to you in due course. You may have up to 8 photocopies for the same $US2 fee, so this can work out to be significantly cheaper.

Conclusion

I know that this sounds very complicated, but once you're familiar with the records you'll realise that it's fairly straightforward. Look up the Locality Guide and order a film, view the index, look up the Locality Guide and order a film again, then view the record. Good luck with your research! Cathy Day, 1996