Missing "Edit" option hyperlink needed

LegacyUser

Harry Cantwell said: This "EDIT" option on files with images is fantastic. Thanks for the opportunity to help. However, I sometimes come across a file (with an image) that does not have the "edit" feature hyperlink. How can I inform you of a surname spelling correction?

LegacyUser

Tom Huber said: Welcome to the community support forum for FamilySearch. FamilySearch personnel read every discussion thread and may or may not respond as their time permits. We all share an active interest in using the resources of this site and as users, we have various levels of knowledge and experience and do our best to help each other with concerns, issues, and/or questions.

The edit capability for indexes is a relatively new feature and is incomplete. What we have is a starting point for a more comprehensive edit capability, so I consider it very early for the feature.

Before the early feature was released, the advice from FamilySearch personnel is to attach the source to one of your relatives and make the corrections in the source entry.

Now, there is a caveat -- surname spelling was not consistent until governments started mandating the spelling for one reason or another -- in the United States, it really got its start with the introduction of Social Security, although draft registration introduced some of that. Prior to 1900 the bulk of people living were not literate and did not have an established spelling for their names (both given and surnames).

Census enumerations are typically all over the place -- the enumerator often spelled the name the way he heard it and with those families who were illiterate, they didn't know if he spelled their name(s) correctly or not.