My family tree
My family tree was put together through arduous research for some 25 years by my great grandfather. I m seeing names being deleted and names being changed. I feel as though a swarm of locusts has invaded my family history and is destroying it. How can this be stopped?
Answers
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This is an open edit tree, and it cannot be stopped, However, it can be curbed. What you must do is your own research and add as many sources to each person as possible. For all sources which are multigenerational, such as death certificates/records, birth certificates/records, marriage records that name parents, census records, etc, make sure the sources are attached to ALL generations listed in the source, thus linking your line in the tree as a unit.
If you copied your great grandfather's work without any sourcing, then yes, people will consider that the same as a guess and not a proven fact. Also be aware of and open to the possibility that your great grandfather may have made a mistake or two. He did not have access to all the online records we do and may not have known all the facts.
Delete, fix, eliminate and however necessary put right all the mistakes that have been made, but do it through sourcing.
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There are definitely things you can do to help safeguard your family profiles from being changed. One thing is what @Gail Swihart Watson suggested, adding Sources, including books for those where records are scarce. If you would like me to look at a couple of profiles and make suggestions just let me know. I can make changes or just report, as you wish.
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Without specific examples, it's hard to know how to comment on your concern. Are these locusts destroying family history or professional arborists turning family folklore into real history?
For example, what time period is being changed? Fully sourced information from the mid-1900s? Then likely you have locusts that need to be taught the proper use of Family Tree and you need to get out the insecticide (aka source materials) and fully document and source your relatives. Or does this involve speculative information from the 1200s and earlier? Then you are dealing with dozens of people doing the same arduous research and coming up with different results and you need to take the same route as university level historical researchers: debate, research, debate, research, and debate some more knowing that no conclusion may ever be solid.
Then there are names. How are they being changed? If Wilhelmina Smith is being turned into Susanna Jones, then locust are confusing your family with their family and both families need to be repaired and thoroughly sourced. If Anna Jorgensen (required standard two generations ago for any Nordic woman named Anna, Anne, Ana, or Ane, or any other variant and using a required standard last name for what American typewriters could handle and for the purpose of alphabetizing records) is being turned in to Anne Margrethe Jørgensdatter Dale because that is what her name really was, then you should be glad someone is improving on the old research.
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It seems other people are adding incorrect information to my tree which is extremely frustrating. How can I make my tree “read only” I’m tired of correcting others bad information. Please advise and thank you
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The FamilySearch tree is an open-edit, shared tree. Although you cannot make it 'read only', there are things you can do to make your part of the tree less 'changeable'. if you share a PID (ID number) I can take a look and make some recommendations.
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If you want a read-only tree, many other platforms offer that option. The FamilySearch Family Tree is fully collaborative and open-edit. There is no "my tree" or "your tree" as it is a single tree designed to have one profile for each person who has ever lived.
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@CynthiaMarchand MacKenzie, as Áine and Tiffany said, you can make your tree "read-only" by using a different platform. On FamilySearch's Family Tree, you do not and cannot have an individual tree. None of us do or can.
The reasons vary for making incorrect changes in the collaborative Tree, but most often, such errors trace to cases of mistaken identity: the other user mistook your relatives for his. You can prevent some of these mistakes by using all of FamilySearch's documentation and collaboration tools: attach every source you used, tag every conclusion to the sources it comes from, explain your reasoning in every case where the source and conclusion aren't a perfect and self-explanatory match, and write down all of the negative information that you've turned up. (For example, add a collaboration note: "The foundry-worker on Spruce Street in 1885 is a different Michael Jones; this is Michael E Jones, who was also a foundryman, but lived on Market Street in 1885.")
Granted, sometimes people forge ahead despite all documentation and facts; sometimes, it's because they're syncing from a platform that isn't showing them the documentation, and sometimes, it's because people don't read, people don't read, and people don't read. We all have to make our own choices about such users of the collaborative tree. I find that the collaborative environment is worth the occasional headache, but your mileage may very well vary.
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why are people who are not even related allowed to add people to my tree if I don’t even know them and info is wrong. Is there anything bi can do to remove wrong info and keep people off my tree.
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Mod note: Several discussions asking the same question were merged here. Please read through the discussion as your question has likely been answered in an earlier comment.
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@Queen Anne boleyn This is a collaborative tree, none of it belongs to any of us. See the comment just above your question in this newly merged thread for clarity on this.
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