Beginning to Use the FamilySearch Family Tree

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FamilySearch Family Tree logo: Wikimedia Commons

Why Not?

Many of us hesitate to use the FamilySearch Family Tree (FSFT) because we don't have complete control over the profiles of those who've died, nor to whom they are linked. These are valid points. However, if each user carefully links all the important sources to each profile and writes informative "reason statements" when adding them, the profiles are rarely changed. Instead, they are found by other relatives who can attach records and images you may not have access to, such as family photos, Bible records, etc. 

The FSFT is different from sites where you can build your own tree, such as Ancestry.com or in software on your own computer or on paper. 

World Tree + Records

It is a "world tree," where the goal is to have one, and only one profile for each person ever born, linked together as families. Wikitree and Geni are the two other world family trees; together they are smaller than the FSFT, which is a behemoth. And no other site contains the billions (5,304,237,568 images as of 18 Feb 2024--see for yourself at https://www.familysearch.org/records/images/) of images of historical records, with more uploaded every second!

Even if you do not want to build a tree on FamilySearch, it is worth searching, for hints, links to sources, photos, obituaries, memories and other resources you may not yet have located, or to which you do not have access.


How To Start

So, how to begin? The usual suggestion is to begin with yourself, and then move methodically back, one generation at a time. 

First, if you do not have a FamilySearch account, start at https://www.familysearch.org. While on that main account page, look at the entire main page, including the area where you can add your grandparents and add the details you know about them: full names, including middle name or initial if known, date and full place of birth, date and full place of death if known. 

Try to make the relationships correct from the beginning: start with yourself, remembering that only you can see any living people you add, including yourself. 

Note:

It is only worthwhile to add your children if they have family lines different from your own, or you want to follow their partner’s family, too. This is how I made the tree for my son-in-law Jason. If he logs in, he’ll only be able to find his grandparents' families and further back, unless he adds himself and his parents to the tree, and connects them to his grandparents.


FamilySearch: Jones family tree in fan view; living people blurred


Adding An Unconnected Person

There is another way to start such a tree: add an unconnected person. On the FamilySearch main page, go to Recents:


Scroll to the bottom and click ADD UNCONNECTED PERSON:


Add what you know, then NEXT. 

Don’t worry; if you find more precise information such as middle name, exact date and place of birth, you will be able to edit this information later. This is a search box: if anyone with similar information is already in the tree (unless they are living), you will be able to choose the existing profile rather than creating a new one. If that profile lacks some information you have, you can add it; incorrect information can also be corrected.

If a profile you are presented looks possible, you can click on it and look in more detail. Many volunteers have been creating profiles from common records, such as census. You can begin with that incomplete profile and add to it. This is better than creating more than one profile for the same person, which will later need merging. 


Research Helps (hints)

Before moving to someone else, look at the hints (Research Helps) and add the events from there to the tree. From the tree view, you can see a little icon for each person with Research Helps:

Hint icon circled in green in the FSFT tree view

In the Person view:

Research Help circled in green; click it to evaluate and link it to the person.

Search Records

Notice that Search Records is directly below the Research Help; when you search from the person page, some information will be auto-filled. That can be adjusted as needed to get some records but not millions!

If more than one person is named in a record, link and add them in the "Source Linker" page which will pop up. 


Reason Statements

You will thank yourself later if you add a "reason statement" in the space provided. This can be simple, such as "This FindAGrave profile shows the burial place and stone which I remember from family visits to this cemetery." For a more complicated record, such as a census, try to make it as inclusive as possible, such as "This census shows my grandparents James and Martha Smith Jones as a retired couple." These statements show up in each person's profile both while looking at the sources you have added in the Sources tab in each person's profile, and also when you look at the supporting sources to each fact, such as birth place, date; even name. As you learn more, you can edit the facts and the reason statements if necessary.

When you are done linking the source to each person, you can close the Source Linker. Don't worry if you don't know some of the people named in the record. You can always link those FANS later when you find out. You can do that from the Source tab on each person profile:

Click on UNFINISHED ATTACHMENTS to re-open the Source Linker.

Remember to add a reason statement before finishing. If it's a more complicated addition, like the spouse's parents in a marriage record, it is easiest to create the profiles of the parents first, and just click their person number so you can add them by number.


If you have already added the bride's parents, for instance, before adding the groom's parents, you will have to "change the focus person" first. It might seem complicated at first, but it makes sense once you do it. Here is what it looks like in the Source Linker:

Upper right of the Source Linker where you can change focus if necessary


FSFT is Worth the Work

To sum up, using the FamilySearch Family Tree is not simple. It was not created for consumers, it was created for LDS church members who had help from more experienced genealogists. Fortunately, there is help available online for all of us, and help at the local FamilySearch Centers as well. However, there are many reasons to learn how to use all parts of the site well, including the GPS, which requires of us exhaustive research. FamilySearch is part of the toolkit we need to do high quality family history research and trustworthy genealogy.

Genealogical Proof Standard
The Family History Guide: https://www.thefhguide.com/

Youtube intro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYfArHUQQtc&ab_channel=TheFamilyHistoryGuide

How to Start a Family Tree on FamilySearch: https://www.familysearch.org/en/blog/how-to-start-a-family-tree



Valorie Zimmerman








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