The International Genealogical Index, often called the 'IGI' for short, is an extensive index of births, baptisms and marriage which has been put together over many years by the Church of Latter-day Saints. It is organised by countries, then by counties, alphabetically by surname and finally in chronological order within the surname.
Date and location coverage
The Highland Archive Centre, Inverness and Nucleus: The Nuclear and Caithness Archives, Wick hold the IGI for all of the counties of Scotland, the rest of the UK and some countries of the world. It is very good for early records and contains entries back to the 16th century for certain areas of the UK. Entries after the 1890s are much fewer in number.
What can these records be used for?
- To discover an individual’s place/date of birth or baptism (the IGI will give the individual’s first name, his/her parents’ names, the parish and the date of birth/baptism)
- To discover an individual’s marriage (the IGI will give you the individual's first and surname, the first and surname of their husband/wife, the parish and the date of marriage)
The IGI is not a complete index of all births/baptisms/marriages within a particular area. The information contained in it has been submitted by individuals, via indexing schemes of organisations or by the Church of Latter-day Saints itself. The information is accepted as accurate and is not checked. This means that information about an individual’s birth/baptism or marriage might appear more than once if submitted by different individuals or it might not appear at all.
Access and restrictions
There are no restrictions on accessing the IGI.
Copies and photography
The images within the IGI are very small and will not successfully reproduce.
Where do I go next?
If you cannot find the information you are looking for, and if your ancestor lived in the Highlands, try looking in the Old Parish Registers. These are organised by county and parish and can be viewed on microfilm in the Family History Room. You could try exploring other records such as Census Returns, Old Parish Registers, Monumental Inscriptions and original archive material, such as valuation rolls, maps, photographs.
