Question

Why do some records have 2 to 4 births and how does one go about correcting them?

Comments

Could you give an example please? I'm not quite clear on what you are asking.

Answer 1

I'm going to throw out a guess here.

The profile was created through a GEDCOM upload. The GEDCOM was generated from a family tree software package that allows multiple date entries. FamillyTreeMaker used to do this-- don't now if it still does.

When the GEDCOM was imported into Wikitree, wikitree's back-end software chose one of those dates for placing into the Birth (or Death or Marriage) field, and dumped the rest into the narrative as it does with all other data fields.

Result: multiple dates for a given birth, death or marriage (or any other fact, for that matter).

Comments

How to go about correcting them. Find sources for them. Analyze the quality of those sources, and come up with the most likely single date.

OR

List them in the bio something like this:

* According to the 1900 census, she was born in August 1869. (cite the census details)

* Her age at marriage in 1895, was 25, calculating back to a birth year of 1870. (cite the marriage record)

* On her death certificate, her son-in-law (the informant) gave her birth date as 23 August 1868.(cite the death certificate)

* On her gravestone, her death is simply listed as 1870.(cite the find-a-grave memorial that includes a photo of her gravestone)

etc etc

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I have the same problem. for example: After my GED was accepted,  Dolman-249:Found multiple copies of birth date. Using 22 December 1913. What do I do with the other ones? I am not sure if I have anyone in my tree that does not hae multiple birthdays. Since there was a discrepancy I thought it best to include all of them instead of deleting them for the simple reason that one of the others may be right.

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See my advice immediately above.

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These should all have sources. I cannot delete the sources so I think the best way to do it is like you said, to note each difference in the biography. Another good point that you made was that the GEDCOM was created through a tree maker that allows multiple dates. I am hoping it does allow multiple dates because different documents have different dates or estimations on them. I have seen different estimates of births on different census. I have seen different births on different death documents such as death certificate and Social Security death. Does WikiTree suggest a specific tree maker to use to perhaps keep everything in uniform?

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When wikitree processes a gedcom-- from whatever software program-- it picks ONE date (when there are multiple) and pastes the remaining variations into the narrative. There *should* be sources attached to those IF they had sources attached to them in the original gedcom.

Currently, wikitree doesn't do any syncing with any genealogy software program, so, no, no suggested software. The only "engagement" that wikitree does with genealogy software is to accept the upload and then import a GEDCOM that is generated from a genealogy software program. One time deal.

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Thank you Jillaine Smith for the explanation. But what happened to some of the info that I brought over in the GEDCOM? Among other things many of my family amd ancestors do not show that many of them are married  are not showing as being married. The information is there which is hard for me to find in my tree  but it is there. but just looking at my tree, you  would never know. I hope if anyone cleans my tree, that they talk to me first. I think it would save time. I am trying to clean it myself, but I don't have the time to do it quickly