Hey Campbell cousins,
You are so right, the IGI IS fallible, because we
humans are. Some of the stuff posted there is decades
old. The IGI used to only be accessed with microfiche.
It took the LDS Church a number of years of volunteer
work to digitize the information so you can find it on
the web. The errors could be in the original
submission, or in the data entry stage. Even with the
proofreading that went on, errors creep in. I am a
proofreader/editor by profession and although it
drives me nuts when I miss something, I do miss
things.
Please don't dismiss the IGI because there are errors.
It has a wealth of information. Make sure you do your
own checking.
Also, if there are duplicate entries on a couple,
family, etc., it is probably because they were found
on more than one submitter's lines; or the extraction
program found them in more than one source. The Church
is working as fast and furiously as it can to
cross-reference all of this information, but with the
billions of names in their various data-bases, it will
take some time.
Carefully read the explanation of what the IGI
database is. It is NOT where Church members or the
general public have sumitted pedigrees or family group
sheets to share with others. Make sure you check the
Ancestry File (it will eventually be consolidated with
the Pedigree Resource File, which will also eventually
be able to be accessed in full through
familysearch.org--right now we only have the index on
the web).
If I sound defensive, I am. I've been a volunteer for
a number of years in our local Family History Center
and have watched other volunteers sit for hours in
front of a computer, with the old DOS systems, putting
in information so it can be readily accessible to
others. It was done out of love of the work.
Just check, folks. Report errors to
familysearch.org
in a kindly manner. All that can be done is being done
to make this information as correct as possible.
Diana Dial Reynolds,
Great-granddaughter of Mahalia Evelyn Campbell,
Effingham, Illinois
--- mamahop <mamahop(a)pioneer-net.com> wrote:
I ran up against this on the IGI when I was wanting
to find a Campbell and
they had the wrong Campbell's listed on my Campbell
line and I told her that
the information she had on my
great-great-great-grandfather was wrong as we
had the right information on him and I was told at
that time that people
posted anything and it was checked out. So the
right information was put on
my great-great-great-grandfather and his line,
Thank God my Campbell line is well documented and
the Campbell I was looking
for was found at a later date as the was the right
name of his wife.
Roberta Campbell Hopper
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