Others have added incorrect info, sources and people to my family tree.
how can I edit info and remove people from my tree that shouldn’t be there? I had a basic tree which I hadn’t realised was public and it’s connected me to 9 people in the US who have edited my grandfather's details and included photos and it’s not the same person! My Grandfathers ancestors have even been edited to match this person from the US. How do I put the information back to my family info without editing theirs?
Best Answers
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Hi Lisa
It's sometimes difficult to come to terms with the fact that this is not a personal tree, but a family tree, and others have the opportunity to amend and edit as they see fit - sometimes it's a great bonus when it links families together, and other times it can cause confusion.
Can I suggest that when you add information to the tree, you always include details about the source where you got the information, and also add any notes that you think might be helpful to others searching the same name. The more detail you add, the less likely that it will be altered, as it will be apparent that you have searched carefully.
There are some great Knowledge Articles in the Help section (The question mark in a circle at the top right of your screen), which can be searched using key words to help with your work. To get you started, I've attached a couple of URLs at the bottom of this article that relate to editing. You can either click on them or copy and paste them into your browser. You may also find other links inside them which will be useful.
Let me know if you need further help.
Kind regards,
Barry Johnson
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The simple solution is to detach your parent from this grandfather, and make a new profile for your own grandfather.
Your basic tree was just names, no details and no sources? Such trees will tend to be turned by other contributors into the profile of some other person. Absent many details, the Family Tree Hints system will give bad hints.
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Answers
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Thank you both, I’ve managed to do it with your help! @BarryJohnson @DonThurman43
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Just for the record I am not @DonThurman43.
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I publicized my family tree at the request of several individuals. I did it to hopefully gain knowledge and information that I was missing. Unfortunately, some individuals have removed information that I had placed (obituaries / life sketches) and completely removed family members from what was on my tree. The information I had placed was from family records that were meticulously kept by ancestors. I returned these records thinking that I had done my part by posting them. Now they are gone (someone removed) and I will have to request them again from my ancestors. My father's one and only aunt's children have all been removed and I have no way of getting that information again. This is very, very frustrating. If you do not have documents, etc. to confirm what you are posting is true to the best of your knowledge, PLEASE do not change it. I sincerely apologize if I have hurt anyone's feelings, but enough is enough. My ancestors worked very hard to preserve the information I have presented to have an individual replace with information that in no way fits. Thank you for allowing me to vent.
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Someone deleted about 5 generations of my family, the oldest generations, apparently because I merged a duplicate person with zero sources and zero notes/comments with the well established person on my tree. I see that the code of conduct covers bad language, but what is FamilySearch doing about conduct like this? I wrote a note to the "contact us" folks about this a week ago, no reply so far. I am seriously considering leaving FamilySearch.
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My name is Guy Rocca. I am very frustrated because some one changed my great Grandmother and I can't make a correction.
Ida Powers L8Q1-LJK is not my great grandmother, Estelle M Laddison M5QS-359 is.
Estelle M Laddison died 25 January 1895 as a result of complications from the birth of my grandmother Sarah Estella Robinson
L8Q1-LV8 12 January 1895.
I don't know who is making this change but it also showed up on Ancestry.com.
My grandmother told me about the death of her mother.
Please make a correction or tell me how to do it.
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Estelle M Laddison M5QS-3S9 (note S, not 5 as the next-to-last character) is still attached to Sarah Estella Robinson as a mother. It looks like Ida was her father's second wife, i.e. Sarah's stepmother. You can change the relationship type to "step" by going to Sarah's details page, scrolling down to the Family Members section, and clicking the pencil (edit) button next to Sarah's name where she appears under Joshua and Ida.
On the resulting popup, click "add relationship type" in the Mother section and then choose Step from the drop-down.
If you determine that Ida is not in fact Sarah's stepmother, then you can remove the relationship. In the Edit Parents popup, click "remove or replace" in the Child section. On the next popup, click the "I have reviewed" box and click "remove parents". On the next popup, write a reason for the change and click Remove. This will detach Sarah from Ida, but Joshua will still have Ida as another wife.
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A person keeps using my well researched info as her own, without any proof that her person Mary Gallagher, is even a Gallagher, and My Mary Gallagher never left the UK.
I started researching her line and found that her ancestor name was Mary Jane Marks. Itison the daughters death certificate. She has caused problems on FamilySearch, ancestry.com, and find a grave. I have gotten multiple messaging claiming she is right, because she's a member of the church. I have the paper trail of my research. I know nothing will be done, but putting false info up without proofs unforgivable. This has been going on for years. Please do something about her.
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It is a shame that the code of conduct for Family Tree is far more relaxed than on this platform. In cases where there are individuals who can be shown to have caused such damage, I would like to see evidence that FamilySearch is willing to take action to sanction them. No, we are not talking about simple differences of opinion here, but of users that are determined to record their ideas concerning identity and relationships that they constantly replace correctly recorded detail with their own, unproven, evidence-free data and will not engage in any meaningful collaboration.
Most of us probably have regular experience of incorrect changes to our relatives' records, but it is with the "known" and consistent troublemakers that FamilySearch needs to devote resources to stop the damage they are creating.
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I will do my best to kindly address the unfortunate encounters I have had with FS/ Temple genealogical workers. I am not sure if they are paid employees of the Church or volunteers, or how much professional experience they have. Of course, Family Tree as you know is only one of several entities now available. This information can be checked against many sources, and I usually try to do that.
The suggestion I have is for your workers to first check to see if a family has living relatives/members, and then if possible to interview or consult with those living members before making changes to family information entered by those persons. In both cases where I have encountered your argumentative researchers, they would appear to be less informed than the three most senior living adults in our family, all of whom have genealogical experience, as well as personal recollections. But they are––at least initially––determined that the limited research they have undertaken is correct, without reaching out to living family.
All of our early immigrant ancestors and family lines have been in this country since before the revolution. We would welcome research assistance especially for 17th and 18th Century questions. But to have your researchers try to change more recent information we have already confirmed regarding persons or relatives we all personally knew in the 20th century, seems more than redundant. It makes one feel you consider yourselves proprietors of our family data––the things we actually lived and know.
This can seem insulting at times. For example, to change someone's name based upon one document your researcher turned up...In all other cases this is not consistent. Three close living direct-line relatives do not agree with your change. Should this not be noted as a possible alternative or nickname? You must be aware even census notations are often misspelled.
Of course, perhaps you are training these persons, and recent data is much more available, but in some cases, it too can be misread. Here, you have access to living direct line relations you might ask who could assist your research, or move on to other profiles that actually need changes.
Sincerely
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Employees of FamilySearch build the platform and I think many do use the platform they develop. FS/"Temple genealogical workers" is vague terminology - and from my perspective as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (FamilySearch originating institution/sponsor) - you could be referring to all members. Yes - we as church membership have varying training/proficiency with family history/genealogy as do any other group of people.
As you mention the Family Tree does not currently discriminate/value one contributors additions over another - something I question as well - specifically as you point out - for nearer generations with living descendants. The open-edit platform/structure welcomes all contributions and 'hopes' collaboration (discussion amongst contributors) will arrive at a truthful Tree. The difficulties with this is that the barrier for bad contributions to Tree is as open as good - the process basically says "are you sure that's right? Ok, click Ok."
So the problems with an incorrect Tree can be traced to individual contributions - usually not collaborative groups (and to my knowledge certainly not paid). FamilySearch tries to impede bad contributions and also tracks profile changes with a logging mechanism - to indicate when the changes occurred and by which user account. Depending on whether the logged changes involve successive layers (more than one) - the change may be Restored to a prior state of better profile accuracy/documentation. If there are successive changes - this makes recovery more difficult.
The change you reference in your post - a change in profile Name - is one of the simplest changes to recover - just change the name back and as Reason include something similar to "we three living descendants - do not agree with this change from [unknown relation] - as documented in [tag your proofs/documentation]." Just imagine if instead of a simple Name change - your relation was attached to a similarly named person AND several generations of relations (a completely different person, family and resultant profile/tree). Recovery from such can become difficult to sort in the current structure - without easy side-by-side comparison to prior state being available within the platform (currently).
As you mention valuing near living descendants information rather than distant cousin/non-perceivably related information should be taken into account - as proximity of relation, Memories, and family lore may contain details others have no access to (as they are not family inheritors of such knowledge/materials).
I am working on presenting some Ideas to FamilySearch to see if platform changes can be effected to better reflect the inherited knowledge/materials of near family generations and hopefully further impede more distant relations from introducing Tree problems (if the information already was/is accurate there is no need to allow further change). Others here in Community disagree and prefer to allow any change and for collaborative discussion to resolve these 'bad changes' over time. But disregarding/devaluing the collaborative discussion/knowledge of Family Groups/near descendants which has already occurred 'generationally' - as you also stated - to me also simply does not make sense.
Hopefully enough people will think similarly to effect change in the platform - while maintaining the positive aspects of wiki open-edit structure. I believe we are the 'silent majority' - we need to become more vocal here in Community if we can have any expectations to effecting platform change.
Anyway - regardless - your participation and collaborative contributions are welcome in Family Tree!
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@PBayleaf, you appear to be operating under a misapprehension: FamilySearch does not employ anyone (paid or volunteer) to make edits to the Family Tree. Those people making changes are other members of the public, exactly like you and me.
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Julia, sorry, but I feel these persons are not "just like you & me." Why do members of the public wish to make changes to family information entered by relatives? It is not that we are infalible, but Family Tree & the Church is very defensive about these activities, as well they should be...If they are not trained or employed by the Church's app, who are they? And why pick out our family tree instead of their own to make changes for? This is what I have been trying to understand. I think I have perhaps been in error making my tree public. They want to "baptise" our relatives but mine are for the most part Christians already baptized, and not in the Mormon church, which was a very late development in the US. Are you, with your Slavic surname, living in this country a long time? [All kinds of knowledge are useful.]
My living relatives who are experienced in genealogical research are in this case, my first cousins, highly educated, not just like anyone. But from experience, my cousins do keep their work private or off the web. They have cautioned me about FS & errors they proliferate. If more persons have recently been encouraged by their religious beliefs to do this, this is a problem. Why do folks wish to muck about among recently-deceased when family members are still living? Do they not have research of their own to undertake or enough to do?? And why argue with family members about their own knowledge?
One of the persons who made changes lives in California, but mentioned that what qualified her to make changes is that some of her relatives had lived in an adjacent Texas County. But she did not know my own grandparents or their siblings, who were well-known pioneer families from that area for more than four generations...
There can be 'magical thinking' at play in such perceived connections. This has sparked a good conversation, and I am grateful for it. I do have the family bible upstairs which I am going to eventually reference for names to double-check. WikiTree seems to have good systems for changes to profiles, and in all cases more than one person reviews primary changes and leaves a comment. And it would appear that Family Tree has adopted some of the 'badges,' etc. used by WikiTree.
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(@PBayleaf, Hungarian is not Slavic, and I was born in the same country where I live.)
You asked: "Why do members of the public wish to make changes to family information entered by relatives?"
Most often, because they believe those profiles to be their relatives. And there is no way for them to tell whether the previous contributors were relatives of the person described or not -- a single side-step (related by marriage, not directly) or error/break in the chain is enough for "show my relationship" with a user to claim there is none. For example, nobody looking at my contributions to my spouse's relatives can tell that I am related (by marriage).
I have not found any numbers, but I believe the (vast) majority of FamilySearch's users are, like me, not LDS. Those other contributors really are exactly like you and me, and exactly like users of WikiTree and Geni, who are exactly like all the users of the individual-tree sites (such as Ancestry and MyHeritage). We all make mistakes, and those mistakes may get propagated. The difference on FS compared to those other sites is that here, you can fix it freely, with no waiting for a curator or profile manager, or any other form of artificial impedance.
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I would like to send a strongly worded, but not exceptionally rude, message to the person who, for reasons known only to them, added posthumous and extra children to my 2x great grandparents - in the wrong country!
Is there a place that someone will review my message before I send it to ensure it doesn't violate the Code? I have made more than 92,000 contributions in a variety of families since I first began working in FamilySearch in 2018, so I feel that makes me an experienced and rather thorough user who has, of course, made mistakes that I corrected as soon as they were pointed out.
I certainly don't mind helping newbies, but I am SO frustrated by this attack on my family by somebody who clearly didn't read the Alerts or the bios I had written for the people they changed. Why would somebody who died in Scotland have children in Nebraska 6 years later?!?
I promise that I don't swear or call anybody names in my message, but to be fair, it's not warm and fuzzy, either. Is there somebody who reviews messages in advance to determine if they violate the Code?
Please let me know soon because I want this person to stop doing things I have to repeatedly undo. Thanks!
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I have noticed that a few people who I had in my tree are no longer there and I have not deleted them?!?!?!
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If you Contributed to those profiles you should find them in [Your] Contributions (subject to limitations of the maximum number of Contributions displayed)
If you did not contribute those profiles and had followed them you would find them in Following (subject to 4000 profile following limit)
If you did not contribute to nor follow those profiles - you will need to Find them(or their parents) - then check the Latest Changes to see why they are no longer attached where you would expect or previously saw them - or why child relationships were edited/removed.
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I visited my family search and again found that my grandmothers name has been changed from Edna Carolyn Foster to Julia Marie Foster. She has never been Julia, I understand that public records seem to indicate that but what's in public records don't often reflect reality. This is the problem with people that are not family members or in this case not even DNA related are allowed to take completely over my files. What was posted compared to facts that I know indicates things that are very painful to me (the last living member of the William Kline Family), I would like the entries that indicate my grandmothers name as edna marie julia foster or Julia foster at all be taken completely out of my family history files. For all intents and purposes my grandmother (Edna Carolyn Foster) was my Father's mother. I don't know who Julia was but there are things that happened after his birth that indicate possibilities of things very painful and too painful to explain here and frankly none of anyone's business but mine. I want all references to my grandmother's name as Julia taken out of my families history and replaced with her correct name, Edna Carolyn Foster. The person into my family's history knows nothing about us and is not interest in truth and from day one has continued to not recognize me as the Living Family Member with the answers and has refused to Collaborate with me, and I thought that was the whole Idea. I want to be able to go into my files and correct all entries that are not true without interference with other people I want to be treated respectfully by others for who I am . I have repeatedly tried to change wrong entries to right ones but they always change them back., now I would almost have start all over again and I'm not sure I have the energy. I believe that these people are not DNA related to my father but I know at least one of them is actually related to my grandfather Orange John Deal. I'm not even sure at this point what you can do except perhaps block them out. at any rate I would
have to start all over.
Sincerely Barbara Carolyn kline, William Foster Kline's Living Daughter.
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Someone insertedmy granfather where my father should be. Stated differently my father is not in the family search family tree. As a result my grandfather and my mother are shown as married which of course is not accurate. How do i correct this?
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This might help.
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@krajewskit The FamilySearch Family Tree is fully open-edit. Said another way, if another contributor made an error in your family, you can correct it.
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How can you prevent people (11th cousins) from making erroneous changes to your family tree? My family history is well documented, but people are making serious changes that are NOT substaniated. There is too much of this happening now.
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Whether 11th cousins or those with no discernible relationship whatsoever, you can't actually stop anyone from editing your work, however carefully researched and with evidence to back-up your inputs. Family Tree has an open-edit format, so you can only try to prevent others making changes by the way you present your data - with reason statements against specific events and other notes (in the Collaboration section, etc.)
Send a polite message (via the internal messaging service) to anyone who makes an unwarranted change, querying their reason for doing so. Unfortunately, you might not receive a reply, or the other user might be insistent they are the one in the right!
Many of us share your exasperation - especially when it can take many hours (even days) to get things back to how they were. But most of us knew the nature of Family Tree when we decided to participate in the project and are willing to put up with the negative side in exchange for the benefits in working with a collaborative tree. I would never have got nearly as far as I have in tracing my ancestry without the help of FamilySearch and its individual patrons.
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I believe Alert Box in Notes is there to help with this issue. It's designed to appeal to conscientious genealogists (it can't prevent a truly determined meddler). But I'd certainly try that first to safeguard the profile.
I agree that messaging the 11th cousin is also worthwhile.
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I don't know how to fix it.
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Tell us about the problem. Can you give us an ID number(s) of the folks that need fixing?
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Hi guys, I have people that was added onto my tree and when I went to look at them again, someone has removed them from my tree. As if they do not want to be known to be family. I feel kinda hurt about it but the sources prove this is my family. So why?
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The Family History Guide has learning modules on how to better use FamilySearch.
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