Why do my record hints consists of records already attached to the listed person?
Many of my suggested record hints show records that have already been attached to the listed person. Why is that? Is it a mistake? Or is there some further action that needs to be taken that I am unaware of? From my understanding, the purpose of the record hint section is to match records with people. So why do I keep getting record hints where the record is already attached?
Thanks!
Best Answers
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I can think of two scenarios explaining what you're seeing: either you have a cousin or cousins who keep getting to the hints before you, or you're dealing with duplicate indexings of the same material.
The first scenario applies if you're talking about the record hints that are listed on your home page. That list is generated when you open the page, and as far as I know, it isn't updated unless you manually reload, so it's entirely possible for it to show you source hints that your industrious cousin three timezones ahead of you has just finished attaching.
The other scenario centers on what, exactly, constitutes "the same record". Consider a not-impossible situation where a single marriage event was recorded in four places (church register, bishop's transcript, civil register, county archive's copy of civil register), each of those records was microfilmed and subsequently digitized, one or more of the registers was independently digitized (scanned), and each of those "levels" of material was the subject of one or more indexing projects, including, perhaps, a new AI-driven index (probably of one of the straight-to-digital versions). In other words, that one event could have been entered into FS's database of index entries a dozen times -- or more, if the filming crew decided to re-film the page because it may have jiggled a bit the first time.
By FS's definitions, it's not the same source unless it has the same URL. If the marriage got filmed three times and subsequently indexed three times, those three index entries will all have different numbers in the Document Information section, and their URLs will be different. The hinting system will therefore consider them to be different sources, and attaching one will not remove the other two from the list of hints.
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In addition to @Julia Szent-Györgyi's two scenarios, some others come to mind:
- There might be duplicate tree persons that need to be merged. The record is attached to one John Doe, but a record hint is created for the duplicate John Doe. Careful examination of the person IDs (for the hinted person and the attached person) can help determine if this is the case. Merging the duplicate persons will fix this.
- A hinted record might already be attached to the person, but it is attached (incorrectly) to a different person on the record. If the person on the record is not attached to the correct person in the Tree, it is still a valid hint for the person. You may need to do some detaching and attaching to fix this.
- Sometimes a record hint will be suggested for a sibling on the record, even though the correct record person is already attached to the person in the Tree. In this case, just dismiss the hint using the "Not a Match" option.
- Some email campaigns seem at first glance to provide record hints, but they are really only pointing you to interesting records for your family. Those records may or may not be already attached. An example of this is the Military Records campaign: https://www.familysearch.org/campaign/militaryrecords
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Attaching via/from a descendancy chart view does exactly the same thing as attaching from a profile's Details page, so saying that you're "trying to attach to my descendancy tree" is not really meaningful.
Ah! I see what the problem is: many of those hints are already attached -- to different profiles than what's in that descendancy chart. I think you either have some duplicates to clean up, or several similarly-named people to sort out.
Take Sarah E. Lowry (L1MT-SZT). She has a hint for a Find A Grave memorial which is currently attached to Sara Ellen Lowery (9SQY-BHK); it was attached there this past August 16th.
Or take the three records referring to an 1837 Ohio marriage that are currently in the hints list for Rosannah Starn (274C-3DS). They were attached to Rosean Star (K26B-NHC) back in 2016.
The fact that the hinting system is suggesting these records for these profiles, despite them being attached already to other profiles, is an indication that those other profiles are significantly similar to "your" people. They may not actually be the same people, but the question needs to be investigated.
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To summarize, when you run into the situation displayed in the image Amy posted, you must consider all the possible situations for the person you are starting with, let's call him Person M, and the person the hint is attached to who we'll call Person Y:
1) The hint is correct for Person M and correct for Person Y. In other words, these are the same people and should be merged. Do not base this on them having the same name!
2) The hint is correct for Person M and incorrect for Person Y. The hint needs to be detached from Person Y and attached to Person M.
3) The hint in incorrect for Person M and correct for Person Y. The hint needs to be marked not-a-match for Person M and left where it is on Person Y.
3) the hint is incorrect for Person M and incorrect for Person Y. The hint needs to be marked not a match for Person M and detached from Person Y and marked as not-a-match for Person Y.
Remember: On a good day, hints are wrong 3% of the time.
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Answers
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A specific example of Julia's illustration - my GGM was born in Ireland in 1868. Her birth was registered once, but it has been indexed 4 times. Since none of those indexes have images on FS, I've also attached a source for the image on the irishgenealogy site. That makes 5 births for Catherine, so far. You can see I've attached them over the years, as more versions became available.
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yes I have the same issue.I came here for help. It’s annoying to receive those hints and not being able to dismiss them
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I like to do research by going to an ancestor about 5 generations back. I click on their family tree & then descendency, 4 generations. Then I look for the blue HINT boxes on the right & add these sources to that descendent. I keep moving down the list, clicking on the HINTs. Often I find previously unknown family members that I can create a record for & add to my family.
Here is my problem: Months later those blue HINT boxes are still there. I waste a lot of time going back to the same HINTs & discovering that these sources have already been attached. Why do those HINT boxes remain? Do I need to do something to make them disappear after I have attached them to my ancestor's record.
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Are you certain that they're the same exact hint? They could be other indexings of the same information, or slightly different entries from what you're remembering (the marriage of a different child, for example).
In FamilySearch's definitions, an indexed source is only the same if the URLs are the same. Even if it's indexed from the same page of the same register, if it came from a different image of that page, then it will have different metadata and a different URL, and will count as a different source in the hinting algorithm and elsewhere. Another common scenario is when an image set is re-indexed (usually by a different entity than the first time), and both indexes end up on FS. And then there are all of the ways that a single event could end up recorded in multiple places (bishop's transcripts, archive's copies, county extracts); if these other records are also indexed, with all of the already-mentioned duplication possibilities, you can end up with half a dozen (or more!) hints for what looks like exactly the same thing.
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Determining whether some aspect of the FamilySearch website is a bug or a feature nearly always requires a specific example.
If you could post an example of a descendency tree where you are seeing this problem of blue hint boxes still showing even when all hints have been attached, we could all take a look and try to determine what is going on.
Just have a tree open, copy the url, and paste it here like this: https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/descendancy/L85T-B64 (For the link to function best, be sure it is not the first item on a new line. Always have at least one character in front of it.)
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Thank you both for answering so quickly. Julie, no it is not a different site. It shows that I already attached it when reviewed. Gordon, I am trying to attach link to my descendency tree. If you click on the first 2 blue HINTs you will see what I mean. They were attached quite awhile ago.
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/descendancy/2H29-495
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Those hints are actually attached to another PID: K26B-NHC
You need to look at the other PID and see if they are the same person or if someone else attached the hint to your person to their person in error.
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If they are really the same Rosann with the same husband & children do I merge the 2 Rosannahs?
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Yes, if they are the same person, then merge the records.
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Mod note - three discussions on the same subject were merged here. Please read through to see if your question has already been answered. Thanks.
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