Original ID# and temple ordinance dates

ChapmanSandraLee1

My 5th Great Grandparents have become lost on FamilySearch - too many merges. William Raymond (now LTP2-9GX) was baptized 14 May 1953 - I believe in the Salt Lake Temple. He was Sealed to his spouse 29 apr 1954 in SL. At that time she was listed as Mrs. Mary Raymond. She was baptized 22 Jan 1953. Her ID# is now G9WW-XTW. If you could locate the original ID#'s, that would be fantastic. I could then take care of any incorrect merges. His death date is 30 May 1809 in Green Farms, Westport, Fairfield, CT. Her's is 30 Aug 1782 in the same location. Thanks so much!

Wayland K Adams

Hi Sandra Welcome Family Search Community and for posting your question. Yeah, sometimes when there are lots of merges, things get muddled. Many times it is useful to look at the change history for one of the children to find the originally listed parents. For example, we chose child Eleazar Raymond and found his origin parents were records L4NH-CKJ for William Raymond and LC8Q-7Z3 for Mary Gorham. Record L4NH-CKJ for William Raymond has been deleted and showed Hannah Tupper as his wife. the record for Mary Gorham is still in family search. This may give you a lead on what to do to get through the muddle.

As stated, lots of times you can find missing records by looking at the change history for related people such as children or parents. Hope this helps. Let us know if we can be of further assistance.

ChapmanSandraLee1

The William Raymond L4NH-CKJ who died in Westport, Fairfield, CT on 30 May 1809 had original information with second wife, Mary Gorham. But the parents were listed as William Raymond and Deborah Balch, which was incorrect. This was back in 2012. This couple had a son named William Raymond (1811-1785) who married Hannah Tupper. William's first wife was Mary, last name unknown. They had children between 1748-1782. After her death, he married Mary Gorham Sherwood on 9 Feb 1783 and they had 3 children. Mary Gorham died 19 Aug 1804 in Westport. Most of the first Mary's children were listed as Mary Gorham's. I am unable to locate the ID# for the first Mary except for G7PX-FD2 that was created recently. Perhaps she has always been confused with Mary Gorham? That is my real question. It looks like no Temple work has been done for Mary G9WW-XTW now merged with G7PX-FD2. ID#L4NH-CKJ has been merged with the William Raymond LYQZ-QGP because of the parents being added to the wrong William Raymond. since the temple work has been completed for both of them, should I just leave the merges. It seems restoring everything would just cause a lot of confusion.

BarryJohnson

@ChapmanSandraLee1

It looks like you have been very diligent in your research, and I understand the frustration and difficulties you now face. Having said that, our responsibility is to prepare as accurate a record as possible, and although it might involve a lot of painstaking work, the result will be worthwhile.

I can see from the records that you have carefully added additional information to support changes that you have made, and I would suggest that with all changes, you continue to take the time to add as much supporting information as possible in order to prevent others making incorrect changes. Sometimes, changes are made just because a name seems to match, maybe even having the same or similar birthdates or locations, so when including additional information, take time to explain step by step, the reasoning and logic that helped you make your decision as to why this or that is correct.

This is an amazing project, and although it's slow and heavy going at times, the result will be worth it and you will find enormous satisfaction in helping produce a correct and accurate record, rather than accepting something that is less than perfect.