Our goal at FamilySearch is not only to connect
individual families, but to connect the human family. In order to
accomplish that goal, we
need everyone’s help. For this reason, FamilySearch Family Tree is
a shared tree, which means that it is open for users to contribute
what information they have.
Why Are There Changes That I Didn’t Make in My Family Tree?
Using a public or shared tree means that other people can
add to or even modify information about the ancestors or relatives that they
have in common with you.
We believe that the more people work on FamilySearch Family Tree, the faster it will grow—and the more accurate it will become. However, sometimes well-meaning users make changes in the tree that are incorrect. Thankfully, you can correct mistakes that you see in your tree.
What If There Is a Mistake in My Family Tree?
Mistakes in your tree might include incorrect relationships,
an incorrect
record attachment, or—one of the more tedious issues—an incorrect
merge. Thankfully, every change made in the family tree is archived, and
mistakes made in the tree are reversible.
What If a Mistake Keeps Popping Up after I Fix It?
There are a few ways you can prevent individuals from
creating these errors in the information once it has been corrected. FamilySearch
provides tools that can help you clarify information and collaborate with
others. These include the notes
section, discussions, and FamilySearch Messaging.
Give Good Reason Statements
When you make a change, you can write
a reason statement that lets people know why
you’ve corrected the information. For example, the FamilySearch user below
explained why she removed a mother relationship from one of her ancestors. She
also explained why she merged this person with another.
You can find the history of an ancestor’s changes and
corrections on his or her person
page by navigating to the right of the page and clicking Show All under
the Latest Changes column. When making changes to the person yourself,
you have the option to write a reason statement for making the change. This
reason statement will appear in the Latest Changes list for others to
see.
A history of changes and reasons for these changes can help others
see why you made the corrections that you did and prevent future mistakes.
Write a Life Sketch
Sometimes, writing a life sketch for your ancestor can help prevent
any future errors or misconceptions about your ancestor. In this life sketch,
you can paste in the person’s obituary or any other quick outline of the
person’s life, explaining details that could prevent future incorrect changes.
For example, you could explain in your great-great-grandfather’s
life sketch that he married a woman with the same name as his previous spouse.
This explanation might prevent others from accidentally assuming that the two wives
with the same names were the same woman and merging them.
How to Correct Mistakes
As for how to smooth out the wrinkles you’ve come across in
Family Tree, here are some tools, tips, and tricks to help you maintain
accuracy in the information about your ancestors.
All about the FamilySearch Family Tree
Source: Family Search
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