Correct the birth year

System

This discussion was created from comments split from: Make Correction.

MaryMurray3

How do I correct an incorrect birth year?

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N Tychonievich

@MaryMurray3 Is this the record you are attaching? (My best guess based on your screen shot of the source linker): https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FZT1-JYC. Since the edit button is grayed out for you on this record set, you will not be able to correct the inaccurate birthdate. When you attach something that has an indexing error such as this, we suggest that you make note of the error in your "reason to attach".

https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/why-cant-i-fix-indexing-or-transcription-errors

Maile L

Hi @MaryMurray3 It looks like you were able to edit Mildred's (LWG4-BJH) vital info so that it contains the correct birth year. Please let us know if there is anything else you needed help with. Maile 🙂

D Michael Byler

When I was first entering the birth year for John Philip Smeltzer (1938-2022) #GJ6J-6NF, I typed 1928 in error. Now I have correctly entered his complete birth date under “details” as 31 Mar 1938. But the software has not corrected the erroneous date 1928 under the introductory information with his name & photo & Family Search ID. And there is apparently no means for me to make such a correction. What shall I do? Thanks.

Julia Szent-Györgyi

@D Michael Byler, when you corrected the date, you didn't update the associated standard.

Gordon Collett

By the way, the dates acting like this is not a programming error or flaw. It is a powerful feature of Family tree that is often not noticed or is misunderstood. This property of being able to edit the displayed date without updating the standard allows for accurate entry of genealogical quandaries.

Say you have a record that clearly states someone was born on February 29 in a non-leap year. You do not have to decide between entering February 28 or March 1, neither of which you can be sure is the right date. You can enter one of those dates then edit the date to put in what the record says (along with a good reason statement and source):

You sometimes need to use this technique to enter double dates and often need to use it for named dates. You don't need it near as often for dates as you do places, but it can come in very handy.

D Michael Byler

Thanks for the responses. I now corrected the standardized date & everything is fine.