Merging wrong races
Answers
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Hi
I read another tread on this subject of incorrect race merging. It was focused on search engines which is not what I am suggesting here. The searching should have been done before merging. That is for those that do it correctly in a perfect world.
I suggest when a source is added to a record that the race if indexed be added into the Vitals section of the record where all can see it. When I add a source it often shows race in source linker to be added. I know the system keeps track of it. Stores the info somewhere. Where that is I do not see it easy. If I do not easily know where it is who spends many hours on FS, you can not blame a minor user to miss it. I found it. In "Other Information" at the bottom. Being at the top would be a improvement. Most of the time I close this section. It takes up to much of my screen when open. Plus its a reflection of sources added that I assume is correct, until a source shows me otherwise. Like different parent names in a death source.
The Vitals section has plenty of room to be there if detailed view switch was moved up in same line as Vitals??
I have experienced several times that wrong records of same names where added to the wrong records because the race was missed. I have done it myself. Got called out on it by a black person for adding white raced sources into her family line. Caused me to pay more attention after that.
Most of the time it is a simple task removing the incorrect source. Fixing some areas.
Today however is another matter. Records of two couples of similar names, and records of different names was all merged together. Not only do I have to remove all of the incorrect name sources. Now I have to deal with incorrect merges of white and black people. Its hard with same race. Now its harder.
I feel most of this could have been avoided if the race could show up better, and be part of the merge process. EVEN if FS does not make it more visible in the record, the system could flag us that race is different. Even adding a census source of a different race could be flagged as different. Back to merging. Different info in name, birth, and death is flagged as different when comparing merging. Why not add race to the info we all see? I know it can be done if the engineers are welling to do it.
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If "Race" had an agreed and consistent definition, then there might be sense in considering this. However, if you look at previous threads in here concerning "Race", it is evident that the values that appear in that item are a shambles. Values have been put into source records that bear no relation to what's on the source document - presumably there has been an urge to populate the index item just because it's there. For instance, one person on a Source Record was indexed as "American" even though these were Australian records and the guy in question lived his whole life in Australia (though the indexer obviously wouldn't know that).
My own view is that these people are individuals, they had names and dates, and we should be using those items, not some highly dubious value potentially magicked up out of nowhere. Dubious both at the indexing stage and at the original document creation.
I will even quite deliberately remove "W" from this item on profiles because of its nonsensical origin.
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I generally do not carry across Race or Religion data via the source linker. As with Adrian, I find such information often to be unsubstantiated, especially by often not even appearing in the original documents. It should be helpful to distinguish a white person from a black person who shared the same name / residence, etc., but there are surely difficulties where: (1) an individual was mixed-race (2) they lied about their race, or (3) even if recorded in the original document, for some other reason it was recorded incorrectly.
I can understand the point being made about FS flagging the (apparent) difference in race, but too much of what appears in FamilySearch (and records in general) is inaccurate, so this would not necessarily be that helpful.
(As an example, I come across many widowed individuals who are shown as "Married" in census records, so one cannot always trust "Status" recordings: whether race, religion or marriage status.)
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I have mixed race marriages and children in my tree. My children cherish having ancestors that were Native Americans and African Americans. I have never seen differentiation in genealogical groups but have found it in old government records. Family History is just that…history and it be documented as a family desires!
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