How to Help a Relative or Friend "Do Genealogy"

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How to help others is a live question on my mind, because my daughter's mother-in-law is in town, and is interested to learn more about her family. A few years back, I created a tree (in my own tree) for her son Jason, my son-in-law. We'll soon be meeting so she can see what I've found so far.


Also, we had a very fun time at the Genealogy Help Desk last Thursday at the Auburn KCLS Library. If you would like to practice helping others and live close to Auburn, Federal Way or Renton,  please write to Outreach@skcgs.org to volunteer.  Libraries in those locations are asking for us to come help!!



All Together Or Separate?

Common question -- why make someone else's tree part of your own, as I did? Isn't it better to have separate trees? There are advantages either way, in my opinion. The most important factor I think of, is this from Family Tree Magazine, 

"keep in mind that the further back in time you start splitting your files, the more likely it is that you’ll run into families that intermarried—information you’d then have to record in both databases.[1]" 

In this case, while Jason's father's line is not likely to intersect mine, his mother's very well could.

My other major reason for an all-inclusive tree is that I want it to be useful to my grandson, so all of his relatives I've found are in it. 


Should You Build a Tree for Someone Else?

And of course, there is the question of whether you or someone else should start the tree? If they have no interest in creating a tree, then the more experienced researcher should create a tree, in my opinion. However, if the person wants to learn how to do this, you have a "genealogy coaching" job. I have enjoyed both! Helping someone succeed in doing their own research is really rewarding. In the case of Jason's parents, neither of them are able to create a tree, and are happy to hear that I'm doing it.


Where to Create a Tree?

Where should you create a tree? Some use the genealogy software on their computers as the "main" tree, and use the online trees as skeletons, as "research trees" and for other strategies. I use MyHeritage and FamilySearch Family Tree, but my main tree is at Ancestry, for two reasons. 

1. Ancestry's tree-building tools are unmatched. You can build anything from a "quick and dirty" tree to an enormous and detailed one. Ancestry does not limit the size of trees even with a free account. And the trees are easy to share with others, whether they be family members or DNA matches.

2. With one exception, Ancestry's DNA tools are the best, and as we increasingly use DNA evidence to support our trees and investigate mystery relationships using DNA, I find their trees and tools are the most useful, even for matches I find in other platforms. That exception, of course, is the lack of a chromosome browser. On the other hand, while interesting, segment data is rarely critical to solving a mystery. Fortunately, it is easy to download the DNA data from Ancestry and upload it elsewhere, except 23andMe.


Other Options

The other tree-building site is MyHeritage, which has two major drawbacks, in my eyes. First, their full-record access membership is expensive compared to how many records one can access on Ancestry, and they limit free membership trees to 1000, which is paltry. And they make it far too easy to create duplicate profiles from record matches, but have NO tools to gracefully merge those profiles. 

On the other hand, MyHeritage DNA tools are excellent, and everyone seriously using DNA in their research must connect it to a tree on all the sites, or the tools don't work properly. Only 23andMe is an exception, since their only tree is private and is created by 23andMe from DNA data and matches.

If instead of sharing an online tree, you both want to share a FamilyTreeMaker, Legacy or RootsMagic database, there are ways to do that. However, since that's not what I do, better advice is found elsewhere. It is common and researchers have been doing this since the dawn of the personal computer. User groups can help!


What is Helpful?

When helping another person who is building their own tree, my advice is to help them start an Ancestry tree, linking them to Ancestry Academy articles and videos, and the many excellent Ancestry help files, such as Sharing a Family Tree or Sharing AncestryDNA® Results. 

Online trees are not only popular, they promote genealogy and intensive family history, because we now have the tools to include images of original records, family photos and even family stories - and citations! If we do excellent research, consult with and collaborate family members, and share our research widely, we are truly creating a legacy we can be proud of. The more people we help get into it, the better.

Last word: don't forget to share your wonderful research on the collaborative sites such as FamilySearch Family Tree, Geneanet and Wikitree. These sites are free for all to use, so are really easy to share. 

1. https://familytreemagazine.com/strategies/splitting-family-tree/


Valorie Zimmerman


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