Fay and Michael Chisholm (mj.fd.chisholm@xtra.co.nz) of New Zealand, have painstakingly extracted all the Chisholm IGI records of Scotland, England, and Ireland.  These total over 6,500 in number and are constantly being added to as more microfiches become available.

It had been our intention to publish these extracted records on this Web site for all to use in their researches.  However due to IGI copyright restrictions, we were not allowed to do this on our site.

The Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints have now published the IGI records on their Web site and these may be accessed at http://www.familysearch.com/

However the search engine is still a bit 'cludgy', searching by names not area and with a limited number of results being available, so Fay and Michael are still available for further information.

They are happy to share their knowledge with others and provide details to other Chisholm researchers provided not too much is asked for at any one time.  (They do have full time jobs!).

It is suggested that the following details are given to facilitate the search.   Please include  a date or period for searching.

>    Surname ( Chisholm, Chism, Chisolm etc.)
>    Christian Name/s
>    Year or Period of Search (Essential)
>    Type of Event (plus partner's or parents' name if known)
>    Likely Geographical Area or Parish

i.e. :- Chisholme, Alexander, 1800 - 1820, Marriage to ?Janet, Fife

Examples of IGI Chisholm Records :-

For further information and requests for IGI data please contact Fay and Michael Chisholm at
mj.fd.chisholm@xtra.co.nz
or
Ivan.Marita.Chisholm@xtra.co.nz

The IGI or 'International Genealogical Index' is a computer compilation of various genealogical records originally created by the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (or Mormons) for the furtherance of their own religious ordinances.

These records originated from filmed copies of Parish and other records from countries of origin.  It was soon realised that these copies were a way to preserve these records against the vagaries of climate, vandalism, theft, fire and the effects of time.  The storage area is beneath a mountain in Utah, safe from the majority of natural and man-made calamities.

The following restrictions should be noted:-

• The "public" IGI records start in 1538 and extend to 1875.  There are therefore no living people in the indexes.
• Due to their religious beliefs only Baptisms and Marriages are regularly noted.  Deaths are noted when a child has died before being Christened.
• Like all Indexes, the IGI is prone to errors bought in by human transcription errors,  difficulty in reading the original text and unfamiliarity with likely names and places.
• In particular those records extractions made before 1970 are far more prone to error.  This is due to the then reliance on Mormon member's own personal searches.  Once public records were copied for central use by the Church, accuracy greatly improved.
• There are gaps in the original records so there will be gaps in the indexes.
• The IGI is not a COMPLETE index of all Parish records, more a large random collection but still very extensive and useful.
• FINALLY if in doubt you will need to inspect the original record.  The IGI is only a very good INDEX but it is not infallible.

Before the wide availability of the IGI, it was accepted wisdom that the civil registration certificates were the first port of call of researchers.  Now with most public libraries (in the UK) having complete copies of their own county's records it is a simple matter to start the ball rolling.  Looking for IGI records of other countries to one's own, requires the assistance of Latter-Day Saint's Family History Libraries and ordering services.  [See local phone books].