How do I connect accounts?

Question

Kuntz-445 Is my ancestor. How do I connect us? Thanks in advance.

Comments

Either work your way up to her from you; or down from her to you.  Step by step, up the generations; and don't forget the sources!  :)

Answer 1

Melanie is correct. I feel that working back from your generation is easier. You may think differently or it may become necessary to. Always use sources. At least birth, marriage and death. It would be better if you can include children and siblings when possible, Other sources may be found when you add these. Some of your ancestors will already be in WikiTree so they will be easy and you may be able to add more sources. I always tell someone when I add sources to a profile if someone else manages it but that is up to the individual.

Comments

Thanks for the corroboration Jerry. :)

And, yes, Jasmin, sometimes it is easier to go up from yourself to the ancestor.  If you need any help doing the connections, just ask.  The folk around G2G are really helpful and friendly!

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I would suggest it is always easier to work up from you to her.  After all, suppose you tried it the other way (down from her to you) and she had twelve children?  How do you know which one is your direct ancestor? 

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Sometimes it can work the other way.  When I first came here, my gr-grand was here, with a couple of greats above him.  So I built down from him because I knew exactly where to go and it was only 3 generations (and nowhere near 12 kids!).  If it'd been more than that, building UP would be the better way to go for the reason Ros stated.

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Melanie you are welcome and looks like she has received good information from either point of view. Neither is wrong. Both are good.

Answer 2

It looks like Anna Magdalena Kuntz is already connected to the global tree. But your profile is not. I would concentrate on building your tree backwards in time until you find a profile that is already entered and then run the connection finder. From there you may be able with your knowledge of your family, fill in the right gaps to get the relationship you want or believe exists.

Philip Kuntz looks like where I would start and build him out. Add in some more census data as you only have 1900 listed. Those other Census results will give you more info to build the connections up.

Comments

I definitely agree that you should work backwards in time. For each generational connection, identify good evidence for the person's parents, and show that evidence in the profile you create.

The early profiles for this family don't provide a solid foundation for researching forwards in time. They are almost entirely unsourced, and some of the data doesn't make a lot of sense. The profile for Anna Magdalena that you linked to has no valid sources and appears to be a child who died at age 2. There is a profile for a sister of the same name (possibly the same person?) who married and had at least one child. You will be much better off starting with people you know about and working your way back in time.

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And don't neglect siblings. Sometimes the information for an ancestor's sibling will help you fill in some blanks regarding your ancestor (or the sibling will have a unique name that will make it easier to find records when you search in familysearch and other indexed records repositories).