Genealogy Chat

Thank you all so much.....you won;t believe this but I am looking at FTM and thinking what the heck is that, and then I saw the light!!! my husband had this bought as a "stocking filler" for christmas a couple of years ago (despite the fact that I am the one doing the research) and we have never used it, how sad is that, so I have decided to give it a whirl and I am going to look at having an extended tree on there. So once again thanks for the inspiration. Community has such a wealth of experience for which I am truly thankful.... or I would still be stumbling along in the dark, even with help it is quite murky.... sooo thanks again. M.

I also have my full family tree on Familytree Maker at home. My online tree is only a skeleton tree with no living people on it except for myself. If I find a connection on Genes I can send them a report from Familytree Maker.

SatNav, Familytree Maker tells you exactly how you're related to anyone else in your tree.

I too have a very small online tree and expand all siblings but off line I have I have an extended tree on Family Tree Maker 2010 which tells me how everyone is related to me.

Someone has already mentioned it is personal choice to what information is added.

I had to do a major pruning job when I could not find my way around my own tree.
How embarrassing it is when a contact asks "how are we related?" and you have to admit that you don't know.

Hi

I keep an offline tree for security - that way I can back it up regularly and there's no chance of it getting deleted by either Ancestry or GR. With FTM 2009 I can add photos, census reports, etc to each relative. Plus the reports I can print off from FTM are excellent and I can share those with relatives.

Plus having the offline tree with all the info and the online trees with the bare bones means that I get requests for help or offers of information only from those that are directly related and not from 5th cousins 70 times removed.

That's just my personal way of doing it.

And its perfectly normal to go off on a tangent or two!! If you want to be more disciplined you can pick on a particular relative and follow just that one through until you have exhausted all the info you can find on him/her, and then start with the next one.

I don't think there's any right or wrong way of doing this - whatever works for you is just fine.....


EDIT - but then as Margaret has pointed out - you never know where information may come from, so maybe I'm limiting myself too much!!

I definitely research the siblings. You never know who you might make contact with who is a distant cousin who might have old family photos or papers. I was able to make contact with a distant cousin who happened to have the original family bible. She very kindly scanned the pages and sent tnem to me. It was a great help.

Hi thanks for your replies and comments, I like the idea of a blood relations tree but even now when my tree is small I feel as if I am running to all four corners at once and going off on a tangent (or two) is this "normal"?
Ninjalady you mention an online and offline tree, does it not get very cumbersome to have offline with everyone on it, I am currently using on line and then I printed some ancestor charts from lost cousins.com but they are only A4 size so I am using them for direct ancestors.
thank you all once again it is much appreciated. M

Do whatever you feel able to manage.
Mine is a blood related tree.
I am aiming for all my ancestors and all their descendants and include spouses .

Purely my personal opinion........it's your tree wellybobs so put whatever information you like on it!!

If you want to do all the little branches and twiglets then that's your choice.

My online trees have bare roots but my offline tree has offshoots all over the place, but then I'm a nosy mare.

Actually it does help to know spouses, etc of siblings as that can help identify possible witnesses on marriages certificates and therefore verify you have the correct family.

Hi

I try to include everyone in the family ,siblings and there married partners and there children .

You may come across relatives that have more personal information that they can share with you.
Slowly build up all the information from all branches of the tree.

The more the merrier so to speak.
Suex

Hi, I would appreciate some advice as how far to go when adding siblings to a family tree. Is it better to keep to a direct line of enquiry and only name the siblings or to add their marriages etc., in the hope of locating more "cousins" aunts etc., I would appreciate your experience of this. many thanks