Often merges are impossible because one record shows that the person is living and the other shows them as deceased.
If both records really are for the same person, correct the record that is wrong, and you can merge them without difficulty.
To Merge By ID: copy the ID of one duplicate, then go to the Person Page of the other duplicate and click Merge By ID and paste or input the ID from the first duplicate.
Researching our Recent Ancestors (despite the privacy restrictions on public records)
This topic is especially important for recent converts and others who are just getting started in family history. I went through this process myself. I interviewed my parents, surviving grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins and beyond. I recorded the information and added it to FamilySearch and its predecessors. I am glad that I did!
Some of us come from places where historical records are readily available. Others do not. But if most of us are looking for information about our parents and grandparents, we will be blocked by privacy laws, designed to protect living people. Even if the people we are researching are deceased, their information may be in the time period that is blocked, typically the most recent 100 years.
RESOURCES
Recently I found an excellent podcast from Lisa Louise Cooke, (one of my favorite family history podcasters). She has lots of helpful suggestions.
Why Dad Becomes the Forgotten Ancestor https://lisalouisecooke.com/2026/06/16/fathers/
Another site listed these resources for recent ancestors:
1931 and 1926 Canada censuses
Passenger Lists & Border Crossings
WWI Personnel Files
Newspapers
Vital Records [Occasionally, but this is where we tend to run into the privacy barrier.]
Gravestones & Memorials [Findagrave is wonderful, as are some other cemetery databases.]
[Definitely add Local History Books to the list, if you are researching in Canada.]
INTERVIEWING RELATIVES
As a new convert, I went through the process of interviewing close and distant relatives. Most were glad to help.
My usual approach was "Hi, I am Bill Buchanan and I am trying to build a family tree for my family.
I wonder if you would be willing to help me?"
I made no reference to the Church because I knew some relatives would find that a distraction.
Lists of interview questions can be found on various sites online. This is one of them.
https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/img_auth.php/4/4a/Interview_Questions.pdf
You can edit the list of questions to meet your needs and interests.
(I kept a few blank family group records handy, for recording the information and especially the relationships.)
CHARTS
Family Group Records and Pedigree charts simplify the process of adding what you learn to the FamilySearch Family Tree. I find the Person Details screen the easiest place to add information to the right person in Family Tree. (As a newbie, I accidentally switched my grandparents' own parents, so I know how easy it is to make such mistakes and how to correct them.)
Recently a friend asked how he could see the ordinances of his uncle who passed away two years ago. I explained that Membership Department probably thinks he is still alive. I suggested that he ask his ward clerk to request the membership record and then record the death. Then Membership Department will make his record visible on FamilySearch and his ordinances will be shown.
This reminded me of my European friends wanting to be sealed to their parents last year. So I checked their mother's record. Her live and proxy ordinances are now visible, including sealing to her husband.
The sealings of the living children are not shown in order to protect their own privacy.
But I am confident they happened. Bravo!
I attended the May 30th Single Adults Family History Activity hosted by the Edmonton North Stake and Spruce Grove Stake. My role was to help participants with their family history. I experienced something that seems miraculous to me.
One of the participants asked for help with his family tree. He had been using Ordinances Ready to print temple cards, but he wanted to do ordinances for his own family.
When he signed into FamilySearch, I noticed that his tree consisted of 4 people: him, his mother, his estranged father and his father's mother. That was not much to go on, when public records of the most recent 100 years are unavailable to protect the privacy of living people. How could we bridge that 100-year gap?
We needed a few miracles. I asked if his parents could provide any additional information. He agreed to phone his mother, and she was able to provide the information on her own parents and grandparents, and the names of his father's parents. These were the clues we needed to move forward. Google searches found obituaries and other helps. Each obituary provided birth and death information and identified the deceased person's parents and siblings. One clue led to another. With lots of heavenly help, in less than 3 hours, his 7-generation fan chart looked as complete as mine. For comparison, I have been working on mine for over 60 years!
There is absolutely no guarantee of this kind of success. The person I was helping had relatives on both sides of his family, who had previously added family members to Family Tree. We just needed to find them and connect him to them. This is part of the power of FamilySearch, where everyone is working on a shared family tree, instead of thousands of tiny separate family trees. Often, if you can add a few generations to Family Tree, it will connect to research that goes back much further.
I have a testimony of the power of family history and temple work to bless the living and the dead. The miracles continue and I want to be part of them. The Savior invites us to help in his work of bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man.
- Bill Buchanan, Spruce Grove Stake Consultant
