Double Trouble: Resolving Duplicates in the Family Tree
by Kathryn Grant
If
you’ve worked in Family Tree for any length of time, you’ve
probably run across duplicate records — in other words, two
records that represent the same person. An earlier column
explained how many of these duplicates got into Family Tree.
What’s
the problem with duplicates? Mainly, duplicate records can lead to
duplicate research and duplicate temple work. And duplicate temple
work may not be such a problem in and of itself — in other
words, although duplicate ordinances don’t provide any
additional benefit to a person, they don’t really hurt the
person either.
However,
the person who is hurt is the one who yearns for the blessings
of the temple but whose work is delayed as duplicate ordinances are
performed for others.
Fortunately,
Family Tree allows users to resolve duplicates by merging them.
During the merge process, you compare two records to determine
whether or not they represent the same person. If they do, you save
the best information and combine the two records into one.
How
do you do that, you ask? This presentation helps provide the answer:
Finding
and resolving duplicates isn’t impossibly difficult, though it
takes thought, care, and attention to detail. It’s an important
part of preparing the record that will someday be presented to the
Lord — a record that will be “worthy of all acceptation”
(D&C 128:24).
Kathryn Grant is a user assistance professional with a passion
for usability and process
improvement. She also loves family history and enjoys the challenge and
reward of building her family tree.
As a child, she lived outside the United States for four years because of her father's job. This experience fueled her natural love of words and language, and also taught her to appreciate other cultures.
Kathryn values gratitude, teaching, learning, differences, and unity. She loves looking at star-filled skies, reading mind-stretching books, listening to contemporary Christian music, attending the temple, and eating fresh raspberries.
Kathryn teaches Sunday family history classes at the BYU Family History Library, and presents frequently at family history events. For more information, visit her Family History Learning Resources page
