IGI

IGI stands for International Genealogical Index. The IGI is an enormous database created and maintained by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints or LDS, also known as the Mormons. This page is not an official LDS page.

What is the IGI?

The Mormons have an extensive program to microfilm vast numbers of old records which are an aid to genealogy. For example, they microfilm records of churches of all denominations, ancient land tax records, military records, shipping lists, census records and so on. They make these microfilms available to all people, regardless of religion, and depending on your location, the microfilms can be viewed for free or for a small postage charge.

There are two ways an entry can be made into the IGI:

• When a parish record (of any denomination) is microfilmed, the LDS church extracts the names and details of all christenings and marriages. These appear on the IGI as Extracted Records and are highly accurate. The record will include the film number.
• Members of the LDS church submit their own information. These appear on the IGI as Submitted by LDS Member. These entries are of variable accuracy.

The IGI database has hundreds of millions of names on it. If you are new to genealogy, or if you are beginning to research a new family line, the IGI is a great place to start, but please bear in mind that it is not a complete coverage of all events, and that entries submitted by LDS members can sometimes be inaccurate.

India records

The Indian section of the IGI deals almost exclusively with Europeans and Anglo-Indians (Eurasians). In 1994, there were about 240,000 names for India. If you have a more up-to-date count, then please update this page.

You can view the Indian data online using the Advanced Search on the LDS’s Family Search website. Select country "India" (or Singapore etc) You can also search using the IGI Search. The data is almost, but not quite as extensive. Select region “Asia”. Then select country “India” or "All countries" for a wider area including countries such as Singapore, Malaysia etc. There is a facility to add batch numbers, see below.

The Family Search website also includes a Record Search Pilot, which is a pilot project to access online images of data. Currently (June 2010) it contains the data mentioned in the following paragraph, but this may change in the future.

Recent Changes 28 April 2010
Family Search has placed new records on a beta ("under construction") website, fsbeta.FamilySearch.org. To access the India and Ceylon records from this site, scroll down the page to “Browse by location” and select “Asia and Middle East”. However, India related records can be researched more directly on the pilot site at Asia and Middle East Records

Sri Lanka, Colombo District Dutch Reformed Church Records 1677-1990 are available with images online on the pilot search site, and also on the beta site. Note, the web page takes some time to load. (Available from August 2010)

The original website FamilySearch continues and in time the two sites will be merged into the new site.

The LDS website description of the records is "Index to selected India" births and baptisms, marriages, deaths and burials. They appear to be based on the India Office church records at the British Library , including the N/5 Indian States records. Please note that on an individual basis the LDS record does not show all the details available on the original. Also not every India Office church record is recorded in the LDS database. There appear to be no records shown for dates of birth after January-March 1910, or marriages after January-March 1935. Death records are available to 1948. Some of the records contain the description Race: White. This should be disregarded as it is a fabrication as the original IOR church records do not contain a classification for race at all. (The few records that do have a classifation for race use the terminology European not white).

In addition, the Family Search website contains the LDS Library Catalogue for all the LDS microfilms, as does the new beta site. Currently June 2010, the catalogue on the beta website has some problems, and it is better to use the original website for the Library Catalogue. London Family History Centre has a film catalogue for the Indian Subcontinent and for India in a different format to the main catalogue, classified by geographical region.

You can view all online data at Family History Centres (FHC) if you do not otherwise have online access. You may need to book a computer at the FHC.

Using LDS microfilms

Note that some films have been transcribed by LDS. To read how LDS batch numbers can help you search ,and to help you to cut down needlessly searching elsewhere, refer to India Office Ecclesiastical Returns Microfilm Numbers and the LDS equivalent

• How to Use Church Records on Microfilm

Instructions on how to use the microfilmed copies of the Ecclesiatical Returns and their indexes at an LDS Family History Centre.

• LDS Microfilms for Bengal Presidency Church Records

A list of all the microfilm numbers for the LDS copies of Bengal church records.

• LDS Microfilms for Madras Presidency Church Records

A list of all the microfilm numbers for the LDS copies of Madras church records.

• LDS Microfilms for Bombay Presidency Church Records

A list of all the microfilm numbers for the LDS copies of Bombay church records.

• LDS Microfilms of Church registers in India

A list of microfilm numbers of registers from churches throughout India, except the Portuguese colony of Goa. These are records which are not covered by the APAC holdings. The majority are Roman Catholic churches but also included are records from the Church of Scotland in Bombay and Madras, together with some Syrian and Armenian churches and a few miscellaneous entries.

• Goa Church Records

A list of microfilm numbers of registers from churches in the former Portuguese colony of Goa

• LDS Microfilms for Church Records outside of the usual Presidencies

Lists of microfilms of European church records in India that do not fall under the usual three Presidencies. These include Native States, some Catholic records and post-Independence church records.