By Ralph and Linda Miller, Area FH Advisers in the northern part of New England
New FamilySearch brings together all the information that anyone has submitted about their ancestors. Combining duplicate individuals is an important part of the process, to avoid duplicate, unnecessary ordinances. When you combine, other people’s submissions (and any wrong information they contain) will not go away – the information is combined and people looking at the detail file can see all the different variations.
This can be a good thing – but it also can be a bad thing if we don’t understand correctly. If your ancestor was entered by someone else – and temple ordinances done – with an approximate birth date (which may be 20 years off) and only part of their full name, and perhaps the wrong or inexact place, it may be upsetting to you. You have better information. It is important to you that the person receive temple ordinances based on exact and correct information – which you have, although the ordinances already were performed with vague or wrong information.
So what should you do? Are the ordinances valid? Is it best to re-do them so the ancestor hears his correct name, sees his correct date, and knows you really care enough to make the record exactly right?
Answers:
- Enter the correct information, using the Summary view – the original wrong one does not go away, but you will have the right information there, and by entering the source, people will understand where you got the information. The ordinance does NOT need to be redone.
- Ordinances do NOT need to be redone to correct spellings or inaccuracies. Repetition of ordinances to “correct” inaccuracies is exactly what the church is trying to avoid.
If you have specific questions, check the Help Center in nFS or call Support (1-866-406-1830).
What mistakes require ordinances to be redone? (from nFS Help Center) Ordinances need to be redone only under a few circumstances:
- Wrong gender.
- Proxy ordinances were erroneously performed while an individual was alive.
- Individuals were sealed to the wrong spouse or parents.
In each of these cases, contact support@familysearch.org and they will help you. They will need identifying information about you and about the person in question.
Thank you to Brother and Sister Miller for allowing us to use this article.
What if the ordinance date is incomplete? There is only a year or a month and year. Should the work be submitted again for a complete date? Just want to know as I have ancestors with incomplete ordinance dates.