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| Deaths and the IGI |
| by Bruce McDowall and Crawford MacKeand |
Why there are so few deaths recorded in the International Genealogical
Index (IGI), compared with the number of births, or even the number of
marriages? Firstly, the IGI is a tool generated by the LDS (Mormon) Church
for their own purposes, and was undertaken as an index to LDS held records
of marriages and baptisms from around the world. In whatever format we
access it, on microfiche or CD-ROM, or on the internet, we the genealogy
community are their guests. Secondly, for a great part of our period of
interest the Church of Scotland registers which form the basis of most of
the relevant IGI records only noted a very few deaths.
It's also important to know that the IGI is just a very small part of the
wealth of genealogical sources, even of those offered by the LDS. However,
it is a preferred starting point in this Internet age for many people
searching for clues to where they should begin their research. To make
good use of this fine resource one needs to know at least a little about
the original records.
For the county of Wigtownshire, and for the other counties of Scotland, it
is important to recognise the significance of the year 1855. This is when
compulsory Civil Registration commenced. Before then, the main records are
the old parochial registers (OPRs), the registers of the established
Church of Scotland. The ministers or session clerks of each parish kept
these registers; it was not compulsory, although the Church tried at
intervals to encourage good record keeping, and the amount of detail kept
was at the whim of the incumbents. A majority of marriages and baptisms
were recorded, but recording of deaths was only patchy. Again, that was
church policy from the 1500s, when some of the earliest records began.
But from 1855 onward, all births, marriages, and deaths were, or were
supposed to be, registered by the Registrar, a newly introduced local
government official. Subject to statutory privacy limitations, these later
governmental records are available through the Scottish Record Office in
Edinburgh, in various ways including the Scotsorigins website. Maybe it's
worth noting that the records for 1855 were much more detailed than for
later years. When seeking records from prior to 1855, although there was a
policy of sending all the parish records to Edinburgh, one has to hope
that the church recorded the event, and that the record survived for long
enough to be collected by the General Register Office for Scotland.
Some years ago, the LDS obtained authorisation to film the Church of
Scotland records from the Registrar General, who had custody of most of
the OPRs. The LDS also obtained authorisation to film some of the Civil
Registration records. This filming covered the years 1855 thru 1875, plus
the years 1881 and 1891. The IGI only covers births and marriages for
those years that the LDS filmed. Marriages and births that occurred
outside these years, will not be found on the IGI, although for the later
years, Scotsorigins is a valid source. But none of these death records,
filmed or not, will be found on the IGI. Any deaths which are shown in the
IGI are from "patron-submissions", privately submitted records, which are
difficult to verify, and sometimes erroneous. And of course earlier
records from before the commencement of the OPRs (in a few parishes in
the 1500s, in some as late as the 1700s) are available only for few folks
and usually only those of very considerable standing in their world.
The LDS do also have films of civil registration indexes, but these only
give reference numbers, which can be followed up for the years filmed by
LDS. For the later years, it's only easy to be confident you have the
right individual in the case of married women, as they are indexed under
both maiden and married names. These films mostly cover one year or six
months each, and can be very tedious if you have many years to search.
Marriages and Births provide the most reliable of vital data, the
information registered at an age of joy, youth and competence. Deaths
provide the least reliable of vital data, registered at a time of grief
and diminished competence, and often given by folk having little knowledge
of the deceased - a grandson, nephew, neighbour, or doctor for example.
Death entries can be a precious commodity, and their value is maximised
for Scots who married before, but died after, the introduction of
compulsory registration. In that case, the Death entry is usually the only
source to be found for the parents of bride and groom. (But it may be
worth remembering that in 1855 and also after 1861 parents' marriage
information was given on birth entries.) Although there were very few
parishes that recorded deaths, some did record burials, where there was a
fee paid for use of the Mortcloth used in the funeral service. Where fees
were recorded, the LDS did include these register pages when they filmed
the OPRs. If you look under the film # for a parish, the film notes will
indicate if the parish did record the burials. One then has to view the
film to find which persons are listed thereon.
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| Bruce McDowall, Crawford MacKeand, March 2002 |
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