Is there any harm or risk in deleting living people from my familysearch tree now?

Steven Davis

Thank you so much for rolling out family groups! I think this will be wonderful for our close family to share memories and family history info.

Now that I have placed my living family members into our "family group tree", I am tempted to delete all of these living people from my "familysearch tree". Since my "family group tree" now connects back to my deceased ancestors, I plan on logging in to my "family group tree" as my default and work from that tree exclusively now.

Assuming "family group trees" are here to stay, is there any harm in deleting all of the living people I have had previously in the "familysearch tree"? I don't see any point in keeping two copies of living people since we cant sync the living people in the "familysearch tree" with my new "family group tree".

Thanks for your help and advice!

Alan E. Brown

I would certainly leave all living people in your private FamilySearch Tree who are bridges to the deceased persons. For example, if you have a living father who is the connection between you and your deceased paternal grandparents, you'll want to leave that living father in place. At least at this point, there are certain FamilySearch features such as email campaigns, record hint lists, and relatives at events such as RootsTech, which rely on your private tree to determine who you are related to.