FamilySearch Fanatic

10/08/2026

Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started FS

Dangling Relationships: Sometimes a record is only attached to one parent which creates one relationship. Then the same person is connected to a source for the same family. These relationships appear to be duplicates (look below the family) and can be very confusing, especially when attaching records. If you can determine the correct parents then you can then edit this 'extra relationship' and remove the child so that it only appears with the family. I use the Reason Statement: Child of other relationship.

10/06/2026

Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started FS

Obituaries: Many times there are relationship errors from when the record was transcribed. Watch for Sons/Sisters-In-Law listed as Sons/Sisters. Obits don't always show attach to the correct person.

09/28/2026

Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started FS

Attaching Sources: At first I attached sources and didn't think about checking the Events afterwards. I didn't know that when you attach a source it doesn't overwrite if something already exists in that field! Refreshing the page shows new info but it doesn't show what hasn't been added. Be sure to check all of the Events so that important info is not left out.

09/23/2026

Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started FS

Page Refresh: I didn't know how important doing a Page Refresh was after adding info and/or attaching sources. Not only does it show the new info added but it pings the system to search for new hints!

09/21/2026

Updating the Old Way of Attaching Census Sources

09/20/2026

Unable to Reset Marriage Record

09/16/2026

Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started FS

Source Linker > Change Person drop-down: This would have been good to know about. Of course, in earlier years, I don't think 'relationships' even showed, but I definitely didn't know to switch to the primary person for the record.This is a huge help with getting everyone that appears in a record matched up with those in the tree!

09/14/2026

Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started FS

How to Delete someone without Deleting them! At first I tried deleting people when I made a mistake or if someone was attached to the wrong family, etc. Then I tried just detaching them but this didn't seem like a good idea because it left these people unattached to the tree and 'floating' around like lost leaves. I eventually figured out a much better way. I could just change the name of the person, the dates, and even the gender and then merge them into an existing person. This works very well and doesn't leave 'floaters' for others to ponder about.

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09/08/2026

Things I Wish I Had Known When I Started FS

Merges: It makes it easier for people to follow changes if you merge into an older profile instead of a newer one. The info is still there but is harder to locate.

Unfortunately, the phone app doesn't show the added dates so this is only possible using the web site.

09/06/2026

Adding Source Marriage Dates