Project 1: Family Tree

Summary

Note : Be sure you are confident of the person's vital data (name, birth or death, marriage, etc.) before adding him or her to the tree.

1. In Family Tree, for a person who is missing a father or mother, click Add Father or Add Mother or Add Spouse. Note : You can also add a parent in the Family Members section of a Person page by clicking Add Parent if available.
2. If you know the new ancestor's ID—such as if you discovered the person elsewhere in FamilySearch, or someone gave you the ID number—then follow steps 4-7 below. Otherwise, skip ahead to ID Not Known below.

3. Click By ID Number.
4. Type the ID number and click Next.






5. If you find a match, click Add Match. Note : If a person also has spouse information in the dialog, the spouse will be added as well.
6. If the matches are not correct, click Back to try a different ID, or click Cancel. Then skip ahead to More Resources below.

ID Not Known
If you do not know the new ancestor's ID, then:

1. In the "By Name" tab of the Add Father (or Add Mother) dialog, fill in as many fields as you can. (To enter characters in a non-English language, click the language dropdown menu for options.)
2. Select Living or Deceased.
3. To help FamilySearch find better matches in the tree, enter a date and place for birth or death.
4. If desired, click additional Find options (bottom of the dialog), and fill in more search fields.
5. Click Next.
6. If you see a correct match, click Add Match, or
7. If the matches are not correct, to try a different search, click Refine Search, or
8. To add the new person you entered in the search as a member of the tree, click Create Person.

Resources

1. Refer to the article for details about using the Find feature for adding ancestors.
   
   FS—How can I find a deceased person in Family Tree? - 2025


2. For more information about adding ancestors to your part of the tree, read the article.
   
   FS—How do I add living relatives to a person in Family Tree? - 2025


3. To insert a missing generation in Family Tree, read this article.
   
   FS—In Family Tree, how do I insert a missing generation? - 2025


4. Here are steps for adding a parent.
   
   FS—How do I add a parent in Family Tree? - 2025


5. Here are steps for adding a spouse or partner.
   
   FS—How do I add a spouse or partner in Family Tree? - 2025

Exercise

Summary

1. In Family Tree, open the Person page for an existing spouse.
2. In the Family Members section of the Person page, in the left side, click Add Child. (You can also find this link under a couple's box in Landscape view.)
3. Follow the basic steps in Choice A above to search for and add the correct person as a child.
4. If you need to change the child's relationship from "biological" to another ("adopted," "step," etc.),
   a) In the Family Members section of the Person page, click the pencil icon for the child in question;
   b) In the Parent-Child Relationship window, click the "Relationship to Child" link and then click Edit;
   c) Specify the new information, using the drop-down and Reason Statement box; and
   d) Click Save. To add a new relationship, in the Parent-Child Relationship window click "Add Relationship Type" and follow the prompts.
   
   FS—How do I specify biological, step, adopted, and foster relationships in Family Tree? - 2023


5. To add a child for a person in the tree, where the father or mother is unknown,
   a) Open the Person page for the known spouse;
   b) Click "Add Child with an Unknown Father" or "Add Child with an Unknown Mother";
   c) Fill in the fields, and
   d) Click Next. Then add the match or create the new person.

Resources

1. Here are steps for adding children.
   
   FS—How do I add a child to Family Tree? - 2025


2. Here are steps for adding siblings in a family.
   
   FS—How do I add siblings to Family Tree? - 2025


3. For information on adding stillborn or miscarried infants in Family Tree, read this article.
   
   FS—How do I add stillborn or miscarried infants in Family Tree? - 2024


4. Learn about adding step, adopted, and foster parents for a child.
   
   FS—How do I add step, adopted, and foster parents to a child in Family Tree? - 2025

Exercises

If you have family tree information in other databases or websites, such as Ancestry or RootsMagic, you may be able to automatically copy that information into FamilySearch Family Tree without having to do manual data entry.

1. Learn about sharing information between FamilySearch and Ancestry.
   
   FHF—How to transfer your family tree data between FamilySearch & Ancestry—17:00 - 2019
   
   
   Share Information between Ancestry Tree and FamilySearch Tree—9:25 - 2016
   
   
   


2. Here are some tips for handling very large genealogy files.
   
   BYU—How to Handle Very Large Genealogy Collections and Files—60:26 - 2017

Adding a person who is not yet connected to you might make sense when you believe the person to be related to you, but records are not yet located to establish the relationship.

1. In the Recents menu, click Add Unconnected Person.
2. In the Add Unconnected Person dialog, in the By Nametab fill in as many fields as you can for the person to be added (the minimum is one name, the sex, and the living/deceased status); or in the By ID tab supply the ID number of the person to add.
3. Click Next.
4. Review the possible matches on the next screen to see if one of them is the person you want to add.
5. If a match looks likely,
   a) Click the "View in Tree" link for that person to see details;
   b) If you believe this person is related to you, copy the person's ID; and
   c) Using "Find by ID", add that person in your part of the tree. (The person is now connected to you, not unconnected.)
6. If no match looks likely, you can click "Refine Search" to try a new search, or click Create New Person to add your person to Family Tree (not connected to you).
7. To remove names from the Recents menu,
   a) In the menu bar (upper left), click Recents;
   b) Click the blue Edit link;
   c) For each person to be removed, click the "x" next to the name; and
   d) Click Done.

Resources

1. For more information on adding unconnected persons, read this article.
   
   FS—How do I add an unconnected person to Family Tree? - 2025