Cleaning up a family group record
Some of the entries on my family group record have un-needed extra entries.
eg. Other parents: (unknown), Deceased (Biological) and Anna (MG89-DNQ) Deceased (Biological)
This is written in slightly bolder print and occurs on 3 of the 12 Children of rev George Sampson and Anna Nee Story. Since it isn't relevant, how can I get rid of it.
I note that the number for Anna is different on this entry than what it should be, so does it refer to a duplicate somewhere?
Best Answer
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To add to the comments already made, if two families have been merged incorrectly, it is worth looking at the records of the parents. On the Details page, look at the Latest Changes section on the right and click on Show All at the end of this section. Chances are that someone has merged the parents with other parents of similar names. If you find this, look at the deleted record and decide whether to undo the merge. For details on how to do this, see
I agree this can be a messy and time consuming task having done it myself on several occasions.
Try to avoid creating new records if possible.
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Answers
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Natalie
I am just another 'lowly' User/Patron ...
[ And, I happen to be a Member of the Church ... ]
'Yes', you are correct ...
"Cleaning Up" is required ...
That is what many of us, have to do ...
In regard to the "Ordinances" 'Tab', of an individual/person ...
[ And, the likes of both, "Missing", Parents; and, Spouses; or, OTHER problems/issues ... ]
The "... un-needed extra entries ..." come from 'wayward', incomplete, "Merges"/"Combines" ...
[ ie, NOT All members of the ("Related") Family were "Merged"/"Combined" ... ]
I just took a quick 'look' at, Rev George SAMPSON Esq ( LK9W-CVC ); and, Anna STORY ( LK9W-CPK ); and, Anna [ where there is NO 'Family Name' / 'Surname' recorded ] ( MG89-DNQ )
Plus ...
'Yes' ...
Anna [ where there is NO 'Family Name' / 'Surname' recorded ] ( MG89-DNQ ) does appear to be a "Duplicate" of Anna STORY ( LK9W-CPK ).
And, she DEFINTELY is the victim, of a 'wayward', incomplete, "Merge"/"Combine" ... just left 'Hanging' ...
IF, you have a 'look' at the "ChangeLog" for:
Anna [ where there is NO 'Family Name' / 'Surname' recorded ] ( MG89-DNQ )
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/changelog/MG89-DNQ
You will notice that her ORIGINAL, Spouse / Husband; and, Son, were:
▬ Spouse/Husband: George SAMPSON ( MG89-DFP )
.... [ ie. NOW "Deleted", who was "Merged/"Combined" with Rev George SAMPSON Esq ( LK9W-CVC ) ... ]
▬ Son: Charles Beverley SAMPSON ( MG89-DF9 )
So ...
That Said ...
Your Question: How can I get rid of it?
Short Answer: Go through ALL the Family; and, address/fix any 'wayward', incomplete, "Merges"/"Combines".
And, 'Yes', there is most likely a lot or work (ie. time and effort) involved.
We have all ... been there ... do that ... and, still do ...
Good Luck.
Just my thoughts.
Brett
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I have found another family group that needs cleaning up. This one is a nightmare and as far as I can ascertain, it is an error created by the use of two families combined as one, as the parents have coincidently the same names and live in the same area. A possibility is that the wrong father for my part of the tree may be a cousin. There were staggering 46 or 8 sources attached which were never checked. In this case The wrong parents were listed as wrong age, (for mine) wrong place of birth for my gt gt Aunt and place of birth and wrong occupation for her husband. Also it is the 1871 census as one of the sources and the husband I know of, died in 1860, his wife in 1863.
Now, the trouble is, that the spurious couple and children may well be legitimate as a family , just not mine. So, how do I separate the two families without destroying one or both. I know how to detach incorrect sources, thanks to previous help. These are the urls for both
Correct one
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:SGCK-HBM
Combined incorrect one
https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M7N8-GFW
Notice their occupations.
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I've come across a few of those nightmares.
The best solution that I have found, so far, is to determine which of those people belong in the family you are working on. Cut them out of that family, and leave the rest of it as intact as possible. You don't want to make the nightmare worse by making wrong corrections. You might have to create some new people, with the same names to get them separated cleanly.
Also make sure that the people you can fix have all the sources assigned to them. And that sources that belong with the family you know about are not assigned to anyone still in that mess.
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I do lineage research for a genealogy organization, and I typically "clean up" the family groups I am researching and add any new sources which aren't already there. One family, though, had an untold number of brothers and cousins who all named their sons after each other. The births were 1830 to 1860. In FamilySearch that family group is nothing more than a series of concentric circles. Almost every record is attached to the wrong parents. In order to find the one line I was trying to prove, I had to create a chain starting with 1900 era death certificates and census records and carefully go back in time based on ages. It was fairly straightforward to plow my way through the ONE line I was interested in, but for the first time ever I declined to clean up the mess that is currently in FamilySearch. I leave it as a labor of love for someone else.
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Where would I find the Family Search number/s for the "other" family (if they exist?) As near as I can tell, just one set of numbers, so I could as suggested create "new" numbers for the others. Looking like a big job to sort out someone else's mess
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Thanks Graham, That's helpful to know.
There didn't appear to be a merge, so I ended up separating the children that didn't belong and after trawling through the possible parents, and not finding a match, I did create two new parents and attached the children to them.
The process of transferring the sources that belonged with these new parents took a little longer, but help from these pages got me started and once I discovered the path to take, it became quite easy. I only have to check the "mother's" sources now to see if there are any residual ones to attach. Would have been a whole lot easier if someone researching had discovered the wrong mother's maiden name. Also to make sure the relative in my family is attached to his father.
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Speaking from experience, it can get fiddly. On one occasion, I changed the name of the mother temporarily to make it easier to identify her when sorting out the family links!
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