Need help from the merge team for Matthew Patton

Question

Is there any way to "unmerge" a previously merged profile?
 Patton-578 and Patton-2780 were merged 2016.  There are notes on the page in the form of bulletin (in 2017) and others that ask questions about the children who were born in both Ireland and America in the same timeframe.  

These include two well documented veterans of the American Revolutionary War, 

• PATTEN, MATTHEW Ancestor #: A088909
• Service: NORTH CAROLINA Rank(s): SOLDIER
• Birth: 1738
• Death: 8-25-1825 JEFFERSON CO INDIANA
• Service Description: 1) MILITIA
• Residence: 1) City: * SALISBURY DIST-PROB - State: NORTH CAROLINA
  
  and 
   
• PATTEN, MATTHEW
• Ancestor #: A088912
• Service: SOUTH CAROLINA Rank(s): PATRIOTIC SERVICE, LIEUTENANT
• Birth: DUBLIN IRELAND
• Death: ANTE 8-29-1785 CAMDEN DIST SOUTH CAROLINA
• Service Description: 1) CAPT WALKER'S CO; FURNISHED MATERIAL AID
• RESIDENCE: 1) City: CAMDEN DIST - State: SOUTH CAROLINA
• SPOUSE: 1) REBECCA X
• Spouse: 1) JANE X
  
   

Answer 1

Simple answer is No, you can't undo a merge.  The only thing we can do is create a new profile for one of them, review changes log to see profiles at the time of the merge and try to separate them, as much as possible.  I have done it a couple of times, and it is a slow process, trying to make sure each person has the correct relatives, sources, biography.

Answer 2

Linda is correct. I have done this many times. It is easiest if you create a new profile for the one with the least connections to the bad merge. You must create a profile for the one you are making new, remove any bio text that belongs to this person to the new profile. Remove any connections (relationships) that belongs to the newly made profile, and any sources. Then you have to check the dates and places to see who they belong to and try to make sure both profiles have the correct data.

I would be glad to help.  Linda is also correct that the first thing to do is to make sure you know exactly who the two profiles were that were merged.  

Let me know if you need help.

Comments

It you want, I can do it after work today. That’s in about 8 hours. Looks like you have a clear idea of the two individuals so you can probably do this.

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I added the Bad Merge Category and put a now on it for no one to edit until it’s corrected. They are really hard to undo once they have been edited several times. Thanks for pointing this out. We had many bad merges in 2016.

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I definitely need help.  I am not that familiar with this family, but am looking for Mary Patton, who married William Long and some trees on FamilySearch.org give her parents as the Revolutionary War soldier, Matthew Patton, so I am trying to figure out which one!

Please feel free to have anyone who is familiar with untangling family messes.  It does seem as if there is enough information in each child's profile to indicate which ones were born in Ireland, though.

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There are also these:

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Patton-2780

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Patton-655

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Patton-658