Problem with entry shown
I entered details of my granddaughters in my family tree, one is 3 years old and one died shortly after birth but after being baptized. When the tree is displayed it shows both granddaughters with their own 'boxes and options to enter 'Spouses' . Why is this? This is most upsetting to see where my deceased granddaughter is concerned. That she should be shown with the option to add a spouse is heartbreaking and needs to be removed. How can I do this? I have tried removing them and starting again but it keeps on happening.
Answers
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@DerekHart2, please be aware that the Family Tree detail page is a standard form for everyone who is created in FamilySearch. Thus, each person has Add Spouse and Add Child even though the person did not live long enough to have a couple relationship or have children or chose not to do either in their lifetime.
That does not mean however that you cannot mark their detail page as having no couple relationship or not having any children. Please follow the link below on how to annotate the detail page regarding this topic
You will need to add an explanations of how you know the information is correct.
Best wishes in your serving your ancestors.
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Derek
Welcome to the "Community.FamilySearch" Forum.
I am just another 'lowly' User/Patron ...
I understand your, upset; angst; and, concern ...
And, I agree, such would be "Nice" to have.
You are not alone ...
There are many Users/Patrons who would like the same as yourself.
But ...
That Said ...
Short Answers:
(1) That is the "Design" of the "System".
(2) You CANNOT "Remove" such.
What you consider at a problem/issue, is a "Feature", by "Design", that currently, CANNOT be "Removed".
"Systems" can be COMPLEX.
To have the ability to "Remove" that "Feature", in the number of cases, where an individual/person DOES NOT have a Spouse, would require considerable "Programming"/"Coding", which in itself would be a "Unnecessary" drain on the LIMITED resources available to 'FamilySearch'.
"Family Tree" of 'FamilySearch', is a FREE website, created by the Church, that is available to ALL.
"Family Tree" of 'FamilySearch' is NOT a "Commercial" (ie. Paid/Subscription) website.
There are, MANY; Many; many, competing priorities in "Family Tree" (and, the OTHER Parts) of 'FamilySearch'.
There are very limited resources (ie. Funds) available to 'FamilySearch'.
As an aside ...
I have been working in "Family Tree" (and, its predecessors) of 'FamilySearch', for many Years.
I have many Family members/Relatives/Ancestors, that Died; as, very young Infants (eg. some, Second; or, Minutes, of Life); and, some, that were "Stillborn".
And, I STILL 'see' the Feature, to "Add" BOTH, a Spouse; and, Children, associated/available to them.
I have learned, not to be concerned about such.
Personally, I would prefer that 'FamilySearch', use its limited resources, to work on the MORE "Important" Features, of "Family Tree" (and, the OTHER Parts) of 'FamilySearch', rather than, what I would consider are the 'Bells and Whistles' - ie. nice to have; but, NOT critical to the functioning of the "System".
Over time, maybe, the ability to "Remove" that "Feature", of Spouses; and, Children, for those that DID NOT Marry; and/or, have Children, may eventuate; but, then again, it may not.
And ...
Most importantly, conversely ...
IF, we had the ability to "Remove" that "Feature", in the number of cases, where an individual/person DOES NOT have either, a Spouse; and/or, Children; THEN, we would also NEED the ability, to be able to RE-ADD, that "Feature", of being able to ADD, Spouses; and, Children; as, ...
We ALL make MISTAKES ...
NONE of us are PREFECT ...
I have had to CORRECT, quite a number of situations/circumstances, when it was indicated/recorded, that an individual/person either, DID NOT, have a Spouse; and/or, Children; WHEN, in fact, they did.
I have had to also CORRECT, situations/circumstances when it was indicated/recorded, that an individual/person either, Died; as, an Infant, when, in fact they did not.
And, I had the supporting EVIDENCE (ie. Records/Documentation) to prove such.
As I suggest, "Systems" can be COMPLEX; and, in fact, NEED to be COMPLEX.
Again ...
I understand your, upset; angst; and, concern ...
And, I agree, such would be "Nice" to have.
But, I would suggest that such is one of the 'Bells and Whistles', that is NOT critical to the functioning of the "System".
I know that this does not help; but, I hope that this gives you some perspective.
Brett
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Hi Brett,
Thanks for responding. It is not a matter of having a 'Nice to have' but of being factually correct as well as having a family tree I can show my son and daughter-in- law. I cannot show them this as it is - as it will devastate the mother in particular. I take on board your comments about this being a complex programme and a free service etc., etc., but free or not it surely needs to be correct , be able to be correctly amended and not to cause angst. I maybe did not explain the problem properly in the first place.
When I have been adding children to Parents in all other cases on my tree,(my own for example) the children appear in a drop down box beneath the parents. However after I added the children to My son and daughter in law, they do not appear in a drop down box beneath them at all, but instead appear in separate (individual) boxes to the left of their parents, each child with the option to 'Add Spouse. Of all the entries I have made, and there are many - going back to the 1600's, this is the only time this has occurred. In every other case the children appear in drop down boxes beneath the respective parents. I have obviously done something wrong somewhere but cannot seem to rectify it for some reason. I will soldier on and try and find the delete all info button.
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We are sorry for the angst this is causing you. I have a personal friend who died before marriage and yes it is sad when you see add a spouse on her details page. One way "not to see the field" is to collapse Family Members tab and not show the box unless clicked on. I know that is not what you would like to see happen. May we suggest that you add you post your suggestion in the ideas or in the feedback button at the end of the page.
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Hi DebDT,
Thank you for your response. What I am unable to comprehend (maybe it is me being 'thick') is why - for EVERY other 'generation' that I have entered, when the 'Tree' is viewed it shows the children in a drop down box beneath the parents but when I entered details for my son and granddaughters there was no drop down box for 'children', only 'descendant' boxes for each child to the left of the parents with an option to insert spouses. Obviously the grandchild who did not survive will never have the chance to have a spouse and that is what is so heart wrenching. I could never show my son and daughter-in-law the tree as it would upset them so much. I have managed to remove the box by deleting my deceased grandchild completely, that is, - I have had to say that she 'never existed' This does not solve the problem however as with no reference to her whatsoever it is like saying she was of no consequence - which is probably an even worse situation and equally as heart breaking if not more. I am baffled!! - when I entered myself and my siblings under my parents, no boxes opened up for them (my siblings) , no boxes - or options for their spouses. I wonder now whether is has come about because I started with my parents and went backwards, maybe I should have started with my son and gone backwards??
Regards Derek.
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I'm sorry to hear of your loss and the grief your son and daughter-in-law still feel. I hope that time heals their wounds and allows the sorrow of loss to be replaced the the poignancy of the memory of the few precious days they had.
I'm not entirely sure I know which version of viewing a family you are referring to but wonder if it is the landscape pedigree. If this is not it, either, please try to describe exactly where you are seeing the view that is causing your concern.
At this point in time, and I don't know if this will ever change, Family Tree uses a modification of a standard horizontal butterfly pedigree chart in which there is a root person, the central node, with ascending generations on the right and descending generations on the left. For the sake of readability, it has two generations of ancestors and one generation of descendants. There are arrows for expanding the ancestors further back in time and descendants forward in time. To be able to use this view to add more people to a family, the add child, add spouse, and add parent links are always available.
One modification that FamilySearch has made to increase the usefulness of the view, is to tuck in drop down menus to be able to view more spouses and more children than this type of chart usually shows.
Here is the chart for my wife's great-grandfather.
As you can see, whoever is in the root position, in this case Torkel Olai and Gunvor, have their children to the left and parents and grandparents to the right. It does not matter in what order you enter people or who you start with. All that matters is who is in the root position.
Here are the additional controls added by FamilySearch that this type of chart does not usually have:
As you can see in the full picture, five of this couple's ten children died very young. The youngest died the day he was born.
This brings me to two possible ways to handle your situation for your consideration.
One would be to work farther back in your family and have the first charts you share be ones for great- or great-great-grandparents who also lost children as infants. They will have. This will get your son and daughter-in-law used to how these children are displayed and it may be a source of comfort for them to know that their ancestors were well acquainted with grief and that they are sharing in one of the all too common sorrows of this life.
The other option, would be to set your FamilySearch account so that the surviving granddaughter is your default root person. You do this under your settings. Go under your account and look for this setting:
This would set the appearance to be like this for one of Torkel Olai and Gunvor's children:
This will still show your deceased granddaughter in the drop down box under her parents and it will allow your son and daughter-in-law to see both of their families at the same time.
The ability to mark a person as never having had a spouse or never having had a child was only added to Family Tree within the past couple of months. Maybe at some point in the future the programmers will make use of this flag to block the display of these Add Spouse and Add Child boxes on the pedigree view. You are not the only one to raise this concern. I have seen it requested multiple times in the predecessor 's of this community board although more commonly it was raised by Family Tree users who never married and were annoyed by seeing Add Spouse next to their own name every time they logged in.
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