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 (April 2010) there is no data applicable to India, but this may change in the future.
Recent Changes 28 April 2010
Family Search has placed new records on a temporary website, fsbeta.FamilySearch.org and hopes to move them in the next few weeks to it’s main website FamilySearch. More details in the FIBIS Blog FamilySearch Adds New Baptisms, Marriages and Burials There appear to be no records shown for dates of birth after January-March 1910, or marriages after January-March 1935. 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
You can view this online data at Family History Centres.You may need to book a computer.
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
Instructions on how to use the microfilmed copies of the Ecclesiatical Returns and their indexes at an LDS Family History Centre.
A list of all the microfilm numbers for the LDS copies of Bengal church records.
A list of all the microfilm numbers for the LDS copies of Madras church records.
A list of all the microfilm numbers for the LDS copies of Bombay church records.
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, together with some Syrian and Armenian churches and a few miscellaneous entries.
A list of microfilm numbers of registers from churches in the former Portuguese colony of Goa
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.