You may have noticed that a new prompt, titled “Unfinished
Attachments,” appears with some sources attached to people in your family tree.
This prompt appears below these sources along with a description, “This source
has not been attached to all people found in the record.”
This new feature can help you find family members who may
not be in the Family Tree but who were listed on a record. Once you find that
person, it is just a few easy steps to attach
the record or add the person to the FamilySearch Family Tree.
Using Unfinished Attachments for Discovery
By simply clicking Unfinished Attachments, you can discover a new world of information. This feature can lead to interesting discoveries to help you make sure you have all your relatives on your tree.
Census records, marriage records, obituaries, and many other
kinds of records may have information about people related to your family who
were not included when the records were originally attached to your ancestor.
You can now find that information using the Unfinished Attachments feature. If
a profile for the family member does not yet exist in the FamilySearch Family
Tree, you will be guided to create a new profile for him or her. Here is an
example.
- If the person is living, it is important to click Living. This notation keeps the living person’s information private. It will stay in that private space until you add death information.
- New to attaching records? Learn more about how to do it!
Many people are listed in records who may have been living
with or associated with a family at the time the record was made but who may
not have been relatives (such as boarders or house servants). These people may
now show up as unfinished attachments. You can discover this interesting
information and add it to your family’s story. It may even help others trying
to find their ancestors!
The Unfinished Attachments feature does not just lead to
information about deceased relatives. It may also help you find information
about living family members and add profiles for them to your tree.
Above is a living relative from an obituary who was not added
to the tree. Adding the person to the tree led to adding profiles also for his
wife and all his children.
Discoveries from Unfinished Attachments
I made a great discovery when I found a census record in an
unfinished attachment for my great-grandmother. Once I opened the record, I saw
her sister’s name on the census and added her to the family tree. No one in the
family had known she existed. Now she is on the family tree and with the right
family.
It was such a great find for me, because last spring I visited our family cemetery in Texas where I found the gravestone of my Great-grandmother Morgan. I didn’t check if her siblings were buried there because I made the connection only to her. Now I am excited to go back to the cemetery to see if I can find all her siblings that I have now found in the census just because I checked the unfinished attachments in my tree. What a fulfilling discovery!
The above image shows Gendaia J B Neugan. Until now, she had
not been included with her family. She showed up on a census record that was an
unfinished attachment in her sister’s sources.
Take Action with
Unfinished Attachments
When you find additional people or sources, what next? Once
you click Unfinished Attachments,
you can do a few other things:
- Attach the record to the people who are already
in the tree. You can do this by looking on the left column of the Source Linker
to see the record that can be attached. - Do nothing. Some records may mention people who
are not closely related to the main person on the record and don’t need to be
added. - If you have viewed the unfinished attachment and
it seems that it does not apply or may be incorrect, you can click Dismiss. Bear in mind that this option also
removes the Unfinished Attachments link for anyone else who may view the source.
Unfinished Attachments is a great new feature on FamilySearch.org that can help you
discover family you may have missed and help enrich your family story. Take a
moment to check your unfinished attachments and see what is waiting for you!
Source: Family Search
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