A Family Tree Conundrum

[Colin Rowledge]

In my family tree I have a Polygamist - legal in Utah at that time.

I have him entered to the wrong mother. He, along with his 2 wives - his 1st wife died - and the family of his descendants all need to be moved to the correct mother.

The tree in on Ancestry - website not FTM - and I wonder if there is a simple way to correct this or must I go through person by person to make the corrections?

Colin

[pottoka]

You could send Ancestry an email to ask them; they answer "help" enquiries pretty quickly. The last one I sent was answered in less than 24 hours.

Can you phone them? I don't mean is it physically possible for you to do it, but do they have a free phone number for Canada like they do for the UK?

Personally, I have a horrible feeling that you're going to have to do it the hard way, one by one. Even Noah got to do it two by two; it doesn't seem fair, does it?

[CanadianCousin]

Colin -

Do you have a genealogy program at home? If so, perhaps you could download your tree as a GEDCOM from Ancestry, make the necessary changes (I think it would be quite simple to do in Legacy, for example), and then upload the revised version. I only have an old version of my tree on Ancestry which I don't update very often, so I'm not 100% sure if this is doable, butit might be worth checking.

Good luck -

Tim

[Megan Roberts]

If editing on line at Ancestry, if you click on "edit this person", and then select the "relationship" tab that allows you to add, delete or change parents and spouses and children.

So (I THINK) if you select your polygamist, and select "edit this person" and then under relationships, fix the maternal problem you mention, that should sort it out.

BUT if it doesn't this advice is given without liability or come back - sorry Colin!!

[Colin Rowledge]

Hi All
Pottoka - emailed Ancestry with this problem - no response as yet except to say - we'll look into it!!. Stil am unable to use the phone so no joy there, either.

Tim - don't have such a beast and as I am a complete knucklehead with computers and software, wouldn't have the know-how to use it.

Megan - tried your suggestion - but couldn't get thingy to work right - just my bloomin' luck - if it wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't have any.

Looks like I've got to do it the hard way. My project for today - but as it is raining and cool, I've got nothing better to do!!

Colin

[Colin Rowledge]

Megan - tried your suggestion - but couldn't get thingy to work right - just my bloomin' luck - if it wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't have any.

Looks like I've got to do it the hard way. My project for today - but as it is raining and cool, I've got nothing better to do!!

Colin

Megan - don't get swollen-headed - but - you are Brilliant.

Tried you suggestion again after I posted - and it worked a treat!!!

Thanks so much.

Colin

[Zen Rabbit]

The way to do it on ancest. can be tricky but if you go "edit this person" - select "relationships" on the bar you should get a list father, mother etc. On mother go "add an alternative mother" you should then have the option of creating a new person or adding from a list of people already on your tree. Find the person you want and add them, then you can remove the first mother using the "remove" tab which will remove her as mother without deleting her from the tree. You would obviously have to repeat the process for any siblings who came under the same alternative mother. (I am assuming from this that the alternative mother was married to the same man, if not then you would have to make a further similar edit for husband and wife.
My advice is try it out on a short sideline that can be easily corrected until you are confident.

[Zen Rabbit]

Hey glad you sorted it Colin. Looks like I didn't need to post after all

[Megan Roberts]

Megan - don't get swollen-headed - but - you are Brilliant.

Sorry Colin it's too late ... I'm sitting here with a foolish grin on my face and a rapidly expanding head!!!

[Colin Rowledge]

Hello Zen Rabbit.

I can honestly say that if it hadn't worked I would have spent the entire day and night fixing it. As I said earlier, the father was a Mormon, had 2 spouses on the go and had a total of 21 children before he died at age 66 on 26 February 1913.

Colin