Family Historian User Group

I have just realised that when I started using Family Historian several years ago, I somehow gave my Grandfather a second "unknown" spouse and a child. The child (my cousin) was in fact the child of my Grandfather and his first, and only, spouse. I have been able to add the child to my Grandfather and his only wife (spouse) but cannot delete/edit the erroneous entry.
Any suggestions?

Right click on the Child on the Focus window where it shows in the wrong family and select Unlink. The Family record should clean it's self next time you reload the file.

Jane wrote:Right click on the Child on the Focus window where it shows in the wrong family and select Unlink. The Family record should clean it's self next time you reload the file.

Thanks for that but it appears to have deleted my Grandfather altogether leaving my Grandmother with no spouse and her children fatherless! How do I reverse what I have done - I might add I have not saved the deletion but there doesn't appear to be a revert button?

In the menu select Edit > Undo.

silly me! But its not highlighted!

Do you mean it is grayed out? If it is grayed out then I think that means that a save has been done since the last change was made although I'm not sure about that. An automatic save is done every 5 minutes I think (see Tools > Preferences > File Load/Save at the bottom).

FH automatically takes snapshots of the file once in awhile. You might be able to revert to before the change. Use File > Backup/Restore > Revert to Snapshot... to see a list of available Snapshots.

If you selected Unlink, as Jane advised, nothing will have been deleted. If you accidentally clicked on a Delete option you would have seen a warning message saying "Careful! Are you sure you wish to delete this record?" Do you remember seeing a warning like that?

I suspect you unlinked your grandfather from his wife. If you go to the Records window, Individuals tab, can you find your Grandfather listed there? If so he can be re-linked to his wife.

Maybe you need to clarify some details: when you say you have "been able to add the child to my Grandfather and his only wife (spouse)" do you mean you have created a new record for the child and now need to delete the old (incorrect) record and the unknown spouse? Or do you mean you have now linked the original (child) record to your grandfather and his wife so that the same child is now linked twice, once to your grandfather and wife and once to your grandfather and the 'unkown' spouse?

If you have ONLY used Unlink and not Delete, it should be recoverable, as all the Individual records will still exist.

(It sounds like you unlinked your Grandfather from his family instead of unlinking his Child. )

In Focus Window, against your Grandmother, click Add Husband/Partner and choose your Grandfather.

Before starting these exercises it is wise to create a backup.
During the exercise make a note of key Record Id so those Individuals can easily be located again.

BTW: Once you have closed FH the Undo list is lost.

Lorna posted something similar at about the same time.
To answer her questions you need to know the Record Id of the people involved, otherwise it is difficult to tell if two entries with the same Name are one Individual record linked into two places, or two different records.

Firstly, thank you all for your help and advice. You must now realise that I am not really into this modern computer stuff so I do appreciate your fore bearing. I think I am now getting confused as to what I have done or not done!

I still have the details of my Grandfather and Grandmother and have their individual ID numbers - 51 and 25. How do I link or rather, re-link them? Manually? Have been into the "help" but the only link I found was to link an individual with his face (?picture?"). Have I missed seeing a button somewhere?
Cheers.

Go to the Family you want to link them to. Click on "Add Father" or "Add Child as appropriate, select Existing record and pick them from the list.

The video here explains the process
how_to:changing_relations|> Changing Relations

The video link Jane has given shows you how to move children from one family to another. However at this stage you are asking how to re-link your grandfather and grandmother as husband and wife. To do this, select your grandfather (ID 51) and view him in the Focus Window.

If he has the 'unkown' spouse shown next to him you will need to click Add More Relatives for <grandfather's name> below the panel displaying his name, then click Add Spouse. (If he doesn't have any spouse displayed beside him click the field beside his name where it says Add Wife/Partner.) Now select Link Existing Record. You will now see a list of all existing individuals in your file. Select your grandmother (ID 25) and click OK. Now select Make <grandfather's name> the husband in one of the listed families(requires selection). Assuming your grandmother was only married once, there will be one existing family listed above. Select it and click OK.

You should now find that your grandparents are reunited, and the date and place of their marriage should have been preserved.

When you have done this, tell us the situation with the child who is in the wrong family. Are there two records with the same name but different ID numbers, one attached to the correct parents and one to your grandfather and the 'unkown' wife? Or is there one record linked twice, once to each family?

HOORAY! It looks as if I have done it!! I don't know quite how I did it but it appears I have . Thanks again for everyone's help. Proves the value of belonging to FHUG! I have now pressed SAVE.

Well done. I take it you mean that as well as re-linking your grandparents as a couple you have also now removed the unknown spouse and extra link/child. Do make sure that the details of your grandparents' marriage (date and place) have been preserved. Just ask again if anything still doesn't look right.