Within the next few months, FamilySearch will make Family Tree available to everyone on its website. The first of many updates planned for FamilySearch.org, Family Tree will provide a free and engaging way to discover, preserve, and share your family history. Family Tree will also offer specialized tools to make temple work for your ancestors even easier and more convenient.
Watch an Introduction to Family Tree that shows 7 reasons to be excited about Family Tree.
Family Tree will enable you to:
- Save family information into a genealogy tree
- Easily submit the names of ancestors for temple work
- Edit and delete incorrect data, including relationships
- Connect and collaborate with others on shared family lines
- Show where information came from. You can even link to online photos and documents
Family Tree offers an easy way for everyone to work together on shared family lines. Family Tree is also integrated into the search feature on FamilySearch.org, so you can find records and use them as sources of information for the people in your family tree.
If you have questions about what Family Tree will be like or how it will work, you can log in to a special training website that offers online courses, how-to videos, informational handouts, and step-by-step training.
Get started with Family Tree today by watching the introductory video or reading about it on the training website. Family Tree will be open to everyone in the next few months and the more you learn about it now, the more ready you will be to take full advantage of this exciting new family history tool when it becomes available.
“Edit and delete incorrect data, including relationships”
Really? Sorry to be downright snarky about this.
We want SEPARATION like it is in new.familysearch
I am finding a large number of persons having same names/clsoe enough dates still being mis-merged and GET THIS – ORDINANCES ARE BEING AMALAGATED AND CREDITED TO WRONG PERSONS!
A example, Ruth Straight, wife of Turner Aldrich has ordinances belonging to ANOTHER Ruth Straight.
Another example is Esther Comstock, merged with different Esther Comstock and a Mrs. Esther Comstock, resulting in amalagated ordinances, some beloning to one and others to other. Where are the rightful ordinances belonging to rightful persons?
Again, separation option is absolute needed because mere editing to remove wrong relationships (wrong husbands, wrong children actually belonging to different persons with same names) will NOT separate wrong ordinances out!
There is a white paper that indicates Family Tree will allow correcting ordinance data as well:
http://broadcast.lds.org/eLearning/fhd/Community/en/FamilySearch/FamilyTree/pdf/familyTreeOrdinancesWhitepaper.pdf
Maybe this will provide the functionality required?
Nope! Not according to the support.
Still there are many who continued to mis-merge even after the nFS’ separation function was discontinued.
And the white paper said in effect – OVERWHELM the system administrators with requests for separations of wrong persons. What about when the nFS is completely shut down and no longer available in 2-3 months. This is a major concern because we NEED to see the COMBINED record to see who got bodysnatched and become an amalagated person with amalagated ordinances.
Case #1 Ruth Straight – 2 complete different Ruths. LZNR-NHN. The ordinances belong to other Ruth, not mine’s
Case #2 Esther Comstock, 4 different Esther, one is now suddently daughter in law of her OWN parents. and a Mrs. Esther Comstock to boot, resulting in screwed up parents and parents-in laws. LZGD-K1Z .
Case #3, Peter Aldrich #2, two completely different Peter and different parent with amalagated ordinances plus a stranger wife to boot.
Case #4 Mary Jane Leach LZYJ-D5M 3 different women, one a completely different name mis-merged less than 2 weeks ago, well after NFS had been frozen.
I took a look at your Mary Jane Leach LZYJ-D5M. On about the third page of the change log is the entry:
Merge:
Merge Completed 8 Nov 2012
Surviving Person: Mary Jane Leach
Deleted Person: Nancy Bailey
It shows the name and e-mail address of the person who merged the two.
If you click on Mary Jane Leach you just go to her page. If you click on Nancy Bailey, you go to a page that says, “Deleted by Merge” which has a link that says “Restore Person.”
I think that if you click “Restore Person” all the changes listed associated the the merge will be undone. Cross your finger, say a prayer, and give it a try!
That is one of the advertised improvements in Family Tree. It is suppose to be that simple to reverse an erroneous merge. If this works out right for Mary Jane, that should solve your stated problem.
Then, check the “Possible Duplicates” link. If Mary Jane and Nancy really show as possible matches, click the “not a match link” and that should prevent that person from remerging them.
nice reply but it does NOT resolve the issue of AMALAGATED ordinances.
Added insult – the merge was through third party resulting in change made in nFS! And the amalgamated ordinances are still there.
Somebody else noticed and edited out and did not resolve the amalgamated ordinances issue.
That is why we need separation method that WAS used in nFS restored in order to restore correct ordinances in first place.
We really need an area on the Forums for these types of questions.
I agree! 4 different updates and splintered replies already.
I have been having the same problem with one of my people – two brothers were combined into one. I have tried and tried with FamilyTree but the combination was made in May 2012 and it will not let me correct it. I wrote to Support and after several frustrating back and forths (for them as well as for me), the problem is still existing.
The rest of the FamilyTree is ok and manageable but the combining and separation of records is not working and needs to be revamped. The combined/separation menu in NFS worked really well.
The other problem I have is with combining records – if the information is not a dead on match, nothing will show up so some of those partial information entries are lost along with whatever temple work that has been done for them, possibly causing repetition of ordinances which was the whole point of the NFS combination.
Ha! Why should we have to correct anything? Yes, we will allow you to correct things after the tornado has demolished your house. The point is the tornado that is destroying all this data.
And this they call a house of order? It is not. It seems to me that the data gods want US to fix all their mess. You know, just a little competence on their part would save countless (and I mean countless) hours on our part — I feel nothing so much as one of an army of drones that they rely on to clean up after them.
This would never happen in the commercial world — even Microsoft is not this bad.
Perhaps a little insight.
A few years ago there was a Consultant conference in Salt Lake City. One of the meetings was for developers/consultants. It gave us the opportunity to discuss one on one with them. I posed a question that resulted in being referred to the Brother who is over the entire developer/technician department.
What many might not understand is a Prophet looked at the database, noticed many ordinance duplicates and directed there be a way to reduce duplication of ordinances. Their job was to develop a program.
I learned that night they were working on a new program (now being called Family Tree). The plan was – the ordinance index would be off to the side. Family would decide which were correct, then add them. I stated that would not work either, because how one branch of a family interprets a record may not be the same as another branch of the family. That was already happening in the database with family I was researching (because my ancestor was being merged with another family, then linked to another family’s ancestry, of which has since been learned two different y-DNAs involved). What I might find in records might correct errors from the past, but another members Aunt Ruth was considered an outstanding genealogist and they KNOW she had to be correct.
Since that meeting, I’ve become involved in DNA testing (the men in our group have y-DNA & autosomal DNA tested, the women autosomal). y-DNA has proven my ancestor is related to another group, BUT, autosomal (give generation projection) has proven my Jacob is not the same as their Jacob. However, the error exists in the database, with more than one Jacob married to the same woman as a first or second wife, and a later wife involved. By the time you merge the women, then all the husbands, that results in 5 men named Jacob being merged into one who were born c 1733 Germany, c 1740 Germany, c 1761 Germany, 1763 or 1765 (It appears a family had a child that died, then named their next son the same, dad being c 1733 Germany) Pennsylvania and 1790 Pennsylvania. All died prior to 1850. All, but one, lived in Tennessee. Because the last one was in Virginia along the wagon road between Pennsylvania to Tennessee, he was added in (he disappeared from records, the reason being, he died and he was 20+ years older than projected).
I think a similar situation is the gospel. How one religion interprets a passage is different from another. If we understand they are living a Christian life, loving them for their service and compassion; instead of getting into conflict of whose right, there would be more openness. Opening an opportunity to share the gospel, then let the Holy Spirit take over from there.
I’d much rather see duplicates in the database than different branches of family being in conflict. I realize the Brethren hoped for cooperation in a spirit of love. But I also know when a person spends hours and $$$ researching, they are going to have strong feelings about someone else coming in to change the records they submitted.
The first developer I spoke with, who referred me, stated: If the work is done incorrectly, it will be taken care of by God in the millennium. I prickled because it was the statement stated to me by those who wanted to get this job done so that they could move on to raising their family or whatever life event they didn’t see as a chore. These people skip over thorough, jump at the first prospect so that this chore/task is done.
By the way, one conclusion that was come to by a surname group with whom I research: It was incorrect and a member, with a lot of documentation, proved her point. For us, if our man didn’t marry her, then WHO did he marry? Lack of records (destroyed in a courthouse fire). THUS, let’s see if we can figure it out through DNA testing.
“These people skip over thorough, jump at the first prospect so that this chore/task is done.”
And these are the people who thrill to the general conference message to the effect that we have this wonderful technology that allows us at the click of a mouse to collect vast quantities of information. I cringed at that statement, which will encourage the careless, however true the message may be.
Yes, you can, but of what value. This is like being in a bad marriage to an alcoholic — you try to see the divine potential, and work and plead and pray patiently for years. Maybe he’ll come around. Maybe.
P.S.
The conference that included a developers/consultants meeting was in April 2010.
janey, no one is forcing you to use the site, for free I might add. Perhaps you should just go back to the way it was done 30+ years ago. Good luck with that. I hope you have a good day.
What kind of non-response is this? They are indeed forcing me to use the site to process ordinances. The way it was done years ago is in fact better.
And what is to be lamented is the very real potential the site has that is squandered. You may shut your eyes to the problems I and so many others have posted, but that does not render our concerns invalid and irrelevant. The site confuses and discourages people, and creates more problems than it solves, and is wasting thousands of client-hours. If you disagree with that, you are free to refute all the concerns posted here, of which mine are simply a part. That would indeed advance the cause.
@ Janey
30 years ago, if I remember right, the process to submit your family for ordinances was to send your data to Salt Lake City, they decided whether or not you had enough information to perform the ordinance, then you may be able to get it done.
This many times meant complete dates and locations.
I would like to remind everyone this is the Lord’s work.
I’m very well aware there is a lot of frustration and in some cases anger.
Please, lets present our case with facts of what is occurring without attaching others (those in church positions, each other on the board) as this is the spirit of contention, which it the work of Satan.
I’m praying the Authorities over this work will take our experiences seriously and be inspired as to what needs to be done.
PLEASE, join with me.
I’ve had multiple physical and emotional stressers in my life. Now, when I get upset, I tend to get anxiety attacks. Some of these are accompanied with raised blood pressure. A few of these trigger chronic fatigue. A few years ago I came under doctor’s orders to separate myself from anything that causes this because I could end up having a stroke. NOTHING, even my job, was worth dying. Now it’s family history work. I’ve had to quite using the database and have been in tears, having to back away from submitting and performing ordinances for my family.
Instead of flooding the church offices with phone calls, I’ve suggested on this board that Elder P… send a memo to Family History Center Directors. I think a report of experiences, along with the patrons expertise, should be included.
Thus, my suggestion to patrons is, contact your centers. Share, one way or the other, your experience and thoughts about the database.
@ KRM — Not to worry, I do not get angry, and only experience intermittent frustration, because I recognize it for what it is. My posts have been meant to clearly lay out what the problems are, which are systemic. I do, however, feel some obligation to (I hope) gently but cogently point out the errors of those who may dismiss the concerns of so many here.
Indeed, I have rarely had a positive experience whenever I have approached the SL folks with any but simple or routine problems. Really, it’s true, and it’s not because I am some irascible curmudgeonly sort. The front-line people give the appearance of not being able to understand anything but the most simple of questions, unable to follow the complicated train of thought that their system lays on those of us who are trying to navigate its parlous waters. Well, I back up on that a bit – problems within their experience they can handle, but it’s just that there are so many problems that are outside their experience, but unfortunately very much part of ours.
It once (not 30, but perhaps 20 years ago) took a letter to a GA to clear up a misunderstanding that should not have been, caused by an underling who simply could not follow a logical train of thought. The GA at least did immediately perceive what needed to be done and corrected it.
Things have has gotten better recently as far as customer service responses, but there are still overarching problems, as the posts here demonstrate. And the fact that these problems have persisted for years, and not just with Family Tree, should be a warning call to those in charge.
But no, frantic calls to SL will not do the trick — they are not set up to handle such, which require mulling over and discursive inquiry such as a phone call cannot provide. But I have been inspired to devote a couple of Sunday afternoons to clearly laying out our case in print, and sending it on in hope. I actually have had success with such approaches in the past, in other areas.
If I understand you, you have had to quit FH work because of the frustrations. My genuine sympathies.
@KRM — I should add that there are some parts of all these systems that are useful in some ways. It is not a complete loss, as long as one does not try to use it to do impossible, even though promised, things.
@ Janey
Submitting family for ordinances will be out for now.
I’ll still be researching. My plan is to post my family data online, in hopes another member, who can handle the stress of using the database (or if the issues are corrected), they can get them processed for ordinances. OR, if someone in my ward is willing to assist me. My children don’t have any interest at all.
I hesitate to put my data online though. I’m having problems with someone who is not LDS, who is gathering my data and passing it off as her own. She’s not only taking my transcribed records, but also my hypothesis, then states that hypothesis as fact, before I know for sure the next generation is correct. She doesn’t know how to do original research, as she stated: “I only know what information I have found on the internet.”
Whoa, so as of 2 days ago, tree is not available to everyone? I more or less got shoved into it, new familysearch would not let me merge or manage mis-merged records.
However I am finding merging records to be very time consuming and frustrating. Obvious matches will not merge and all I get is cannot be merged messages with no explanation.
To add insult to injury, many of the duplicate and redundant records and consequent redundant ordinance are promulgated by familysearch who will add an individual separately evidently for every birth, marriage and census record available for themselves and their children.
Tree has some truly great features, but wow, the merge records portion is just too unwieldy to be considered a step forward. And where do the records go? new.familysearch was indeed superior in merged record management though it was still plagued by familysearch volunteers putting in far too many redundant records. If TREE can be delayed pending a better strategy, my input and recommendation is to do that—WAIT and put some refining touches on that direction / policy.
I COMPLETELY agree. If the name doesn’t match up perfectly it won’t show any duplicates and yet if I go to the duplicate spouse it will show them married to 3 of the same people. It is not all that easy to merge.
as a ward consultant I hope they get the kinks out before they okey this program!!!!! but we must try to leaon and work with the new program.
How can one learn to work with an unworkable program?
I see, on Eastman’s Newsletter site at http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2012/11/family-tree-service-on-familysearchorg-coming-soon.html that there are some comments and questions on temple work being done for ANY names entered into Family Tree, whether by a member or a nonmember.
They want a guarantee that any names they enter will NOT have temple work done. How is that going to be possible?
Ordinances are ordinances and can’t be changed or eliminated. Records are records and can be changed but must be done intelligently. There will come a requirement that temple submissions must be documented by proof of lineage. It is overdue!
I like Family Tree a lot! Forget merge just give me delete individual and i’ll be forever grateful. Good Job to all who’ve worked on this.
I like Family Tree too. I really like being able to attach pictures or websites with sources. I couldn’t do that with nFS.
I agree that there are still some bugs that need to be worked out. If people that are just getting involved in this work go on the site to see what’s there & there are big errors they won’t want to go any further. I’m a consultant in my ward & I’ve already heard this complaint from some ward members & even family members. I have a grandmother that took her children on vacations geared towards genealogy. When those same children look & see that temple work was done for people after they died even when it was done while the person was alive, it irrates them & they ask me what the point is if someone can change things that took years of painstaking research to make sure it was right.
I agree that the merging is a pain & more complicated than nFS.
Another issue I have is with the source box. I haven’t gotten everything in my sourcebox attached yet & if I don’t delete every one I attach after I attach it I don’t know which ones I haven’t attached yet because if I leave the source box & go back into it later the attach icon isn’t there. To temporarily deal with this I created a folder in my source box to put the sources I’ve attached in to. This way it also gives me a way of double checking that I’ve searched that person &/or family & found sources.
I too do not like the merge part of family tree. When I find an individual and add that person to my family, I get duplicate names and then have to go through all the steps to merge the persons. I will not be doing family history as much as I have before.
But, the big question is how do I print my 4 generation chart for instance. I have to extract the info using a 3rd party software and use PAF to print it.
The availability to print charts will be coming an a future release of Family Tree. This is a top priority for us.
I have relatives that are not LDS but are very interested in genealogy. Will non-members be able to access Family trees? Will they be able to see ordinance dates etc?
I hope this database will not be open to the general public for any type of imput/change.
The reason being, there are people who are against doing ordinance work for their family. They could purposely add false alternate names, merge people they know aren’t family and you name it… A member whom I’ve assisted had this done to her not long after New Family Search was released to all. The person was likely a disgruntled member. After calling Salt Lake City and proving contact information (address, including zip code and prefix in phone number wasn’t in this state) were erroneous, that person was banned from the database.
I have enough of a problem convincing members to be thorough, instead of flying by the seat of their pants, without opening the database up to the general public.
Everyone will have access to Family Tree. Someone of the general public will not be able to see ordinance information, but they will still be able to see their family lines.
I called Salt Lake City and confirmed your statement.
Now I understand why I’m not getting a response from another person merging different men by the same name, one involving my ancestor and another family group – and that person making changes has not, in weeks, responded to either of my e-mails. I included that person (second message) when I sent out a group e-mail to anyone listed as a submitter to the data.
At first I was really upset Family Tree is open to non-members. Non-members who don’t want US to do ordinance work for family can get accounts to go in and purposely mess up the database. It would make it more difficult for us to clear our family for ordinances and then see the date after the work was done, if someone in the database is merged after submission and before the work is done, already has an ordinance date.
Eventually, this will hinder the work being done. MAYBE this will lead to the ordinance index/submission process being separated from the pedigree/group records.
l like that ther is more way to help to get the work done
I was trying family tree and had difficulties as well. I find it harder to enter in information like marriage records and figure out where to put in Census information. I like the ease of the temple ordinance page. Also hard to switch between wives. My family is blessed with many lines- so it is hard for me to switch to different lines. Another difficulty was working backward (like starting at 1780 and doing finding all the children and grandchildren. I don’t know who is living yet, but I have reserve records for some extended family (i.e. 4th Great Grandparent of mine and tracking down cousins and aunts and uncles for 200 years).
I have had nothing but trouble with the new Family Tree. Every time I look at one of my lines, something has been transferred incorrectly from New.Family Search. I am so concerned that the meticulously sourced information that has been entered by my cousins and I to New.Family Search will not be available for reference. If things are being transferred with errors, how are we supposed to check each and every person’s name to make sure it is correct? Tedious and unnecessary time wasted that could be spent doing further family research. I am very discouraged.
I figure the best way to approach the family tree either here or on NFS is as something only for ordinance submission. Nothing more. Everything else seems to just adds levels of frustration. I keep my data and sources on my computer where they can’t be messed up by others but I’ve also submitted a tree with sources here and on Rootsweb so others can use the information. I can also remove/replace it when I find errors and not have to mess with what others have done in the mean time.
Amen, that’s the best way to do it. I too am committed to keeping my own record, and using FT et al. for submitting ordinances and looking when needed to see if someone else has some data I do not have …
WOW! I tried Private for my name and received a message, something to the affect: You submitted your comment too quickly. Slow down.
To unmerge someone who is not the same as the primary person, you need to unlink the children and spouse of the person involved (then reconnect them correctly afterward).
Then go into Possibly Duplicates and when the alternates come up, click on Not a Match. In the future, those alternates aren’t supposed to show in the Duplicate list. After spending 2 hours unmerging multiples, I didn’t do this step, resulting in at least part of them being merged again in 4 weeks.
Our center is loosing the Assistant Director because of Family Tree. Others are also talking about leaving. It’s not just other family members merging in error (I wonder if they can still merge manually, outside of the Possible Duplicate option) but Family Search workers are merging old ordinances that were done in error, creating a nightmare in the database.
I suggest Elder P… (over Family History) send out a memo to all Family History Center Directors asking their input concerning how patrons are reacting to this program. There has been a LOT of upset over New Family Search and the same feelings are being expressed about Family Tree. A cousin of mine is a Center Director in another state and has shared the same upsets that have been shared locally by patrons and also family I have on other lines.
I kept hearing about New Family Search (because of the merging by multiple people in error) – I wouldn’t use the program, except it’s the only way I can submit ordinances, the church has decided this (forced us to use it), so what can we do?
I see this type of database as: Too many cooks in the kitchen have spoiled the broth (database). I’d rather go back to the ordinance index being separated from the pedigree/group records, so that it’s easier to submit our family for ordinance work. There have been family members (in one case siblings) who had confrontation over some merges. There is the spirit of contention, which is not good in the course of performing ordinances for our families.
Whomever provided this comment board – Thank you. It is a way for us to share our experiences and frustrations.
KRM,
Who is “Elder P…” that you are referring to? I have seen this reference in several comments. I appreciate all the information that you have provided us on the blog comments. We are tracking the information so we can continue to improve Family Tree.
I am making the transition to Family Tree and was advised to ensure that all names have citations, proving their correctness. Anyone who wishes to change anything SHOULD check these and raise any issues with the contributor.
I agree with those who request a longer time for Familytree to replace nFS. I have many certificates which have to be scanned then linked through a cloud storage for all to see. It is tedious, and time consuming. I am retired but it will take many months to complete the task.
We also have to ensure that the data selected by Familytree from the several variations is correct,i.e. another task. All this on existing family history, which means very little new research and a slowing down of temple work to existing reserved names.
To this I also work as an indexer, arbitrator, and Stake Indexing Director (SID).
So many members have not ‘got the message’ yet. They may know Familytree is going to happen, but mentally it is in a time ‘far far away’ .
I hope that all of these and other comments raised are fully addressed. The videos and instructions help but few there are who find them.
Sorry it is of no use to me. needs sorting first
I have been using Family Tree for a couple on months now. I am not happy with it. Family search website said I had a man with 3 Unknown spouses, I had to go to family tree to sort it out, but it said there was only one spouse, it did not find the 3 unknown spouses. I had to raise a case for it to be sorted out.
This week I went to add a man, William Lambert, family tree said he was not in database already. I had full date of birth and place of birth. I added him and all his children and spouse, then checked for duplicates, then it said there were 4 William Lamberts with that info. Why didnt it find him in first place. they wee all same person.
Frustrating and time consuming
I see this not as a way to submit my pedigree again which I recently did to this site and three others. But to track down and correct the endlessly resubmitted bad connections
Such as
William Buel is not the William Beville that died 1635 in England. ..Thanks to Albert Welles for a horribly messed -up genealogy
Priscilla wife of Mathew Grant of Windsor, CT was not daughter of Anthony Grey of Leicestershire, England NEGHR Vol 102 proved that many years ago but it still persist to be found everywhere and it’s quoted in new books today.
George Bonham has no proof of where he came from but hundreds of descendents claim an English ancestry for him
Thomas Roberts Governor of New Hampshire was not of Kent England.
His wife Rebecca Hilton if that was her last name is not proved to have any Manorial connections or relationship with Edward and William Hilton.
With archive.org and google books on line it’s easier to check English peerage and Will collections to find these non-ancestors had no such children, marriages or died overseas. Not 100% correct but better than the older Ancestral file submissions.
Depending on how particular they are on what is proof some lines could be very short. Some states have very few records before 1840. Very few wills of colonist say I came from ____. My wife was ____from
No one should change anyone’s data without contacting them first. They might actually have proof no one else has.
I’ve been reading through the 187 pages of the Reference Guide and am slogging my way through time-consuming merges, and other processes that are cumbersome and discouraging. I hope to eventually learn it and stop complaining, but my main concern is the fear that there are people who will (intentionally or unintentionally) mess up my hard-earned research. Even with adequate documentation, what will stop an angry person from sabotaging the work? How much time will be taken up in reviewing and re-entering my data that others have altered?
I’m afraid the only learning and cessation of complaining that will happen is when you submit to robotic slavery. It would have been so much easier to design a system that allows only you to control your data — others could look at it, link to it and make their own records, which you could see as variants, and take from them what you wanted as they could take from you — but your data would be uniquely YOUR data, controlled only by you.
Why they didn’t is beyond me. But professional LDS database programmers I know have for decades looked askance at SL HQ programmers.
Sorry but this is exactly why new FamilySearch is broken. What I put in only I can fix. Anything sent to the temple can’t be fixed without going to support. Yes, there are problems with Family Tree but it will move us forward towards a collaborative tree that has the right information. If you want your own tree go to ancestry or roots web. That isn’t what this is for. If you are lobbying for an ancestry.com type tree here it isn’t going to happen – that is PRF. Remember this is still a beta program. It is ashame that they released it to so many so soon as there are so many bugs to clean up. One day in the future we will probably look back at today and say – they really have improved the program. NFS as broken as it is, is better than it was back in 2007. I suspect Family Ftee will be much better in June 2013, and even better in December 2013, etc.
Many of us submitted to Ancestral File when the data was not being merged, with the understanding it would be separate from submissions by others.
There is a lot of data that is incorrect, that is being merged with well researched data.
I don’t understand the statements about liking Family Tree better because source information and notes (discussions) can be added. That was in New Family Search. I figured out how to force them to the persons page (with dates and places) instead of as a link below their personal information page. By putting them on the person’s page with birthdates, etc, it could be seen when comparing people before merging. I put in notes such as: Don’t merge with (the P.I.D. #) as the subject, then in the note box enter the reason why (the note box had a limited # of characters, so I had to be creative).
From the looks of these comments, it looks like I will just keep my information on my computer and submit names when I need to. I am not going to have my information corrupted by those who do not do their homework and just put in garbage. I have not tried TREE and looks like I won’t be doing so. But already I can see there are problems and they need to be addressed. The GOSPEL is true, but too many of the programs like this one, are not. Lets get this one true too, as it is an essential part of the gospel
Right. And I do not care so much about the “true” part. I’d be happy if it were simply adequate and functional, than which there are few higher descriptors.
What kind of functionality would you like to see? I would love to be able to further assist you in some of the concerns that you have.
Tara, it looks like you are someone who knows something. My husband and I have both been working and it looks like a large part of his tree has not come over yet. Will it eventually come? I have been telling him to just be patient, but reading these comments, I wonder.
Vee,
Are you saying that your husband’s data from new.familysearch.org isn’t displaying in Family Tree?
What I assumed would be an equivilent to the Ancestry.com family tree is not. I can’t delete names and I’m entering duplicate information. Please fix this.
Have you contacted our support team to assist you in deleting names? or modifying the name? They can assist with these types of things. The phone number is 1-866-406-1830.
I noticed pedigree display errors showing repeating generations once I get to about ten generations back. Once I reach a particular generation, the next generations are repeats of the previous 2-3 generations. It is not consistent for all lines–just one or two so far. I can’t tell if this is a system bug or a flaw in the generation data. I can provide examples if someone will email an address. Thanks.
You have an eternal loop.
Chances are, you have at least one set in which two people by the same name are merged. They may be father/son or grandfather/grandson.
Hopefully you don’t have the same mess I was dealing with in New Family Search. The entry level technicians and I could not get it fixed, so it was sent to the highest level. When they got done, he/she e-mailed it took 2 hours to figure it out. My understanding is, there were more than one set.
SO, if you find and unmerge two by the same name, on different generations, then the loop still exists, look for another set, until the loop goes away.
It also may be a problem where there is an incorrect relationship. If you need further assistance our data administrators can assist. Contact our support team for further assistance. The phone number is 1-866-406-1830
I agree with the negative comments and suggestions which are listed above. This is my 5th feedback to Family Tree without satisfaction. Maybe this comment will be the grain of sand which tips the scale for whoever is behind this to listen to those of us who just want to do the right thing.
Although I am usually resistant to change, I love Family Tree. There are a few drawbacks, but for the most part I find it an improvement over NFS. I like being able to delete incorrect relationships, and I like being able to attach sources. I believe it is an inspired program, and I hope people will stop grumbling and give it a chance.
I will really looking forward to this. Thanks so very much
Tomorrow evening we are holding a Family History/FamilyTree workshop at our chapel to enthuse and encourage members to do their FH research and Temple Work. After reading these comments of a self-destructing system I wish I could call it off, but it’s too late. I don’t know what I’m going to say tomorrow!
Why are there no comments on here from the providers (perpetrators) of the software to explain when and if the bugs are going to be fixed.
Wouldn’t it be a good idea to have a moratorium on the use of this database while the software is being fixed?
Is PAF sufficient as a backup for now? If not, what commercial systems should we be using to protect our hard work and our data?
Theo
For now, I suggest you teach them the principles of sealing families together.
Where they can get a free copy of PAF.
How to database their family.
How to research their families. Starting with records at home, extended family, then branch out from there. If you have a copy of “Redbook” or “The Source”, show that to them.
You can admit to them the church is switching over to a different program and there are bugs in it. As church employees fix the bugs, let’s get their family data databased at home or on a Family History Center computer.
Ask them to identify family who need ordinances. Have their ward consultants look in the database to see if their family is already there. If they aren’t, it should be pretty easy to teach them to create an account, enter their data and prepare a submission sheet.
If their family is in the database, you might run into problems. At that point, you might want to get your local Family History Center involved.
Theo,
You should teach your ward that this is the tool to assist in taking names to the Temple. FamilySearch is working hard to develop a tool that will assist in many different levels of family history and Family Tree is just the start. While the tool is not perfect, we are striving to make improvements every day. The data that exists in Family Tree has come from users. We need to have users assist us in ensuring the accuracy of the data. As we work together with each other we will overcome the huge hurdle of family history.
Tara
I’ve been doing this three years in New Family Search.
“We need to have users assist us in ensuring the accuracy of the data.”
I have PROVEN Family Search workers are merging ordinance work that was done in error a decade ago. I pulled them apart and added documentation, along with an internet address for extensive notes. I also entered discussion notes. Neither of these can be seen from the merge screen.
Brother Keddington stated about three years ago when this program comes out, the ordinance work would be off to the side. FAMILY would add the correct ordinances. This needs to be done, as Family Search workers don’t know the dynamics of the families.
It’s a MUCH MORE time intensive process to unmerge erroneous matches. I ended up spending two hours at my local Family History Center (because I have dial-up access at home) unmerging the same people I’ve corrected in the database for the last 3 years. Only once have I found another family member merging incorrectly and that is because she got confused in Family Tree. Then she tried to undo what she did and couldn’t figure it out.
I’m not spending two hours every four weeks to correct merges of ordinances by non-family Family Search workers.
I’m a self-supporting part-time worker who maintains my own yard and home. I’m a genealogical researcher. I was looking into working at the Family History Library and had contact with the department that hires. After sharing online documentation for a family, I was encouraged to take the test to be certified/accredited (one of those), then they were interested in hiring me, how soon can I take the test. Then it was learned I could not work full time (medical) and they only hire full-time.
I’m not the only one who is irritated by the ongoing process of having to “Watch” and correct data in the database, taking time from our research. Our interest is in finding more family members and submitting them for ordinance work, NOT continually correcting a flawed database.
In my case, I’m even more irritated because Family Search workers are merging, when they don’t know the family dynamics and all the errors in the former I.G.I.
Let the FAMILY do that and work it out among ourselves. You might say some have died. I have faith Heavenly Father will inspire another generation to step in for that family line.
If this database is going to be kept, needing to be addressed
#1 – Family only merges (no church workers)
#2 – Notes & Discussions viewable from the Possible Duplicate/Merge function
Others commenters: what else do you need?\
One of you wanted delete person – What if the duplicate person you want deleted from the primary person (your family member) is my family member (would that remove them from the database, resulting in me having to add them back to the database and how would that effect ordinance dates)?
Please let not all people work with our programs, only members. It is to dangerous!!
Hi Mirielle,
I’m not really sure what you mean by saying that it’s “too dangerous” to allow non-members to work on our programs (which I take to mean FamilySearch and FamilyTree in particular). Some of the most important breakthroughs I’ve had in researching my own family history have come from “non-members.” To not allow them access to the tree would cut off a valuable resource for everyone involved. There have been a number of times when information that I had was incorrect and I was led to the correct information by “non-members”.
If you are referring to the temple ordinance work, only those with an LDS account are allowed access to that area and only those with a valid membership number are able to register for an LDS account.
I research with non-members almost daily. We have a GREAT team. They don’t have a problem with me doing ordinance work for blood related family (they know the deceased family member can accept or reject the work).
But others aren’t as understanding. They want to stop members from performing work for common family members.
Perhaps the comments to this KSL article will help you understand the potential of harm disgruntled non-members can do to the database
http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=1016&sid=19319871&comments=true
Last night I went to a class on learning how to use Family Tree. The instructor’s first comment informed us that we should not use Enternet Exlplore but should use Firefox (and a few other connections all of which I have never heard of). He said that not all functions would work on Enternet Explore. Now, where on the official Family Tree site was this explained???? There seems to be a resistance to sharing important information about these programs. Some time age I was working on New Family Search and found another person working on one of my lines – with much new info, I was elated and communicated with him regarding my doing some of the temple work, since this was my direct line, and had not been done – to my horror he commented that he had no idea what I was talking about! When I called the support people they informed me that yes they had opened it up to a few nonmenbers – again no notification to us “users” that this had occured.
My condolences to all of us in the “older generation” who are not computer experts and have done genealogy work for years – they seem to have forgotten us! Watch out genealogy, service missionaries in my area – you will be spending much time helping me enter my info to produce the paper work necessary for my family to do the “important genealogy work” – taking them to the Temple and giving them the oppotunity for the same blessings available to me.
PS
Family Tree will work in Internet Explorer. Which web tool you use is based solely on user preference.
Family Tree will be open to everyone. Those that sign in without an LDSAccount will not be able to see ordinance information, however these individuals will be able to provide us valuable information that can lead us to further research and discovery.
Our instructor was someone of authority – he and his wife have been training missionaries on the use of Family Tree and has been involved in making the training videos. As I mentioned before, he commented that not ALL features work when using Internet Explorer. I have not been able to access the “request Temple ordinances” on my Internet Explorer and have gone back to using New Family Search to make my reservations.
As regards to nonmembers using the program – how will we know who is and who is not a member so when we contact them we will know what to say and what not to say?
Does anyone know where I can acquire a copy of the PAF 5 program?
“Does anyone know where I can acquire a copy of the PAF 5 program?”
https://familysearch.org/products
I never comment on blog posts but I feel to do so now. I am a little surprised by the tone I find here. Yes I understand the frustration with software that doesn’t do what we think it should, but let me say that designing a product like Family Tree is very, very, very hard, and in my opinion the team responsible for Family Tree has done an outstanding job. For whatever flaws it may have, I consider it an enormous improvement over nFS, and it will only get better. Personally, I have been anxious for its release ever since I learned about its development.
Should we not press on with so great a cause. At first I was frustrated, with the new version, but after spending many hours on it I love it and know that the years of work and effort that have gone in to this huge project was inspired. Let us be positive in our approach and gentle in our requests. Thanks for all the hard work that has been done and for trusting us enough to make corrections. However, I do miss being able to separate merged people. I’m sure this will be addressed sometime. Thanks!
Many of my Swedish ancestors were scrambled long ago in Ancestral File, and others were later incorrectly merged or put in wrong families. I am happy that even though the unmerge process in Family Tree is time consuming, I finally can correct some of those mistakes made long ago. I am also pleased that we can add sources, make comments, etc. that hopefully will keep mistakes from being made in the future. I am especially happy that we can check for possible duplicates and remove those that are not matches, thus also preventing future errors. Finally, I think it is good that the merge process is somewhat cumbersome, as it forces us to really look at the people being combined.
I had problems with Family Tree, and was not sure I liked it when I first started using it, but thanks to the patience of the support staff whom I called frequently, I think I now know what to do, and the more I use Family Tree the more I can see its value.
“I am also pleased that we can add sources, make comments, etc. that hopefully will keep mistakes from being made in the future.”
Presently, those entries can’t be seen from the merge screen.
After you unmerge the individuals, you want to go back into the Possible Duplicates and click on “Not a Match”.
The merge feature hasn’t been working the last few days. The technicians are aware of it.
P.S.
I have clicked on “Watch” for some of my family members. I get an e-mail weekly concerning changes others have made to them (merges, change of vital information, etc).
I have one person who repeatedly is merging in error who will not respond to e-mails. I called Salt Lake City to discuss it with them. Within their directions to press a number for departments, they have announced that the merge feature isn’t working.
If you are having problems with anyone who is adding false information and/or merging, etc. and won’t respond to you, yet continue, you can report their activity. It is possible to ban them from the database if it continues.
In my case, I didn’t lodge a complaint… too many other factors…
I am having all the above problems as well. People have been merged, and some of the person identifier numbers no longer exist on the merge list, so I can’t undo the merge.
Thank you for Family Tree. It is more intuitive and has so many useful features that new FS did not have. The source facility is great. I was able to untangle by myself a looping situation. The Reference guide is well-written and easy to follow, and the Quick start guide is useful to start people on Family Tree. The last page of the Quick Start Guide has links to more detailed information which everyone should become familiar with. We look forward to even more developments. I am a FH Centre Director.
I have taken time to read all the above posted comments. It appears to me that we are lossing site of what the LORD has in mine for his work to move forward. Ture we all feel that our data is correct and should stand as the path to follow. But it was we the people that created the confussion in the begining. It has been a lack of knowledge on mnay of our parts, as to just is required to getting a name to the temple or making sure that the data submitted is correct and complete. The LORD is not looking for mass numbers to be submitted, just one name/one family at a time that is documented and complete. FamilyTree is a step in the right direction and will continue to be direct by the LORD and Savoir. That I know to be true.
Concerned User
It is the Lord’s work. I’ve been researching consistently for 23 years, submitting 1000s for ordinance work. I’ve held back on some because I wasn’t SURE they were right, even though a team of about 12 (non-members) decided it was. Then I received a revelation in the Family History Library. A decade later, without prompting, one descendant line confirmed that revelation. The question was – Do you have any family stories that have been passed down that might not be recorded elsewhere?
But in the meantime, another researcher, who is LDS, performed incorrect ordinance work. Beyond that, more was performed that was incorrect, in linking them with another family of an earlier group who moved into the area 20 years prior and moved out 2 years prior to the later group. (note at the bottom of this page – Johann Adam had a son Jacob also, who died in 1838)
http://www.werelate.org/wiki/User:Schmelzer/Jacob_Smelser_Of_Greene_County%2C_Tennessee
My ancestor keeps getting merged with the group that arrived first in the area.
I’ve been unmerging these people for 3 years. I’ve unmerged them in Family Tree. I didn’t know about the new feature – Not a Match – as our Family History Center staff didn’t even know how to unmerge the matched men (remove ALL of the children and spouse, then when they separate, go into the Possible Duplicate section and click on Not a Match, then the man who separated from the main person – recreate his family by adding his wife and children back to him) until they pulled out the handbook. They didn’t know about Not A Match.
It’s a long process to restore the family, so that new family members can be added to perform their ordinances. If they aren’t separated from the incorrect family, they show an ordinance date – no need to do any work. I submitted the true parents SCHMELZER/WACKER after a technician unraveled an eternal loop. But before the work was completed, incorrect merges were done again, so when the ordinance was completed, it didn’t show because one was already there from the merge (in New Family Search). I was assisting the family who descends from this group and she wasn’t able to find the ordinance cards, so the temple department had to be contacted to get the correct date.
My struggles have been 3 years with the LDS database, but over a decade with other researchers. The incorrect data has been picked up and repeated multiple times at World Connect at Rootsweb and Ancestry. Our DNA administrator has contacted several of these people explaining the proof we have, but since the contacts don’t understand how DNA results work, they have told him – Thanks, but not interested. They have the notes from whomever did the research and it’s solid.
It gets really challenging when different families name their children with similar names and in the case of these SMELSER families, Jacob is popular
http://www.werelate.org/wiki/User:Schmelzer/Timeline
This is just one line. Multiply that by other family lines. IF you looked at the data at the sites I provided above, that takes a lot of time to gather and I’m still gathering data for multiple lines.
Once I feel I have them correct, then I seek to submit them for ordinance work (in some cases, descendants from those who are not my family are so grateful I’ve figured out their family, they (non-members) have given me permission to perform ordinances for their family also). SO, I get to the LDS database and it’s a struggle to get it all corrected so that I can submit them to clear them for ordinances.
It is important to keep in mind that Family Tree was released so that corrections to the program could be seen quicker than if it were in a lab testing mode. Merge and other features being introduced will take some time (for each) to be made truly functional. I have had good success when submitting for temple ordinances by taking one family, checking for duplicates (and requesting assistance when merges do not occur for duplicates via the feedback section), attaching sources, and then preparing the information for ordinances where needed. Yes, it is very time consuming but as we PATIENTLY do this, maintaining our own data management software, this provides the needed information as to how people use Family Tree so that the engineers and programmers can adapt the Family Tree to EVENTUALLY work as it should and have the functuality we desire.
I am trying to learn Family Tree. I am not very smart with computer stuff and have found it hard to understand where I am suppose to go from one part of it to another. My dear grandmother’s genealogy was all messed up and I had a dickens of a time trying to figure out how to get it straightened out. I am determined to master it. I live in an area where there is nobody to go for personal help. But I am going to keep at it until I master Family Tree. I was just getting adjusted to nFS and now my brain is being challenged again. Ha, ha. No Alzheimer for my mind!
Hi Marian. I too had difficulty straightening out my family tree. I found an enormous resource of people and technology at my local library. Perhaps you could find this resource near your own home.
I’m so upset that I could cry. I recently updated my PAF Insight to the newer Family Insight.
I found that the newsearch.org had changed to familysearch.org. I was still able to access my tree on that site.
Everything was fine on newsearh,but when I went to the familysearch.org, I found my tree was in a mess!!
My first thought was to delete the tree and resubmit it,but seems we can’t do that.
I’m left with a messed up tree that I have spent over 30 years researching! I have no idea on how to correct it.
It is okay up to my gg Henry Clay Cunningham (L7T7-V57).
They have merged/updated a father for HC who is not even related.
They have his father as James Herman Cunningham (LZ85-RQ6), and of course my
gg HC has an incorrect ancestry. There are a lot of generations that needs to be removed
and changed back to my tree.
I have to say that I’m very unhappy with the changes on family search.
I understand other people have had similar situations.
I also do not like that other people have access to our tree and allowed to make changes.
It would be nice if we were able to have control over who adds to our tree! I just don’t have the time or even feel like correcting the errors.
Another thing that concern me is that even if the mistake is corrected what if it happens again.
I would really like to remove my tree but seems we can’t do that. I thought the trees belonged to us and not family search.
I had a member of the church who was going to help me,but I was extremely ill that day. I will contact her again after Christmas.
I guess I just needed to blow off some steam
After looking at the comments on Family Tree, I’ve decided to sit on my paper records and wait for Family Tree 2.0 or 3.0. Others have found enough bugs in the Family Tree beta version that I do not have to submit my data to help find the same problems.
The difficulty brought up on this blog is how carefully researched information is being corrupted by Family Tree, beta version. I really don’t care how these problems are caused or fixed.
My concern is that my ancestors will be able to claim the benefits of the temple ordinances I do for them because my data is accurate enough to target them and only them. I am concerned that my ancestors’ temple ordinances might be done correctly and recorded incorrectly, without my ever knowing this.
If there’s a chance for my research data to be corrupted by Family Tree beta, I’ll wait for the next version with the bugs removed. This means that some names that could have been taken to the temple will have to wait. That is the price to be paid for accuracy.
My thanks to those who have documented the problems with Family Tree beta version, those who are working to fix those problems, and those who have to explain the work-arounds at the ward family history center level. Wake me up when Family Tree 2.0 comes out!
I am a member of the public. I share your grief, and I can’t even view Family Tree yet! From what everyone is saying, I’m not sure I want to. I too have spent a third of a century researching my lines. My database contains over 65,000 entries and is growing daily–but as a result of scholarly evaluation, not automatic match-merge. My trunk families have been corrupted in LDS databases since Ancestral File 2.0.
There is a basic question that needs to be answered here: if the new system is to be used (by you-all) for ordinance clearance, then the ordinance dates themselves become part of the identifying information on any given individual. Right? Conceal them, or carry them off to the side, or try to pretend to those of us in the public that they don’t exist, and you run into endless problems. Henry Sherman, 1520-1590, who married Agnes Butter, 1524-1580, was submitted over eighty times, mostly through TempleReady. The only time that mattered was the first time, in 1912 at Logan. Maybe, through the years, the public may have researched the ordinances better than the Temple Index Bureau ever did. So why be afraid of publishing the ordinance dates?
I don’t mean to be negative but NFS is becoming a nightmare not a useful enjoyable tool. I go to the Temple do work for an individual come home to verify some information and an entire family line is gone with a misspelled name in my last relative’s location. Now I have to spend hours trying to correct this. The individual was on the Fan Chart I printed not more than a week ago…he and all his ancestors. This is madness. Now I am supposed to be excited about the new feature allowing me to add documents, stories and pictures to individuals? What and have them all vanish for some unknown reason. I am seriously considering a complete stop to the use of this program. I still have thousands of names in the old PAF system I refuse to put in this system along with hundreds of photos, documents and oral family histories. To be frank it is not worth the effort just to see them vanish, Perhaps you can sense the frustration. I am not a professional full time genealogist – I have callings in my Ward, a full time business to run and a family to take care of . I don’t have time to keep doing things over and over! It is taking the joy out of doing work for my ancestors
.
I am a FH consultant in our ward, and I have been using new.familysearch.org since 2006. It was very difficult to use at first, and yet over the years improved dramatically. I expect the same will happen with FT. I don’t spend much time making sure my family tree pedigree looks correct, I am simply working on one individual or family at a time. Viewing a large picture, of 9, 10, or 30 generations is, in my opinion, beyond the ability of the nature man. I know many people want their familytree to look just like they want, with no corrections. I suggest using your own file on your own computer, and backing it up every time you add information. I document my own files in RootsMagic, but PAF works just as well for basic pedigree and note taking. Those that are separating individuals so the correct individuals will have their ordinances performed have a much harder job before them. It is time consuming and tedious, often so confusing that it really cannot be done. I document with sources, I paste data and notes because attaching sources is very time consuming. I have the source indicated in the note. Additionally, I use the FT to look for additional information, as I do ancestry, rootsweb, and googling. Sometimes I hit a gold mine, and sometimes I am just confused. I am happy with being able to prepare ordinances for my ancestors. I do the best I can with the tools I have, and I try to be as diligent in my research as possible. I know many are not, but compared to other researchers, my work may pale in comparison. I have learned a lot in the 30 plus years that I’ve been doing family history, and I am grateful for the grandmothers, aunts, and grandfathers that visited cemeteries, read old books, wrote in journals, and drew pedigree charts on butcher paper. I know I’ve made my share of mistakes, despite my attention and care, and I will no doubt continue to make errors in typing, and maybe in joining families. I don’t think there are enough records in the world to prove or disprove all the relationships of our pedigrees, so we must go forth with faith. There will be some who will not work with FT. There are members who have changed temple name preparation programs 6-8 times. They have reached the point where learning another program is not on their to do list. Many of them still attend the temple though, and assist me in completing the ordinances. And for that I am very very grateful, because, in the end, that is the most important work, the work In the temple. If I could, I would gladly trade places from behind this computer, to being in the temple, but alas, that is not for me at this time. I have great faith, though, that the work I do has its rewards as the spirit of the devil is much stronger here than in the temple! Not having any programming sense, I am SO glad some do. Left to my own devices, I would not have been able to do the temple work for thousands of my family members. Yes, FamilyTree has some huge problems, but I didn’t expect it to be perfect – did you? Thanks, FamilySearch programmers and missionaries.
I have yet to figure out how to print a four generation pedigree chart,, I can only get three?????
Why when logging in are seeing an article exactly two years old? Is this a bug?
I am sure there is something in the blog more current than this!
I would appreciate a response.
I am a past FHC Director serving in Public Affairs in Japan, but trying to help another, and this is distressing.
I’m not sure why this would happen. I would call FamilySearch Support and ask why. 1-866-406-1830