Saw Off a Branch, or Bark Up the Wrong Tree?

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Two workers pruning street trees in London during World War I, released by the Imperial War Museum on the IWM Non Commercial Licence.


I have been pruning lately; not outside, where as I write it is still cold, windy and a week ago, slushing.  At first, it was exciting to whack people right out of my Ancestry.com main DNA tree, because some ancient "ancestors" had no sources, and conflicting or nonsense "facts." Delete, delete, delete. But sometimes while falling asleep, I wondered if the name itself is a clue I should have left in the tree. 

A recent interview with Roberta Estes* quotes her: "Every connection has the potential to be incorrect. I’d much rather saw a branch off than continue to bark up the wrong tree." I find that statement reassuring. 

When I resume researching the pruned line, I'll find evidence unavailable when I was a beginner. Back then, I blindly trusted other people's trees. I thought that they had done their research, and knew the facts. These days I sometimes consult other trees, but for the records they contain, not the names, dates and places. Those details might be worth a note on the profile.  

I've been pruning with Ancestry's ProTools tree checker, not a saw as in the image above. Perhaps you don't use an online tree, or subscribe to Ancestry. But in most tree software you can view a list of all persons and work from there. Different platforms have different ways of sorting, many of which can be useful in pruning or cleaning up. 

As I delete, sometimes I find someone worth keeping. Then it's time to search for at least one record to attach. Sometimes they have just not been linked to a record in which they actually appear, so it is useful to check the records linked to their connected people, and then link your mystery person to the record. In some marriage records, for instance, the parents of the married couple are both named; you will usually need to connect each partner to their own parents. In addition, it's useful to find the "married in" person in at least one census with their parents and sibs, since this is their FAN club (Family, friends, Associates, Neighbors).

Below is a list of various sites and software and how to get a list of all people. It is a good idea to have both a public online tree, and one on your computer, and I personally want them "synced" so that they are identical, and backed up OFF the computer too. Sites & software listed in alpha order.

Ancestry,com main page screenshot.
Click the number for the list.

Complete list of all people

  • Ancestry.com: ProTools Tree checker, or Ancestry.com home page: click the number of people in the tree. [screenshot above]
  • FamilySearch Family Tree: To see all people you have added, use the Person List from the Family Tree menu. Sort by name, birth, or last modified date.
  • FamilyTreeMaker: Index of Individuals located to the left of the People tab lists every person in the file. Sort, filter, and search index to quickly locate specific individuals or review the entire list.
  • Gramps: People Category in the left sidebar is a table of every individual in the database, including their name, ID, gender, and key dates. Switch between a flat list or a grouped view (by surname) and use filters to refine the list.
  • MyHeritage: List View is a sortable, tabular overview of all individuals. Sort by name, birth/death dates, and places; export as a CSV file for offline use.

  • Legacy Family Tree: Name List, Index View, or generate a report. The Name List is the most direct method to see all individuals.
  • RootsMagic: People List View, an alphabetical list of every individual in your database with customizable columns. Click the "People" icon on the sidebar and select the list icon at the top, or use the "RootsMagic Explorer" feature to view and search the entire database.
  • Wikitree: Go to the Wikitree ID drop down menu and choose Family list. You can also look at your watchlist, which is all of the profiles you manage. OR, use Ancestor Explorer to get a sortable, filterable, downloadable list of all your ancestors up to 25 generations back.


Another guide to pruning

There is another way to analyze which I have not yet tried. Now I have a Windows partition on my Linux computer, where both RootsMagic and FamilyTreeMaker back up my Ancestry tree. Soon I'll download Family Tree Analyzer which will analyze a gedcom, and as a bonus, create a Lost Cousins report to automatically find other people who are researching the same family, mostly in the UK & Commonwealth countries. 


As the report below shows, I have a lot of work ahead.


Screenshot: Ancestry ProTools report 


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* Family Tree Experts: An Interview with Roberta Estes


Valorie Zimmerman

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Send your stories to m.strickland@skcgs.org




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