Help:Unconnected

Categories: WikiTree Help | WikiTree Tools and Apps

What are "Unconnected" profiles and how do we connect them to our tree?

We're All Connected

WikiTree's mission is to connect the human family on one tree that we all share.

Ultimately, we hope to connect everyone genealogically by finding our common ancestors (see the Relationship Finder). Finding relationships through marriage is fun as well. For this, we have the Connection Finder.

We suspect that the entire world can be connected within 100 degrees of separation. See the help page on the Connection Finder for more information.

The Unconnected

Over 85% of the people on WikiTree are already connected to each other. This still leaves millions unconnected.

To see the people on your Watchlist who are unconnected, see Special:Unconnected.

To see all the people on WikiTree who are unconnected, click "View All" on Special:Unconnected.

People on the lists have numbers next to their names, e.g. "[10 connections]". This is an estimate of how many people they are connected to, since they are not yet connected to the millions of others on the "big tree." These estimates may be incorrect and we stop counting at 100.

Special:Unconnected is only updated once a day. People don't immediately drop off the list when you make a connection, and their connection estimates won't immediately update when you add relatives.

How to Connect the Unconnected  

This is what the Connectors Project is all about! Whether or not you want to join the project and wear the badge, here are tips for connecting:

• Jamie Nelson wrote an app to find missing relationships. Anywhere there is a missing relationship, there is a potential connection to the tree. Click here to try it out.

• Use Special:FindMatches periodically to search for duplicates on WikiTree. Merging with a connected profile is the fastest way to connect to the global tree.

• Remember that marriages help make connections. If you are stumped on an ancestor line, see if you can trace out a spouse's line, or a sibling's spouse's line.

• Look for regions you're familiar with and work on connecting those folks first. Often they will be connected to more difficult lines.

• The same goes with eras. If there's a time period that you're better able to find sources for, start there, or follow an older ancestor's descendants until you reach an area or era that is easier to work with.

• See if your profile could be associated with a project. Project members may have access to or know of sources that could open up doors for you, or even better, be willing to help you find the connection.

• Post in G2G to ask for help! Be sure to add the surname(s) you're working with as well as the geographical area in the tags.

• Is your unconnected person relatively recently deceased? Be sure to use Google to search for obituary mentions. Obituaries are often a treasure trove of clues and facts.

• Keep your profiles set to the Open privacy setting if possible so that others can help connect into your family.

• Maintain a Research Notes section to keep track of what sources you've already searched so you aren't doubling back on your work.

• If you cannot find sources to help you start building out a person's family, add them to the Unsourced Profiles category so that others know you're looking for sources.

• If you aren't making progress on a certain family line, try starting a One Name Study or One Place Study to see if you can find other family that can give you clues.

• If you're just wanting to help make some connections, another approach is to look at unconnected on the watchlist of high contributors or those who have uploaded a GEDCOM, as they will give you a lot of people to work out from.

• Upload a GEDCOM to see if you have any hits/matches, then input the resulting family line from those matches.

If you have questions or need help, come ask in G2G!

This page was last modified 19:04, 30 January 2024. This page has been accessed 18,911 times.