What if the relative is on both sides of the family and someone wants to merge info?

Question

My great grandmother on my grandfathers side remarried when her husband passed. She married my great grandfather on my grandmothers side. She also had another husband who passed away. If merged I am afraid she wouldn't show correctly on both sides.

Comments

So is there someone involved in those marriages that currently has two different profiles on Wikitree?  If not, then I don't think any merging should happen, or even be needed.

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The WikiTree terminology can be a bit confusing. I have seen "merging" used many times where WikiTree would say "connecting".

Answer 1

If the two profiles are the same person, they MUST be merged. She will show with multiple marriages and that is how she appears on both sides of the family. That info won't disappear but the true relationships will then be visible.  You may be confusing relationships with the individual. An individual may have a lot of relationships and they can be quite complex but that person remains a distinct individual.

Answer 2

It should be fine. I've just done a merge where my family profile had two spouses, and the other profile had only one spouse, and nothing got lost.

In your case, you might end up with a duplicate husband and children who need to be merged too.

Answer 3

Hello Cheryl.

There is nothing to worry about.

This is how your tree looks:

https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Harper-Family-Tree-6280

You can add all the referred marriages (and please, do  ). Your tree will remain as is because your great-grandparents (in the order they are shown) are the parents of your grandparents, no matter if they married each other later in time.

Answer 4

Not to worry Cheryl,

These types of intertwined relationships within families occur frequently,  WikiTree has seen it before and  is capable of handling the merges;  it adds clarity to what's happened.