How do I start a new family tree
I have a very good family tree now for my parents! Can I start a new/different tree for my wife's family?
Answers
-
The principle behind Family Tree is that there are not separate trees as one might find on other websites. The ultimate objective is to produce a single tree although it is a long way from achieving that objective.
So, in your case, the simple solution is to add your wife to you as your spouse. Then you can add her parents to her and away you go.
It is important to remember that all living people are private and so cannot be seen by other users. So someone looking at your line would only be able to see the deceased persons and would not see the link across to your wife's family.
Regards
Graham Buckell
1 -
Thank you Graham,
Unfortunately I started the tree with my parents, both of which are deceased and I cannot add my name now to expand the tree to my wife's family!
0 -
Go to the profile of one of your parents and click the "Add Child" button below their names in the Family Members section:
Fill in as much or little as you want about yourself, then go to the profile thus created and use the "Add Spouse" button there to add your wife. Then connect or create her parents, etc.
(Screenshot is from the beta site: no, I didn't litter the "real" tree with those fake profiles.)
Note that profiles for living people (such as yourself and your spouse) are just placeholders or connectors, and you're free to leave them as bare-bones as you'd like. My profile for myself consists of my nickname, for example. The best way to protect private data is to not put it online.
1 -
Did you set up your parents under a different account or a second account than your primary one?
It sounds like the trouble you are having is that you are trying to add yourself using the ID you see when you sign into your account under your parents when signed into a different account. That can't be done because living IDs are private and viewable only in the account in which they were created.
What you need to do, if my guess is correct, is to go your profile page. Scroll down to Family Members. In the right hand side of that section, add your parents to you using the ID numbers of their existing records, the ones you say you can't add yourself as a son to. Don't create new profiles. If you already have parents there, then you must have already created duplicates that you need to merge.
I assume you already have your wife added to you, so just go to her profile page and in the same way add her parents and go on from there.
Keep in mind the basic principle that there is only one tree in Family Tree. You cannot create a new/different tree for your wife and her family because there is just that one tree that we are all working in together, in which there should only be one copy of any one deceased person, and in which everyone can see all deceased people.
If this still doesn't clarify the issue, you may need to paste some edited screen shots to show what you are trying to do.
One question that may clarify things. When you go to your account settings and scroll down to Family Tree Preferences, do you see just one name? And is that name yours?
If it is not you, you might have some significant repair work to do. If there are two names, the first of them still needs to be you.
0 -
Thanks everyone, I’m new to this! A great tool but not using it to it’s potential!
1 -
@BurchSchwabline1 the introductory guidance from FamilySearch is easy to follow but does tend to give a misleading idea of how Family Tree works.
First, have you already used Find to search for your wife's most recent ancestor who is deceased? If they are in Family Tree, once you find them you can Follow them or attach them to a profile in your private tree space.
If they are not in Family Tree, then your next step is to create a profile for them. On the web interface under Recents at the bottom of the recent profiles menu select Add Unconnected Person. To get to the Add Unconnected Person tool on the mobile app use the Recents page link at the bottom of the screen. On the Recents page scroll down to the bottom of the list or enter random characters in the search bar.
0
