New immigration rules signed into law last week by President Bush may result in the deportation of millions of American citizens.

The so-called Lackwitty-Winesack Border Protection Act was intended to grant amnesty to illegal aliens who have resided in the United States since 1990, and to their descendants. But typographical errors discovered in the text of the bill yesterday give the law a scope and severity not intended.

I have seen some indication that I am descended from this individual and therefore, by extension, from Charlemagne. The fact that Miss Bigod appears to have died several years before her alleged son was born does, however, raise more than the odd suspicion.

Having said that, it is worth bearing in mind that I will, by the time we get back as far as 40 generations, be descended from 1 099 511 627 776 [1] people. I’m quite sure that’s more people than have ever lived so, I would probably be more surprised to discover that I’m not descended from someone very famous.

[1] That’s just short of 1.1 (US) trillion. Which reminds me: I prefer the British billion which equals one million squared. The British trillion is one (obviously British) billion squared. Sadly, the US billion has rather killed off the British one. That’s another battle lost.

The vital column to look at is that headed “Batch”. If you know how to read the batch codes, you can tell whether the entries are from the controlled extraction program or from private submissions. Those codes beginning with C, K or J are taken from a christening (baptismal) register; those headed M or E are from a marriage register; and those headed P are from a printed copy or typed manuscript of a register. * NOTE that P does not mean “private” as many people seem to think. All-numerical codes and those beginning with A or F are church member submissions and should, therefore, be treated with some caution.

When reading the IGI on the FamilySearch website, you should always go to the “Source Call” link, click on it and you will be taken to another screen inside the Family History Library Catalogue. This will tell you the precise source of the entry, i.e. whether from a parish register or a “patron submission”. I have noted when going to the “Source Call” that many entries seem to have been filmed from the Bishop’s Transcripts rather than the registers (BTs were copies of the registers sent annually by the incumbent to the Bishop). This is because in the early days of the IGI when many parish registers were still in the hands of the incumbents, many clerics would not allow the Mormons to film their registers, so they had to go to the BTs which were usually in the County Record Office or Diocesan Record Office (which are often the same thing).