I'd like to merge two women, but Family Search doesn't realize they are duplicates

Alison Craig

Hello, I'd like to merge two women who are both listed as wives of one man because the two women are actually the same woman. Because they have different last names, Family Search doesn't recognize them as duplicates.

I have clear evidence that they are the same person, but I haven't been able to merge them.

I'm assuming that I need to add the wife with the incorrect last name as an "Alternate Name" for the wife with the correct last name.

But here's the big question: How do I delete the incorrect wife's record, so someone else doesn't come along and add her again as another wife for the husband?

Thanks for your help!

Walkinlight1

When you are in details of one of the duplicates, You can go to tools on the right side of the detail page and click on merge by ID. Then add the ID of the duplicate there and then you can merge them together.

Colin Ramsbottom

Additionally, here is an article from the FamilySearch Help Centre that will explain in more detail how to merge using the ID numbers:

https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-merge-duplicates-in-family-tree-by-id

Hope this article suggested fully answers your question.

This issue often generates questions, and these may have been answered previously. Before posting a question, it may be helpful to you to check if this topic has been addressed previously - You can add keywords (in this case 'merge or merging' ) to the search bar, and other similarly themed questions will appear and may provide you with a quicker answer.

Hope this helps.

Paul W

@Alison Craig

Even once you merge the two IDs (following the advice provided) there is still the possibility another user will come along and "unmerge" them.

Try to add as much detail in your "reason statement" that might help prevent such an action. However, with Family Tree's open-edit format and some users being so convinced they are right, you could well have to face merging the IDs all over again.

If anyone does try to change any of your work (merges or otherwise), send them a polite, internal message explaining your reasoning. Hopefully, this will bring them around to seeing things the same way as you!

Carla Tobler

Alison,

Could you give us the ID #'s of the records you are referring to?

Alison Craig

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/379682#Comment_379682

Thank you, I was able to merge the two women already. After I listed Woman 2's name as an alternate name for Woman 1, "Possible Duplicates" showed up on the right, and the two women are now merged. 😊

Alison Craig

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/379804#Comment_379804

Thanks for the advice! I hope I've been really clear in my explanation of why the two women's names refer to the same person!

Alison Craig

https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/comment/379768#Comment_379768

Thank you. I did search for a Help article, but perhaps my search terms were too specific. That's likely the problem I has when I searched in the Co tommunity as well. Next time I'll try harder to find any previous answers to my questions.