User idenity
On FS Family Tree I see changes from 2012 and before by "unknown (number)". I think that was me as the same user number shows up on a lot of my ancestors. I think that the data came from a GEDCOM I submitted in the early 1990s.
How do I verify if it is me ?
Then how do I merge the "unknown" account with my current account?
Answers
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Entries with a 2012 date were imported from a previous version of the Family Tree. It was not possible to import the usernames from the previous version. You will often see "FamilySearch" as the contributor with a 2012 date. That doesn't mean FamilySearch was the contributor, just that the entries came from the earlier platform.
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Continuing Áine's answer: regardless of the dates, it is not possible to combine user accounts. When people unintentionally create an extra user account, they cannot transfer those contributions to their "true" account, and the only way to clean it up is to delete one of the accounts.
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@dickhalsey1 I'm afraid you have a common but frequent misunderstanding about how FamilySearch Family Tree works. There is nothing to claim and nothing to merge with those profiles you have run across.
All profiles in FS Family Tree are the sole property FamilySearch. They do not belong to and are not contained in any user's account. This is because Family Tree is a single, wiki-style, universal tree that all users work in together. Changing that "unknown (number)" to some other user name, whether yours or someone else's does not give any type of ownership, priority, or claim to that user or any way to find it easier. It is simply a notice of the last user to have edited a certain piece of data in the profile.
If I run across one of these and make a change such as correcting NOV to be November in a birth date, then that birthday will immediately show my user name against it. That does not mean the profile has been assigned to me in some way.
This is true even for profiles that are marked as Living. These just have an additional data flag that sets which users can view them. Those Living profiles don't really "belong" to an account even though that is how we talk about them. They just can't be seen by users in general.
There are two types of those limited viewing tags. The one that associates a living profile with the user account that created them. This cannot be changed. And the one that associates a living profile with members of a Family Group. This can be changed when a group administrator kicks out a member of the group.
You do not need to worry that "unknown (number)" is associated with any Living profiles in Family Tree that you won't be able to see through your current account. GEDCOM submissions with those old user names would never have included any living people. So as you work to clean up Family Tree you will eventually gather up all the profiles in that old submission of yours and as you work to improve the profiles and bring them up to current standards "unknown (number)" will gradually be replaced on each by your user name.
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