Advice needed re: relationships

Patricia Merriell

What is the best way to enter the data for the following situation:

Dick and Mary raised six children: Michael, Sheila, Robert, John, Dick, Jr., and Susan. Mary was identified and raised all the children as her own. Turns out she was the birth mother to only Michael, Robert, and Susan. The birth mother to Sheila, John, and Dick, Jr. was Mary's sister Helen. How do I enter this in the family tree???

Chas Howell

You can enter each child to the biological parents. Then you can also enter the children that were raised by the Step parents. In the Family Members Section of the detail page showing the Step Parents, go to each child and click the little edit pencil icon and set the step mother’s Relationship and the Step father's relationship to the Child as Step. See these knowledge articles :

https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-add-step-adopted-and-foster-parents-to-a-child-in-family-tree

https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-specify-biological-step-adopted-and-foster-relationships-in-family-tree

Patricia Merriell

Thank you. That helped some, but how do I enter the parent if she/he was not a spouse?

Paul W

Perhaps you could expand on your question. If you are saying that the only factor involved is that the parents did not actually marry, then there doesn't have to be any difference in the way you add the parent. There are lots of couples (including parents of children) that have been linked in Family Tree without them having a spousal relationship.

Patricia Merriell

Thanks for replying. The situation is: Fred is married to Ethel. They are bio parents to three of the children in the family. Fred is the bio parent of three additional children whose bio mother is Judy (Ethel’s sister). Ethel raised all six children as her own.

Chas Howell

Don’t let the word Add Spouse through you. Think of adding a Spouse as more like adding a Couple Relationship. After you add Judy to Fred click the Edit Pencil Icon in their relationship box in the Family Members section. From there under Relationship Events click Add Event, click the drop down arrow menu and Choose either Marriage, Common Law Marriage or Lived Together.  If none of these fits the situation then don’t create a Relationship Event. No problem. Just go ahead and add the three biological children to the Fred & Judy couple.

Since Ethel raised the children, you can add those three children to the Fred and Ethel couple. Then mark those three children’s Relationship to Ethel as Step. (See the help article in an earlier comment)

Patricia Merriell

Thank you so much. The word “spouse” was throwing me. I’ll work on it more.