Tuesday's Tip - FamilySearch - Batch Numbers are Back!

That old standby of genealogists everywhere, the batch numbers for controlled extraction records in the International Genealogical Index (IGI to its many fans) has returned. For those of us new to genealogy the batch numbers allowed you to

• Browse all records for a given batch - generally within a given parish
• Search all records within that batch for people with a common surname

Hugh Wallis provided us a very good explanation and a batch number search which can be found IGI Batch Numbers . There are batch numbers for other countries besides the United States and North America which you will find at the bottom of the page. Unfortunately Hugh Wallis has passed away and the list is now incomplete.

Start with the FamilySearch Advanced Search panel.

Pick a batch number from the list (or use one that you have noted down), enter it and Search. I've used a batch number of C113956 for this example - Baptisms and Christenings in Tibbermore, Perthshire, Scotland.

From this point you can refine your search to reduce the number of results. I've expanded the first person found, Isabella Aberdeen to show that she was born on 22 Nov 1841 and baptised on 11 Jan 1842 at Tibbermore, Perthshire, Scotland.

Happy Hunting!