Combine records for the same person

golsonvl · January 30, 2021

Now that my uncle has passed away, I see that there is another record for him in Family Search. How do I make these into one record?

Linda77925 · February 14, 2021

This is called a Merge; when there are possible duplicates. I will copy and paste some instructions found in FamilySearch:

How do I merge possible duplicates in Family Tree?

Article Id: 935, Published September 15, 2020A duplicate record occurs when Family Tree contains more than one record about a person. If Family Tree finds a possible duplicate, it puts a red exclamation point, along with the name and ID Number, in the person’s Research Helps.

You can review the possible duplicates and decide if they are about the same person.

If they are about the same person, follow the steps below to merge them.
If they are about different people, mark them as “not a match.”
If you are unsure, do not merge them. Instead, do one of the following:
- Cancel the merge to leave the duplicate available for other users to see and review.
- Mark the record as “not a match” if you do not want this duplicate easily viewed by other users.

Steps (website)

In Family Tree, display a person page.
If the Details section is not displayed, click Details.
In the Research Help section, click a Possible Duplicate message.
Click Review Merge. The merge screen opens in a new browser tab.
- Left side: This is the possible duplicate. It is deleted if you merge the records.
- Right side: This is the record you started from. It is saved if you merge the records.
Decide if the records are about the same person.
1. Compare the left and right sides for matching names, dates, places, and family members.
2. Read any warning messages on the screen.
3. If the record on the left is the most accurate, click Switch to keep it instead.
4. If the records are not about the same person, click Not a Match. If the records are about the same person, click Yes Continue. If you are not sure, click Cancel.
Decide what information to keep. All of the information from the left side is automatically transferred to the right side for you.
- To compare the contributor, contribution date, and reason statements of each piece of information, click the down arrow.
- To move information back to the right, click Undo. The information returns to the possible duplicate and will not be saved.
- To replace information on the right with information from the left, click Replace. Do this, for example, to save the life sketch or a reason statement with the one from the duplicate record.
- If the left side contains information that is not on the right side, and you want to save it, click Add.
Click Continue.
Finish the merge:
1. Review the surviving record.
2. If everything looks as it should, click Finish Merge. If something is incorrect, click Back, and make the corrections on the previous screen.
3. Enter a reason to explain why you merged these records.
4. Click Save.

Immediately after the merge and for a short time, an “undo” option is available. It lets you easily unmerge the two records.

Steps (mobile app)

In the Family Tree mobile app, display a person page.
In the top right corner, tap the three dots, and then tap Possible Duplicates.
A list of possible duplicates appears. Tap one of them.
Tap Review Merge.
Read the warning, and tap Continue Merge. The merge screen appears.
- Left side: This is the possible duplicate. It is deleted if you merge the records.
- Right side: This is the record you started from. It is saved if you merge the records.
Decide if the records are about the same person.
- Compare the left and right sides for matching names, dates, places, and family members.
- If the record on the left is the most accurate, click Switch to keep it instead.
Decide whether to keep any information from the person to be deleted.
1. To move information from the left to the right, click Replace.
2. To add information from the left to the right, click  Add.
- Tip: If the record on the left contains duplicate parents, spouses, or children, add them to the surviving record. You can merge these duplicates later.
When you finish, scroll down to the bottom of the page, and tap Continue Merge.
Enter a reason to explain why you merged these records.
Tap Merge.

I hope this isn't too much information ?

Let me know if you need further assistance.

Linda

Bungey · January 26, 2022

Thank you for the information, having just read an explanation by another that a specific family tree is an ongoing work and that it does not belong to any one person. And even people who have no link to the tree can make changes to it, etc, etc. It explains why misinformation gets into a tree.Not Maliciously done, but done thinking that the change would be a help. Now recently I came across a man that had been attached to the wrong parents. His actual father was a William 1793-1838 Henbest, Mother a Sophia 1795-1874 Knowlton. He the man had been attached to a William 1783-1832 Henbest of the same Parish, and his wife a Margaret 1783 Maury. My problem arises in that the man is named Alan Lemuel Henbest in his Baptismal records in Minstead, Hampshire England born there on the 3rd of August 1826, baptised there on the 13th of April 1828. But your organisation has him being Baptised in St Neots , Cornwall, England on the 13th of April 1828.. And his name has now changed to Alan Samuel Henbest. In both sets of records his parents in Minstead and St Neots is a William Henbest wife Sophia . Although in the Minstead Baptismal records her parents are given as John Knowlton and Ann Knowlton ( nee Bromfield ) The family appear to be of the Methodist persuasion. Which would seem to account as to why they are in the Non Conformists Baptismal Indexes 1588-1977. But it is patently obvious that despite the different forename this is one and the same man. And he was Born and Baptised in Minstead, Hampshire and not in St Neots in Cornwall. How may this be reconciled? I quote England and Wales Non Conformist Indexes 1588 to 1977 ( RG4-8 ) My interest in this matter is that I am related to both the Henbest Families and the Knowlton side of them. And one of my ancestors a John 1788-1845 Henbest and his younger brother Henry 1789-1860 Henbest were apparently Primitive Methodists And it seems that the father of Alan Lemuel 1826-1845 Henbest , William 1793-1838 Henbest might well have been of the same persuasion as his cousins John and Henry Henbest.

Regards Cliff Edwards

Julia Szent-Györgyi · January 26, 2022

@Bungey, saying "your organization has him..." shows a misunderstanding of how things on FamilySearch are structured and where they come from. Other than importing Family Tree entries from preceding systems into the current one, FamilySearch itself is not involved in creating profiles. The data in the Family Tree all ultimately comes from users just like you and me. Similarly, FamilySearch provides the mechanism and images for indexing projects, but the actual deciphering of records and data entry is done by volunteers like you and me.

In the indexed data that FamilySearch has, I cannot find an Alan Lemuel or Samuel Henbest born in Hampshire, in any year. He only shows up in Cornwall. Unfortunately, none of the indexes have the images available (or not to lowly non-LDS like me), so I can't check whether the location has been misindexed or misidentified. If you have access to the actual register -- which you imply that you have, in the Notes you've added to the Collaborate tab of the "Samuel" profile -- then you may be best placed to figure out how or why the indexes ended up in St. Neot if they're actually supposed to be in Minstead. (They're only like, what, 135 miles from each other, as the crow flies... :-/)

I believe that the profile for "Alan Samuel Henbest" is meant to be for the same person as "Alan Lemuel Henbest", and again, determining the correct conclusion involves looking at the actual historical record.

From what I can tell, both Lemuel and Samuel where created in a preceding system on FamilySearch based on indexes or extraction projects. I believe they're based on two different indexings of the same film (number 590674, affiliate identifier or reference RG-4 number 110). The indexers in both projects agreed on "Saint Neot" and the christening date of 13 Apr 1828, but one of them ("England Births and Christenings") read his name as Lemuel, while the other ("England and Wales Non-Conformist Record Indexes") read it as Samuel. (The "Non-Conformist" version may be an index of an index; without the images, I can't tell.)

Ubeestar · September 25, 2022

Someone put the wrong person in the box for my grandpa's father and i know it is not right, so how do i take him out and put the right one in and take the one and put it in one of the childrens fahter's name for that child