Unable to remove a father from a FamilySearch tree

[hurworth]

I've been trying to edit an ancestor's tree at FamilySearch.  Another relative (but not a descendant) recently reattached the father of her half-siblings as her father.  I have unattached this relationship a few times as he was not her biological father, the last time only two weeks ago.  He could barely be considered her stepfather either because for most the brief time he was married to her mother my ancestor lived with an aunt. 

Have you ever struck this problem at FamilySearch?  It's as if it's somehow been locked. 

Her parentage has been frequently changed by people who think a record index is proof and don't have the certificates, or people who don't know how to use the site, or people who perhaps should focus on their own family stop inserting errors in other trees.

I contacted the relative and asked him to remove this father because this man was not her father.  He says the Thrulines at Ancestry say he was.  We actually know from DNA who the father was!

If he believes every Thruline the tree is going to be an absolute mess.  Fortunately I have hundreds of our mutual relatives on my watchlist and am notified of changes.

[Girl Guide]

Have you tried contacting Family Search to ask them how to solve your problem?

https://www.familysearch.org/ask/help

[BumbleB]

My apologies, in advance, for this.

I wouldn't hold out too much hope for help from Family Search.  Many years ago I used to attend the local LDS research centre.  One day whilst I was there, a lady was uploading her family tree.  I overheard her telling the staff member that she wasn't too sure that she had the correct wife for an individual.  The answer was along the lines of "that doesn't matter".    

Perhaps things have changed in the meantime 

[Girl Guide]

You are probably right Bumble Bee.  I wrote some time ago about a record that was only too obviously wrong re dates.  Would they change it?  No way! 

It seems that once a record is put on the website it stays there regardless of whether it is correct or not.

I also get slightly fed up with the fact that although I put a specific country down, instead of saying there are no records for that person, I get a load of USA based info.

[Gadget]

I've not used FS tress so I'm not sure about ownership.  Does the tree that you wish to change belong to you or the relative, as an Ancestry tree might be, or is it 'common ownership' ?

[whiteout7]

I am pretty sure Family Search trees are colaborative so no one owns them.

Like you say though DNA is the ultimate proof.

Original records are good too.

Not sure what you can do.

Can you add a note perhaps of some type to say proven by DNA not to be the biological father?

[Gadget]

I would think that an annotation would be the best way of sorting out the problem. If it's collaborative, you can't force anyone to change the information, even if you believe it's wrong.

Gadget

[hurworth]

Normally you can edit relationships quite easily, but it's as if the relationships for my ancestor have been locked.

It's letting me make other edits for this man, such as his date of death.  Another relative had attached a BillionGraves record for someone else who was William George and not George.  But I found an obituary for the BillionGraves man and he was Irish, not English, twenty years older and a well respected pillar of the community with several married sons and daughters.  Definitely not the same man so I've removed it.  It's lets me change that but not the relationships. 

It's all very strange!

The person who made the change has since tried to change it back but he can't either.  I sent a message to say that I could see that he'd attached George again but that's incorrect because we all know George wasn't her father. 

[hallmark]

When were the changes made?


Often sites can take time for the whole system to catch up!


I know the change is visible to you but it could easily be in the queue for the Mainframe computer to cross check it for possible clues etc...and as such, is "locked"!

Same too with Ancestry.... it can take up to 30 days for Tree Settings etc to be changed on Mainframe.

It is possible it may just be a matter of waiting.