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disappearing ancestors

PaulaRock1
PaulaRock1 ✭
July 2, 2021 edited July 18, 2024 in Family Tree

What do I do when 400 years of ancestor research has been wiped from my tree. The one person that was added by someone wiped about 30 ancestors from my tree. I know the Henderson Tree was correct . It really has made me not want to continue if I'm wasting my time on research.

Tagged:
  • Restore information
  • Dissappearing Ancestors
  • Latest Changes
  • Undo changes
  • Restore Person
0

Best Answers

  • Paul W
    Paul W ✭✭✭✭✭
    July 2, 2021 edited July 2, 2021 Answer ✓

    @PaulaRock1

    Sometimes the damage is not as bad as it looks and a reversal of another user's damaging change(s) can put things right. If you would be willing to post here the ID of a relative / ancestor whose records have been so badly affected I'm fairly sure an experienced Family Tree user could help in putting things right.

    However, I can empathise with this kind of problem as, from time to time, I find myself spending up to two days undoing the damaging work of an inexperienced or irresponsible user.

    1
  • terrief
    terrief ✭✭
    July 4, 2021 Answer ✓

    I understant that it is hard when you se that someone in error has added, deleted or changed one of your ancestors and changed your tree. There is a way to fix it.

    Look at your present tree. Go back generations to the ancestor in your tree that is correct just before the wrong one. Open the person page for the incorrect relative and click on Latest Changes found on the far right of the page. Now look for a merge between that wrong surviving ancestor and your merged correct one.

    Write down the correct ID Ancestor for later.

    Then on the far left of that merged entry you can see the word "Merge" and a dropdown arrow. Click the blue down arrow. Now in that new window click on your correct ancestor's name and a box apears that says that person was deleted. Click on the lower right corner the word Person.

    The new window is the correct person you are related to. In the lower right corner of that box are the words "Restor Person" Click on that. Give the reason why you are restoring that person. Save. This action will seperate your tree from the wrong one and put everything back where it was. The screen may show the incorrect ancestor so just click on the word Tree in the upper left and you can see if your tree is really corrected. You have the ID of your correct ancestor and you can also use theFind feature to find them again and all their information.

    We hope this will help you fix your tree.

    Best wishes as you work.

    1
  • Wayland K Adams
    Wayland K Adams mod
    July 5, 2021 Answer ✓

    @PaulaRock1

    As others have indicated, this can be very frustrating but it usually looks a lot worse than it is. It is almost impossible to delete a person from Family Tree other than by a merge. That means there was either an incorrect merge completed or a relationship (parent child. or spouse) was changed or deleted. You can go the last person before the change and look at the latest changes to find what action caused the problem.

    1

Answers

  • cmillionaire
    cmillionaire ✭✭✭
    July 2, 2021

    Just fix the error and leave a note stating why the information is wrong.

    0
  • LGPreston
    LGPreston mod
    July 2, 2021

    @PaulaRock1

    It is very frustrating when this happens, but as Paul W said, it is usually not as bad as it looks. Those people are all still there, you just need to correct the information so the correct person is in place. This article will talk you through how to do this. It also explains how to contact the person who changed it if you want to explain to them why it was incorrect.

    https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-undo-an-incorrect-change-in-family-tree


    0
  • AnneLong1
    AnneLong1 ✭
    July 6, 2021

    Boy do I understand the frustration on this Topic I just spoke to a Helper ,I have had to unlink my Ancestry with FS, I have a couple ppl on my tree changing people that messes up lines with no poof.... we should be able to ..those who started the tree ,to be able to lock it down so others can't make changes without permission from us! I linked because adding my Ancestry to FS originally was very tedious and slow.. and I really enjoyed the Relative finder, finding all those ppl I was related to, but as soon as someone makes a change on my tree, that changes RF.. smh. I suggest we swat thse pl with a rolled up newspaper but that was frowned upon lol. so I am suggesting with Family Search they get something going and allow the original person who started tree more control... we should be able to either block them or make sure any changes go through original stater first. I have spent over 20 years on my genealogy and yes I am very upset that ti can be so easily changed without my consent.

    0
  • PaulaRock1
    PaulaRock1 ✭
    July 6, 2021

    I agree. One simple change took off over 2 dozen ancestors. I fixed it and hope it doesn't change again.

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  • Paul W
    Paul W ✭✭✭✭✭
    July 6, 2021 edited July 6, 2021

    @AnneLong1

    Unfortunately, you have misunderstood the purpose of Family Tree. None of us has ownership of the information we have inputted, or any part of this worldwide project. So, there is no my "my tree" concept - it's just the one tree with multiple branches that anyone (relative or not) is fully entitled to edit.

    I now how exasperating it can be when others come along and make ridiculous, unjustifiable changes. However, that is pain we just have to suffer if we want to be a part of this project. Otherwise, it's best the use programs that are not open-edit, in order to maintain full control over the content of our genealogies.

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  • PaulaRock1
    PaulaRock1 ✭
    September 28, 2021

    Nothing is helping me restore all the ancestors wiped out. I have been to the changes page and it is for one person, I want to restore my family ancestors from 1600 to 1200 which is quite a few. This happened before and there was one person on FS that told me how to do it and it restored the whole section in one click, and it was explained clearly. I'm not a computer geek. Someone will have an answer eventually. Thanks.

    0
  • Brett .
    Brett . ✭✭✭✭✭
    September 28, 2021

    All

    FYI

    RECENT related post:

    "Q and A" Section

    'Category' = FamilySearch Community

    Home > Help Center Categories > FamilySearch Community

    Paula Rock

    How do I restore 400 years of ancestors that were removed from my tree?

    https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/103557/paula-rock

    https://community.familysearch.org/en/discussion/103557/paula-rock

    Brett

    0
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