Question

Where do you start when merging has created a nightmare list of children or siblings?

Answer 1

"Begin at the beginning," the King said, very gravely, "and go on til you come to the end: then stop." -- Lewis Carroll

:) But seriously, one at a time. Just pick one sibling, find all the duplicates of that person, and merge them. Then move on to the next.

Comments

Thank you--but I am finding children misattributed to wrong parents (i.e., children allegedly born when a parent was 10 yrs old, etc)--I think at least 2 and perhaps 3 generations have been conflated--people with the same name who are siblings, sons, etc.    And also merges that need to be done in earlier generations . . . And none of these are in profiles I created or control.  Trying to research the Hicks line of my family is turning into a merge/match/sort problem.  SHould I go back to the earliest generation in the Hicks/Hix line and try to start sorting from there?

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Yes, the best place to start is always at the earliest generation. It's easiest to have parents sorted out before starting on their children.

If a lot of them are managed by the same person, you could ask that person to add you to the trusted lists of the whole family, which would help you complete the merges a lot more quickly.

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Thank you--this is helpful--as is the reminder of "recycled" names (among siblings and also from generation to generation).  I will tread carefully . . .but I would really like to help straighten this out, even when these people are not in my direct line . . . it's the fascination of untangling and sorting that has captured me . . .it's sort of addicting.  Thanks for your help.

Answer 2

I don't know this line, but just a note to us all to remember that high mortality led to children's names being recycled within a family - it is possible to have for example 2 Johns or Janes in a line of offspring, so accurate dobs & dods are critical .... I always face reducing sibling duplicates with trepidation!

 

oh Lianne love the quote :)