Question of the Week: Have you checked your relationships lately?

Question

Members are constantly researching and updating information on WikiTree as more information becomes available. Sometimes this can reveal new and interesting connections.

Check out the Relationship Finder Quick Links to see if you have any "new" ancestors! Go to your Profile ID menu and click "Relationships." 

You can see how you're related to Magna Carta Surety Barons, Mayflower Passengers and US Presidents plus a few other fun features. :-)

You can also always use the Relationship Finder to plug in Profile IDs for any two people to see how they're related.

Answer 1

I like to use the Family List to see if I've acquired new ancestors (or if I've been disconnected from any people who were formerly identified as ancestors) here in WikiTree. If I know how many ancestors I had the last time I checked, I can tell whether I've had a net change in ancestor count. Then I can use other tools here to explore my tree and see where the change occurred.

I also use the Family List to see if any of my connected ancestors have orphaned profiles (I use Ctl-F to search the page for the string adopt).

Comments

Thank you for the tips Ellen and Julie!

On the Family list, I can also see some "Unknown" and without dates or locations, for my to-do list.  

Learning new stuff every day :)

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Great tip, Ellen!  I was just wondering about a better way to find orphaned family.

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Add on to previous comment: Big hugs to you Ellen!  Some of my main line family was orphaned, but they did not show on my regular orphans report (too far back maybe?).  I am sad they have been orphaned for a long time and I am just now seeing them, but thrilled I can now pick them up and nurture them :-)

Answer 2

Oh my!!  My husband and I are cousins!!!  Stop the presses!  Great thing we never had any children I guess!  Here is the link if interested.

https://www.wikitree.com/index.php?title=Special:Relationship&action=calculate&person1_name=Williams-28514&person2_name=Lesure-11

We are 20th cousins, 3X removed.  That gave him a giggle when I woke him from his morning nap with that information!!

Comments

Also, here are the connections with the Team!

Abby Brown Glann is my 21st cousin sharing the same 20th g--grandfather

Eowyn Langholf is my 15th cousin, 2 x removed, sharing her 14th g--grandfather and my 16th g--grandfather

Julie Fiscus Ricketts is my 19th cousin, 1x removed, sharing her 19th g--grandmother and my 18th g--grandmother

Chris Witten is my 14th cousin, 1x removed, sharing his 14th g--grandfather and my 13th g--grandfather

Very cool way to find information!  Thanks Julie, my cousin!

Answer 3

I check every now and then. It alerts me to changes in parts of the tree I'm not working in. For example, it used to be that my links to the Magna Carta Sureties was though my mothers side. Now a better path is showing up on my father's side. Still don't trust them since most  of the steps are "unknown confidence" but it it fun. I also watch it for Mayflower since there are some distant cousins who keep trying to make one line go back to them -- it doesn't without some great leaps in logic (but, but, but, the names match)

Eowyn Langholf is my eleventh cousin once removed and Chris Whitten is my ninth cousin once removed. A number of presidents also show up.

The lack of "certainty" also gives me some future projects when I get done with what I'm currently working on.

Answer 4

The Relationship Finder is one of my favorite WikiTree features! When I meet someone, I can quickly find out if we share family with the click of a button.  

I have one example of why checking back occasionally is a good idea.  One day, I connected one of my lines to where it extended further back on WT.  I suspected I was related to one of my WikiTree cousins through this line.  I ran the Relationship Finder again. Sure enough, we went from 20th cousins to 8th cousins.

Answer 5

I love checking my relationship.

I also find it comforting to know that when I find a relative on WikiTree it comes with sources I can check. Not like other sites that just automatically add these people to your grandmother and you end up with three Uncle Raymond's born in 3 different years, all with the same wife, but each one had additional children.

Thank you for that security blanket.

Answer 6

Sure, sure, the Relationship Finder is great. I use it all the time. But, what about a Relationship Loser button? People would be flocking to WikiTree for that feature!