how to fix old incorrect merge
back before 2012, two records were merged that should not have been. One was for Mary Parsons, who married William Hutchings. of Sherborne parish on 27 March 1774.
The other was for Mary Row, who married William Hutchings of Cricket St. Thomas parish on 19 May 1777. The result can be seen in the attached screen shot.
These are two different women, and they should not have been merged.
Mary Parsons should not be part of the family of John Roe and Alice Stark.
The merge cannot be undone at this point. How do we deal with this?
Second question, the problem was caused in part because I think that the evidence points to Mary Row and William Hutchings of Cricket St Thomas is the line that should be followed, but others in the family believe that the other marriage is the one to follow. How do we deal with this kind of disagreement?
Thanks for your help and patience.
Best Answer
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Certainly all that looks plausible in that your logic leaves the family in a specific area.
The Ilminster marriage between William Hutchings & Mary Parsons has William being of Sherborne parish, and Mary P of Ilminster. This conforms to the usual rule of thumb of marriage being in the bride's parish. Note that Sherborne and Ilminster appear to be about 20 miles apart so William has come a good distance - but this is directly quoting the parish register so it happened. Your point about Mary Hutchings bap 3 Nov 1775 at Sherborne to William & Mary suggests strongly that they have returned to William's home area - again, my opinion is that this is typical. Having said that, I didn't see any further sign of William & Mary in Sherborne parish so they might have wandered off later.
BUT it is entirely reasonable to expect the Cricket St Thomas couple to remain in the area and unreasonable to imagine them being replaced by the Sherborne couple.
Minor detail - Richard Hutchings is baptised 21 July 1782, not 27 July. The parish register says "21st" with the "st" being over the one, so possibly it's been read as "27" instead of "21st" at some point.
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Answers
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Hi Glen Yes, this can be a difficult problem but here are some suggestions.
Step 1 - You need to get a profile (person page) for each person. Many times, this is done by undoing a bad merge or restoring an otherwise deleted person. But you have already explored that option and it can't be done. So that leave creating a new person. I will put a link at the bottom on how to create a person. You also indicate there are 2 different William Hutchings. If you don't have separate profiles for William, you will need to create one.
Step 2 - Work to get each person as accurate as possible. This means vital information, relationships, sources and don't forget other information. For example, the profile of Mary Parsons has an alternate name of Mary Roe in other information. She also has alternate birth names of Mary Hutchings which should be married names. This is really important because family search considers those names as equivalent, and searches based on all the names. For example, Family Search is searching for sources for Mary Parsons and Mary Roe as the same person. You may have to move sources when you get the right people.
Step 3 - As to your question about disagreements. Sources are the key. Hopefully you find sources for both families and sort out what is correct. Just remember that as you get the information more accurate for each person, you may find additional sources.
Good luck and let us know of additional need for help.
Remember you can always click of the circle with the question mark at the upper right, go to help to find other instruction. Google search is also very useful in finding answer.
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I don't know which your line goes through but I'm slightly concerned about the lack of sources for some of the people working back to William Hutchings - they may be referenced in notes, I don't know, but it makes it difficult to see the wood for the trees.
I would suggest that an important tactic is to look at distances involved. For instance, John Hutchings, 21RG-4B1, has 3 children baptised at Preston Candover, Hampshire, with a marriage 2 June 1798 at Preston Candover. But, he's been given a baptism at Wayford, Somerset, in 1773 (no precise date).
Preston Candover and Wayford are some 90 miles apart according to Google maps so I'm not happy that those events (assuming their truth) are likely to be for the same person. Yes, people did move that far but it's the sort of thing that you need to prove. Then again, this chap might not be essential to your story.
You mention Sherborne and Cricket St Thomas - these are 20 miles apart, which is more plausible but still of concern to me.
So, I'd (a) make sure your foundations are solid in the generations below and (b) look at the mileages for the events to see if it's really plausible that all the events belong to the same family.
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While you cannot undo the merge, you can restore the profile that was merged away. That can require a LOT of work, especially if there have been multiple merges. I recently had to do that, and it took me a couple of days to make sure I had everything back where it should be.
As Adrian mentioned, distances between events are an important element in proving/refuting the records belong the same person.
In the case I worked on, 3 men of the same name had been merged into a single profile. The time was the early 1800s, with one man from Georgia, one from Illinois, and one from Indiana. All 3 men had wives and multiple children.
Good luck.
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For those interested, here is my attempt to explain why the family should be following William and Mary Hutchings from Cricket St. Thomas rather the William and Mary who got married in Ilminster:
The Case for William Hutchings and Mary Row being the parents of the Richard Hutchings that married Mary Bulford. This couple were married in Cricket St. Thomas.
Note: the other couple in question are William Hutchings and Mary Parsons who were married in Ilminster, Somerset, England
(Research notes)
Father of Richard Hutchings
William Hutchings and Mary are listed as the father and mother of Richard Hutchings on old family Group sheets. Richard was born on 26 Jul, 1782, Woolminstone, Somerset, England.
John Hutchings was the son of William Lawerence Hutchings and grandson of Richard Hutchings. He is the author of the family group sheet that I am starting with.
Richard Hutchings temple work was done in 1890, apparently by his son William Lawernce Hutchings. William Lawerence Hutchings would be a primary source.
William Hutchings and Mary are listed as parents of Richard Hutchings on Richard's christening record, in Wayford Parish, Somerset, Eng. On Jul 27, 1782.
Richard Hutchings Family group sheet produced by Uncle John Hutchings, says Richard's birthday is 26 Jul. 1782.
William Hutchings and Mary Row were married on 19 May 1777, Witnesses were John Wheadon and Mary Wheadon (Note: Our Richard Hutchings’s mother-in-law had a maiden name of Wheadon)
NOTE: Previous researchers assumed that our William Hutchings married Mary Parsons who were married in 1774. But the marriage record for that couple says “William Hutchings of Parish of Sherborne”. It is not likely that our William Hutchings came from Sherborn which is in a different county.
That marriage also took place in Ilminster.
On of the points against them being the correct couple is that in 1775 about a year after that marriage, there is an entry in the Ilminster Parish registers for William and Mary Hutchings having a daughter named Mary.
The Parsons name show up frequently in Sherborne Parish in this time period. I seldom saw it in Cricket St. Thomas and the parishes around Cricket St. Thomas.
Whereas William and Mary that married in Cricket St Thomas had a daughter named Mary, christened on 28 Sep 1777 in Wayford Parish. Wayford Parish is in close proximity to Cricket Thomas.
6. The following children of William Hutchings and Mary were christened in Wayford Parish:
Mary, 28 Sep 1777
William, 23 Jan 1780
Richard, 26 July 1782 (This is our Richard)
7. The William and Mary Row couple were married at Cricket-St. Thomas. There are other ties to Cricket St. Thomas.
Richard Hutchings and Mary (nee Bulford) moved to Cornwall. But when Mary died, she was buried in Cricket-St Thomas. She died 29 Jul 1835 and was buried 1 Aug 1835.
John Bulford and Mary Wheadon, Richard Hutchings in-laws, parents of Mary Bulford, were also married in Cricket St. Thomas
William Lawerence Hutchings, the son of Richard Hutchings and Mary Bulford, and Grandson of our William and Mary Hutchings, was christened in Cricket St. Thomas parish, Oct. 25, 1829, The place of abode at that time was listed as Purtington, Somerset, England. This is a town adjacent to Cricket St. Thomas.
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