Porch Swings, Fireflies, and Jelly Jars: Editing a Record on Family Search

Tuesday, January 31, 2023

Editing a Record on Family Search

Recently, I discovered that I had misidentified my ancestor John Lewis on the 1830 census of Jackson County, Alabama because his name had been incorrectly transcribed by a Family Search indexer. Once the mistake a mistake like that is found it can be corrected by editing the entry.

Here is how the mistranscribed entry looked -

John Lewis had been indexed as John "Seuss," making him impossible to find since the two names are not the same phonetically. It is possible to edit this entry.

In the image index window, there is a page icon. Click on it.

A full page for John Seuss opens up with an edit button below his name. This, I believe, only happens when you use the new version of Family Search.

Click on the edit button and select make a new edit.

Then click the "select a field" button. The field that I have the option to edit on this particular record his the name, which is what I want to edit.

My next step is to replace Seuss with Lewis. Highlight Lewis on the census page very carefully so that it is still readable. Then select a reason for the edit and save.

No comments:

Post a Comment

I will always try to respond to your comments. If you are anonymous and cannot be reached by email and if you do not choose to follow responses to your comments, then please check back here for a response.

About Me:

My favorite memories from childhood include visits to my grandparents in East Texas. At dusk we'd run around my grandparent's yard, catching fireflies and putting them in jelly jars. When darkness descended, we'd return to the porch. It was a special treat to sit in the porch swing. Inevitably, the adults would launch into family stories of Pink Kelley's brush with Sherman's troops, of Great Uncle Hood Brown's tragic death, and of the Kelley family's wagon trip to Texas, among many others. The stars on those nights were magical.

I began my genealogy research in the summer of 1975, less than a month after my high school graduation. When I married in 1983, I started researching my husband's family as well. I was fortunate to start this hobby as a youngster because it gave me an opportunity to correspond with researchers who are long gone; to ask questions of family members -although not enough, never enough; and travel a bit. The result is a lot of information. I've come to the realization that I will probably never be able to afford to publish, so this is my publication.

This blog contains a mixture of information on my husband's family and mine. I've expanded into a second blog called Flimsies and Frippery with the intention of focusing on quilts and dolls, but I have several historical research entries there with more planned, which is why I don't get more quilting done.

Ultimately, genealogy is my passion. This is where I plan to record family stories, research adventures and misadventures, and those serendipitous moments that happen out of the blue. You should be warned that I have a bad habit of going back and adding information and links to individual entries, so it is beneficial to check back often if there is a family of particular interest to you. If you wander in and discover that you are a cousin, please contact me.

Since many younger family members who are new to genealogy are starting to contact me about their ancestors, I've started adding family trees to help them see how everyone is connected. The trees are divided between my family and my husband's. You will find them below under the label's Family Trees - My Husband's Side and Family Trees - My Family's Side.

For better or worse, this blog reflects the research, thinking, and writing of a human.