How do I correct the incorrect family surname on the 1950 Census?

RobinsonSonyaJohnson

I couldn't find my mother and half-siblings on the 1950 Census until my sister told me they had lived with our aunt.

I found my aunt on the 1950 census, and my mother was listed as daughter, while my grandmother was on the next page. My mother's last name should have been listed as "Schmitt" but was put in as "Schultz".

I can do a correction in Ancestry, but see no way to correct it for Family Search.

MinnWisRoots

@RobinsonSonyaJohnson

Right now, all you can edit is the name field. With a warning, that if there are multiple surnames in the same household, changing one may change them all (a known bug that the engineers are working on).

Open the census record and at the top see if the edit option is available. If so, Click Edit.

Click Edit again.

I strongly suggest enlarging the image and to find the yellow highlighted name BEFORE highlighting changes.

Enter your change(s) in the name field(s) and make any adjustements necessary to the highlight box(es).

Click Save.

If there are additional household members with the same surname it will ask you if you want to change their surnames as well. This may or may not work correctly. If it incorrectly changes names you do not want. You can go back and delete any edits you have made.

FamilySearch does plan to have more fields available to edit in the future. That timeframe is not currently known.

dontiknowyou

If the error is in the original historical record then I would leave it as is. I would in Family Tree attach the record where it belongs and perhaps add a Note about how other records establish that the recorded names are in error.

Although FamilySearch has enabled editing on some historical records, even then I make edits only to correct indexing errors.