Adding a sibling help, please
My great-great-grandfather immigrated from Prussia, Germany. I do not know his parents' names because I suspect his lname was changed at Ellis Island. I just found his sister's name and would like to add her to his record as a sibling. When I go into details for him, I can add a child for him, or his parents. But not his sibling. Is there no way to do this given that I don't know his parents names? Thanks.
Answers
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Anne
Welcome to the "Community.FamilySearch" Forum.
I am just another 'lowly' User/Patron ...
Just in passing ...
Short Answer: Unfortunately, you CANNOT "Add" a "Sibling", to an individual; UNLESS, there are Parents.
There MUST be, at least, ONE Parent, associated to an individual/person, to enable associating a "Sibling".
I know, that this certainly does not help/assist; but, I hope, that this may provide you with, some additional, insight; and, perspective.
Brett
ps: Just a thought ...
eg. Even, either, a Mother; or, Father, WITH the SAME, 'Family Name'/'Surname', just as a "Place Holder".
IF, (and, WHEN) you find, the ACTUAL "Details", of the particular Parent, you can go back later, to "Amend" the Record, for that Parent.
.
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As the article that Áine linked says: nobody at Ellis Island had the authority to change anyone's name.
You need to enter at least one parent in order to enter a sibling. If you don't know the names of the parents, then you can enter only the father, with the surname that you know for his children. Leave the given name field blank.
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There are only two types of relationships in Family Tree -- (1) Parent - Child and (2) individual and spouse. Thus there is no sibling relationship that would allow you to enter a sibling. They would only show as siblings if they are connected as children to the same parent. the complete tree is built on connections using the two relationships and when you attempt to enter any others such as cousins etc they need to correctly linked through these two relationships. Thus as Brett and Julia indicate somehow you need to create at least one common parent to show the two records as siblings.
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The first time I encountered this problem was when I found an early 18th century will that mentioned my ancestor as being the testator's brother. No clue was given as to their parents' identity, so I took the advice that has been proffered here: I added a (male) parent - just with the same surname as my ancestor and his brother. It is just possible they could have both been the illegitimate sons of a woman of that surname, but as this seems far less likely, I have assumed they shared their father's surname.
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Thanks for the info. They may not have had authorization, but changing names at Ellis Island most certainly happened. To say that it never did belies the human inability to always spell correctly, or to have misheard a name. Non-English speakers certainly aren't going to argue with someone when they're trying to gain admittance to the United States. Nonetheless, thank you for posting the information.
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No, @AnneWheeler1, officials did not change people's names, neither at Ellis Island, nor elsewhere. Read the article. Yes, immigrants often used a name that was at least slightly different from what they had used before immigration, but the changes -- whether major or minor -- were not externally imposed, and they happened after Ellis Island.
It is a highly ubiquitous myth, but it is false.
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Nobody has mentioned the obvious (obvious to me anyway). If incoming immigrants can't read English, they can't check. Then there are clerks trying to understand what a name is so they can write down what they heard. Finally, throw in the occasional clerk who is hard of hearing. (All of this applies to census enumerators, too by the way).
It's a wonder ANY name was spelled correctly!
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No, because as the article clearly states:
"The names recorded at Ellis Island were taken directly from the passenger manifests, which were made up at the port of departure."
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