erroneous second spouse ? (USA)

Ed Hartshorn

Greetings,

  Recently, on June 27, 2022 a gedcom was imported into information on Ann Meredith(2MT9-KD1) creating a second spouse. The second spouse of Ann Meredith was named as James Hartshorn(GXVK-GMH) There are no sources or documentation other than the statement “gedcom data”.

  Many people, including myself, have meticulously documented sources over several years on the marriage of Ann Meredith and George Hartshorn.  (see the tree on FamilySearch of course) 

  It is my contention that the second spouse(James Hartshorn) is totally erroneous and should be removed. I have messaged the individual who created the second spouse but have not received any response. 

  Can your office kindly review this addition of a second spouse created on June 27, 2022 and determine the validity of it. Then, take appropriate action.  (Also, is this the appropriate venue?)

                                 Thanks, Ed Hartshorn(L8TY-1CY)

Ed Hartshorn

Thanks Matt for your comments and suggestions. I have deleted the relationship along with a note describing my action. I was not aware this was possible. I had thought any changes of that type had to be done by staff at FamilySearch. In any event, I have the opinion that the new spouse was added in error by someone through a search and then just added without investigation. Finally, I like the idea of "following" which I have begun on some key individuals. thanks again, Ed Hartshorn

Ed Hartshorn

Matt Young

Hi Ed!

I'm just a Family Tree user but I can say that this is a common occurence on my tree. I have found that people that do this sort of thing don't usually respond to messages (sometimes I don't think they understand what they did wrong even after it is explained to them). Here's what I do:

1) I "follow" all of the people on my tree that I've worked on. This allows me to get weekly notifications when someone changes one of these people. Mostly they are good changes, but once in a while they are wrong.

2) When possible, I check the change to see if I can find any evidence that it might be correct. Usually there are no sources and no supporting evidence on any search (FamilySearch, Ancestry, FindMyPast), so I suspect it's just a mistake.

3) I may or may not message the person. Sometimes I think it is useful, especially when someone incorrectly alters multiple people in a row.

4) I fix the problem. Sometimes you can go into the history on the record and hit "Restore" to change the field back. Other times, like in your case, it is best to just unlink the incorrect record from the person and write a nice note in the description field about why you think this link was wrong.

Julia Szent-Györgyi

@Ed Hartshorn, the Family Tree on FamilySearch is a communal, open-edit effort in which FS employees make almost no contributions. (Staff edits are confined to some very narrow areas, such as dead-to-living requests and read-only profiles.) Everything you see in the Tree was contributed by an FS user just like you, and you can edit nearly everything that you see.

Ed Hartshorn

Thanks julia for your comments, explanation and clarification. FamilySearch has been invaluable to me over the years and I'm sure will continue to be in the future.