Someone marked my great-grandfather as deceased, but he is still living…
I have my own personal record on FamilySearch for my great-grandfather who is still living. However, someone created another record for him, marking him as deceased. I checked with my grandmother and she says my great-grandfather is still alive.
I have asked the person to mark the “deceased” record of my great-grandfather as living, or delete his record entirely (since I cannot do that, but the person who created his record can).
Since I can’t merge his “deceased” record with a living record, do I mark the deceased record as living, or can FamilySearch delete the record, or would I have to wait for that person to delete that record?
Best Answer
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Dear Kenner:
Yes, mark the other record "living," give the reason, and then merge the records. If the record does not allow you to do this, please contact us.
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Answers
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@PABulfinch, no, he will probably not need or be able to do any merging once the status change goes through: the other profile will most likely disappear into its creator's private space. (There are cases where it ends up in the private space of the person marking it as living, but I think that's for profiles that have had multiple contributors, and even then, it's not every time.)
The rest of the advice is correct, though: if contacting the user didn't work, then you can get FS staff's assistance by editing the death conclusion to "living" and following the prompts.
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That’s why I am afraid to change the record to living… which is why I came here.
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There's nothing to be afraid of! Disappearing into someone's private space is exactly how the Tree is designed: profiles for living people aren't public. If FS staff puts your great-grandfather's extra profile into the private space of the other user, then you're done: you don't need to worry about that user's version of him. If they put the profile in your private space, then you can either ignore it, or merge it with your version, whichever works for you. It's your private space, so nobody sees it besides you.
(In 2018, I marked a profile for Zoltán Kodály's second wife as still living, and for whatever reason, it ended up in my private space. I expect it'll still be there years from now; she's much younger than her husband and comes from a very long-lived family. Every now and then someone "helpfully" adds another version to the tree, but I have so far not ended up with any of those in my space.)
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Good advice, thanks!
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Kenner, you might review the sources & memories on the PID incorrectly marked Deceased and see if there is any new or useful information and record that information on your Living PID before you mark the incorrectly marked PID as Living.
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I have reviewed the sources of the "deceased" record, however, they mention obituary's of my great-grandfather's siblings, a Census he is on, and a marriage record for my great-grandparents. No records that indicate that this particular person, regardless of my relationship to them, is deceased.
I have already sent a request to mark the record as living and is currently being reviewed.
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@PABulfinch, how long does it normally take for FamilySearch to review cases when people mark people from deceased to living? Or can you handle the case from here?
Thanks,
Kenner Hartman
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I'm just a FS user like yourself, so I don't really know. It depends a lot on the work load and how many others are ahead of you. My guess from other's experiences is somewhere between a few days and a few weeks.
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Case has been resolved.
Thanks,
Kenner Hartman
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