What to do with wives added in the name of their husbands?
I thought it best to raise this issue as a separate question, rather than add to the discussion at
Removing ? names — FamilySearch Community
although there is the similarity in both names representing an unknown individual.
I often come across a male individual to whom children have been attached whose baptism records do not name a mother (very common practice up the the 18th century, in England). The scenario is that a user has added a wife / mother for (say) a "William Brown" in the name of "Mrs William Brown". At the present time, FamilySearch advice is to not add a name for an unknown wife / mother, so should I just leave such a name in this form? I am tempted to delete these IDs, especially when there are (almost always) no sources attached and (perhaps) "Mrs William Brown" could even represent two individuals, assuming a first wife / mother of "William Brown" had died, say sometime after the births of the (listed) elder children, meaning the younger children might have been born to a second, unidentified wife.
I admit I have deleted ( or maybe not carried across in a source attachment) women shown with a "?" identity, although the article at
Why does a person's name have a question mark in Family Tree?
does suggest a good reason for not doing this. Should I adopt the same attitude with my example, or simply detach the existing relationships linked to such a profile?
Answers
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That entry of "Mrs. William Brown" is a long standing practice that goes back over a hundred years in FamilySearch. If you find such an entry there is likely underlying data not visible to you connecting that entry, the husband, and the children. Removing her from the family will mess that up so please don't delete her relationship. However, I would follow current recommendations and create any new profiles of that style.
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Thank you for providing that insight, Gordon. I now recall your making similar comments in the past regarding (not) deleting those "?" female individuals.
Obviously, those of us who do not have access to Church accounts (and who obviously are not LDS Church members) do not always think of the possible implications of some of our work in Family Tree - especially regarding the effect on ordinances, and perhaps the different attitudes in general of spousal relationships held between those in the Church and those who are not members.
In short, us "non-members" are far less likely to consider any deeper implications of removing females added with such names: i.e., that of the exact name of their husband (just with an added "Mrs" prefix), or indeed, those represented by a "?" symbol!
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Just noticed I left out a "not." Hope that doesn't confuse anyone. My last sentence should have been "However, I would follow current recommendations and not create any new profiles of that style."
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I just finished a post on my FB FamilySearch Fanatic blog related to this issue. It pertains mainly to living "Mrs." persons but can also be used to resolve deceased "Mrs." persons. This is how I try to find out the actual name of a "Mrs." person.
Written directions for resolving 'Mrs' from Obituaries. (not hard to do but a bit complicated)
1. Go to Person List.2. Type 'Mrs' in the Search Box.3. Select a "Mrs' person and open in a new tab.4. Click on Sources. Note that these records are usually Obituaries.5. Click 'Unfinished Attachments' for the Obituary. (a new tab will open).6. Click 'VIEW RECORD' ( a pane will open on the left). Look for 'in the Record of...' to find the name of the primary person.7. Use 'Change Person' to change the 'Person of Record' to the primary person.8. Review and attach all persons that you can.For women: click their name on the 'Tree Person' column to open a pane for that person. Scroll down to see Alt Names.If a Married Alt Name ISN'T found, use the edit button to add "--married surname" after her name then continue attaching.If a Married Alt Name IS found, and it is a match for the 'Mrs person' you will want to merge them.9. Click the ID of the 'Mrs person' to open the info pane, then R-Click the name of the person to open in a new tab. If the other person is deceased, change this person to deceased. Merge.Hope this is helpful.
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