Problem with Bulk Trusted List Tool?

Question

One of my favorite things about Wikitree:  Just heard from a new distant cousin, and got her to join!  Downside: The bulk add tool doesn't seem to be working as it should.

I put her on all descendants of James Allison (our shared branch), but it didn't work with anyone not born Allison (children of female descendants).  For example, Nellie MacDonald, a granddaughter of James, didn't get added.

I've used that tool before, and thought it worked correctly.  Can anybody shed any light on this?

Of course I can still add my new cousin, but I wonder why the tool doesn't seem to work where descendants have a different surname.

Comments

Another note on this:  I also thought it would add spouses of descendants.  Another one left off was Leonora (Jacobs) Allison, wife of James' grandson Alex.  The cousin was added to Alex without a problem.

Answer 1

Hi Fred,

I don't think it can handle spouses. It just follows parental links up and down.

Surname should be irrelevant. Can you confirm you don't have a missing connection? If a generation were missing -- not on your Watchlist -- that would break the tool's ability to follow all the generations.

Chris

Comments

Hi Chris,

No, everyone is connected.  Here's the list of James Allison's descendants.

My newly discovered cousin was added to all the descendants with the Allison surname, but not to Shores, Remus, McDonald, or Overturf - all direct-line descendants of James.

Again, I've used this in the past and don't recall having this problem.

Fred 

---

Hi again, Chris,

I have just done some checking, and found another odd anomaly.  The new cousin was added to one spouse!  Thing is, I have her LNAB as UNKNOWN, CLN as Allison.  Could the UNKNOWN be a hint as to why the other birth names don't seem to get added?  She is: E. Vonee (UNKNOWN) Allison.

Here's the list of what the tool did, with the cousin's name omitted:

Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-588.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-550.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of UNKNOWN-149873.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-585.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-579.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-582.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-584.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-552.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-553.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-587.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-647.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-581.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-577.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-586.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-580.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-583.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-578.
Added [omitted] to Trusted List of Allison-551.

Incidentally (and a little off topic), I believe I know UNKNOWN-149873's correct LNAB.  I never entered it because it's a bit circumstantial, with no real proof it's correct.

---

Fred, in testing this as you, when I selected the descendants of James Allison it did include a lot of Allisons, and it did include Nellie MacDonald. I notice there are a few James Allisons on your Watchlist. Maybe you selected the wrong one?

---

Chris, there are 3 James Allisons.  They are three generations of the same family.  I selected Allison-553, father of 552, and grandfather of 584.

The cousin was not added to Nellie MacDonald (great-granddaughter of James 553), or to any other descendants not having the LNAB Allison - with the strange exception of the aforementioned UNKNOWN.

As mentioned in my initial post, I can of course add my cousin to those Trusted Lists.  I was just trying to figure out if something was wrong with the tool.

Fred

---

Wanted to add a question:

Did you see the surnames Shores, Remus, or Overturf?  All those LNABs are among the descendants of James Allison-553.