Suggesting a famous person to add to list
My Famous Relatives list shows only Robert Ingebretsen, a 12th cousin.
However, I have several dozens of very famous relatives far far closer than that, even within the last 3-5 generations. Nearly all of them with Wikipedia pages and bios. But I guess that they are not listed because they were not from the US, which is quite unfair.
One example: Lieutenant General Baron Honoré Drubbel was a second cousin of a greeat-great grandfather of me. He was the most famous Belgian commandant during WWI.
How do we add famous people to the list? Or suggest options that a moderator can review for addition?
Comments
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I imagine the list is computer-generated, so there is no opportunity for you to add any names yourself.
There have been previous issues raised on this subject, as well as items like surname meanings. Most of us long-standing FamilySearch users have learned to treat such advice as being either gimmickry or part of one of FamilySearch's marketing campaigns. Unfortunately, for each person who is delighted to hear of an unexpected "famous relative" (or, say, fascinating origin for their surname) there will be another who thinks these suggestions are not fit for purpose.
I wouldn't get too concerned about this type of notification, as they should only really be taken light-heartedly , as - according to how the calculations are make - a good proportion of the world's inhabitants could probably claim to be related to the King of England!
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@PatricioUngaro good question. While Famous Relatives might be of short term interest to some, it is not the focal point of FamilySearch, and teams are often assigned elsewhere for more urgent needs.
Famous relatives appears to have been put temporarily on the back burner.
There is always hope that this fun project will progress in the future.
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Based on this FamilySearch article (https://www.familysearch.org/en/help/helpcenter/article/why-are-there-so-many-people-from-western-cultures-in-famous-relatives), I don't think that it's on purpose. The reality is that an America-based company will know more people who are famous in America, but not who is famous in other countries. People like Winston Churchill, Marie Antoinette, and Princess Diana, despite not being American, will still show up because they are famous in America, and therefore the people making the program would realize that they should be added. Meanwhile, Lieutenant General Baron Honoré Drubbel, the relative you mentioned above, doesn't even have an article on English Wikipedia. He might be famous in Belgium, but his fame doesn't seem to extend far beyond that, so it can't be expected that the people making the program would even know he exists.
As Paul W advised, try not to take the program too seriously. It's a fun idea, but it's also inherently flawed.
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hello fellow genealogist. I am studying my surprisingly strong genealogy, and I am good with computers, and I noticed something confusing. when I did the activities, i came across the "famous relatives" activities. I clicked on it, expecting to see a lot of faces, but, surprisingly, I only saw few, and, most, are much more distant then the famous figures I was thinking of. can there be a button on profiles that help confirm if a person is famous or not?
thank you from hawai'i. btw, this website is amazing, and because it is community ran, it helps people triple check for information, which led me to find new information, which led to even more excitements.
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I have seen that I am related to many notable people however when going through a few things I have seen that they do not pop up as their status. for instance; Zachary taylor was the president and in activities I can see how I am related to him. I am also apparently related to hockey player named gordie howe.
this makes me confused as through my hawaiian side I am related to the kings and high chiefs of hawai'i and I am also distantly related to many other notable people of european descent.
could there be any way that we could confirm a certain page as the the page of someone of a high status and add that status ourselves? mahalo and hope someone responds.
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Mod note - Requests to mark a person as famous have been merged here.
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The famous relatives activity depends on FamilySearch having a lineage already established between you and the famous person. If you can connect your line to the famous person, the famous person may appear. The problem is, we cannot see the total list of "famous people" that FamilySearch catalogs, so there is no way of knowing if they consider him famous "enough".
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