To fix household groupings in United States Census records, use the Drag Names option

Sometimes in United States Census records, names are not grouped properly into households. You could see a group of Others on the Record who do not belong in the group. The new image viewer allows you to drag names and create a record group. Most of the United States Census records collections allow you to edit in the new image viewer.

Before you start

• Look carefully at the original documents and family relationships before you drag names to different groups. After you drag names, all previous relationships are deleted.
• On the mobile Family Tree app, material described as being on a right-side panel can show below the record image.

Steps (Web and mobile)

1. Start from the census record details page of a person (the page that shows the indexed data).
2. In the dark bar at the top, where you see the person's name, click Edit.
   
   1. If you see a box showing some data from the index with Edit buttons, you are in the old image viewer. The collection is not one that you can correct using the drag names option.
   2. If you see the census image and, to the right, the indexed data for the person, you are in the new image viewer. You can drag names to fix household groupings.
3. Click + and enlarge the census image so you can clearly see the household members.
4. On the panel to the right of the image, at the top, click the back arrow. You now see the image index.
5. On the Image Index, you see faint gray lines that separate record groups. Scroll to the family group that you want to fix.
6. Click the arrow to the right of the first name in the record group. The name is in bold and shows as the Principal person in the group.
7. To the right of the Relationships heading, click the pencil icon.
8. To the right of "Help with Relationships", click the small down arrow.
9. Click Drag Names.
10. Scroll to the household that you are fixing.
11. Click and drag the primary person of the new household up to New Record Group. Hold the name over the box until you see a blue line outline—then drop.
12. A New Record message appears. Click in the Record Types field. You can scroll down the list of record types. Or, begin to type the record type, such as Census. Click the correct record type. Click Save.
13. Find the new group in the image index.
14. Click and drag each household member to the new group. As you hold the name over the name of the primary person, wait for a blue outline, and then drop the name into the group.

As needed, add or correct relationships within the new group.

Related article

How do I correct relationships in the transcription of a historical record?