Connecting with other members of Family search
Thanks for this website, it's been very helpful with my search for family .
Not sure if the feature exists but it would be very helpful if I could see the
other members who also have common relatives listed, making it easy to interact
with those members and possibly gain information. Does something similar exist
within this website? Thanks
Answers
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It is likely not going to be what you think it is. First, this feature is offered every year among members who register for the Rootstech conference. In other words, it's JUST the conference goers. I believe I had over 20,000 relatives. WAY too many to make any sense of it. Second, you need to notice that the default relationship between a child and its parents is "add relationship type", or other words, undefined. You can't assume biological as a default relationship. Thus, of my 20,000 relatives, many were "related" to me through foster, guardian or step parents of ancestors. Of the top 3 closest people related to me, 2 were descended from guardians of one of my great grandmothers. Also, these relationships are completely dependent on the accuracy of the world tree. What do YOU think about that?
What I recommend you do is take a look at people who are contributors to ancestors of yours and look at how you are related to them. Through this approach I have discovered 3rd, 4th and 5th cousins who I have kept in touch with. We have also shared information and helped each other.
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"Relatives at RootsTech" is still up (through 1 June this year). It's users of FamilySearch who opt in. I have nearly 60,000 this year. One is a 2C1R; all the rest are 4C and more distant. I have many closer cousins who are users of FamilySearch who did not opt in.
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Another way to find relatives and other people who have an interest in your family enough to have some commitment to working together is to check and see who else is following the people you are following. For example if I go to my Following list under the Family Tree menu, find one of my ancestors there, and click on the vertical three dot More icon, I see that 11 other people are following him:
Clicking on that line, I can see who they are, how they are related to me, message them, and e-mail them:
These are the people who are most likely to reply to any messages and to know the most about your family.
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