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WikiTree Tips

Privacy Level: Open (White)
Date: [unknown] [unknown]
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Profile manager: Kevin Ireland private message [send private message]
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This page has been created by Kevin Ireland to encourage his extended family members and project members to join and use WikiTree. Suggestions for improvement are very welcome. It is under construction.

Like LDS's FamilySearch, WikiTree is a free, collaborative, one-world tree. A one-world tree means that no person should appear in the tree more than once. If your deceased grandparents are already in WikiTree, all you have to do is connect your profile through your parent to your grandparents - and you'll be instantly connected to all of your grandparents' ancestors and connections.

Contents

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Create a WikiTree Account

In a small number of cases, a family member (like me) may have already created a private WikiTree profile for you. You may receive an email inviting you to join WikiTree (for free) to get access to your existing private profile. If you accept the invitation, you'll be immediately connected to all of your relatives already on WikiTree.

Most of the time, people join on their own as new users:

  1. Navigate to https://www.wikitree.com/ and click the Get Started button.
  2. Enter your full name at birth, a password, and your email address.

Fill out your Profile

Be careful not to name living people in the Biography section of a profile without their express permission. If you have two living sisters and a brother, for example, simply state that rather than giving their names.

It's fine to link to a public obituary that names living survivors, but if you copy the text into a profile then remove their names. This holds true for 1940, 1950, and other census records; replace the name with "living Davison" (for example). If you find a case where I haven't followed this guidance, please let me know.

The default WikiTree privacy setting is "Unlisted" - so other users won't see any information about you. Example: my brother unlisted Ireland.

I recommend that you change your profile privacy setting to either:

  • Private with Public Family Tree - shows your preferred first name and surname and the decade in which you were born. It also shows your parents' names if they have a profile with this (or lower) privacy settings - and your list of deceased ancestors on WikiTree. It will also show living relatives with a Public Family Tree. It doesn't show anything in the biography section. Example: my father G Ireland.
  • Private with Public Biography and Family Tree (recommended) - shows your preferred first name and surname and the decade in which you were born, plus everything you enter in your biography section. It also shows your list of deceased ancestors (and living relatives with Public Family Tree) on WikiTree. Example: my brother Erik Ireland.

Click on the "Privacy" tab on the top right of your profile (after saving) to change your profile Privacy setting. To see how a profile appears to strangers, click the "public view" link (to the right of the Privacy tab).

Search WikiTree for your closest deceased relatives

After you've created your own WikiTree profile, the next step is to connect it to the existing tree. I recommend searching for your closest deceased relatives to see if any of them are already on WikiTree:

  1. Navigate to https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Special:SearchPerson
  2. Enter search criteria. I like to use the birth surname of interest, then add some optional search limits:
  • County name as a criteria for birth or death location
  • Name variants: include first name variants, only exact last name matches

Once you find someone on WikiTree related to you, you can navigate their tree to see your closest WikiTree relative on that line. If your great-grandfather McCool, for example, has a profile on WikiTree but your grandfather/grandmother does not, then you can start entering new profiles for your intermediary ancestors.

Connect to your closest deceased ancestors

Create profiles that connect at least to your closest deceased relatives. In most cases, other WikiTree members can't improve profiles of living people so it's important that you create (or connect to) profiles of deceased relatives. Whether it's your two deceased parents, four deceased grandparents, or some combination of multiple generations, try to connect to the closest deceased ancestor on each of your lines.

If you're my extended family member or affiliated with one of my research projects (especially Ireland surname, McCool surname, and Sollenberger surname), message me from my Kevin Ireland profile and I'll see if I have time to connect your line(s) back further in time on WikiTree.

How Can I Help?

Message me from my profile at Kevin Ireland if you need help connecting your most recent deceased ancestor(s) to WikiTree. While I never charge for assistance, I have real-world time constraints like everyone else.

I am most likely to help if:

  • you're a fourth cousin or closer to me, my spouse, or my step-fathers - or married to one of them
  • you descend from an Ireland (surname), a McCool, a Sollenberger, a Gwartney, or one of my direct ancestors
  • you shared your list of AncestryDNA matches with me prior to Nov 2024 (and possibly after)

I will try to connect at least one line of your closest ancestors to someone already on WikiTree.

Adding DNA Test Information

If you've taken a DNA test(s) from any vendor, considering adding that information to your WikiTree profile:

  • Navigate to My WikiTree DNA tests
  • "Add new test information" - select the test you've taken and follow the prompts. Repeat if needed.

This will help your relatives on WikiTree who've taken the same test see how they're related to you. It may also encourage other relatives to take tests that they haven't.

The fun stuff

Now that your profile is all set up and you're connected to the one-world WikiTree on at least one line, there are a number of fun things you can do.

  1. Navigate to a profile on WikiTree - perhaps Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790). At the very top right, you'll see a drop-down menu labeled Franklin-1. Select "Relationship to Me" from the drop-down list. Depending on how well-connected you are to the WikiTree and who your ancestors are, you may or may not see a relationship to him. Benjamin happens to be my double first cousin-9 times removed - because I descend from two of his father's siblings.
  2. "Connections" on WikiTree are less real, but still fun. Connections try to find the closest way that you connect to someone else. In many/most cases, you're not actually related biologically to the person. But your second cousin's wife's father-in-law might descend from George Washington's mother - or in some other way. You may not be actually related to George Washington, but there's a very good chance you're connected to him. Navigate to George Washington (1732-1799), click the "Washington-11" drop-down menu, and select "Connections to Me." I happen to be 15 degrees away from George Washington through his great-niece's husband. Theoretically, WikiTree shows that George Washington is also my 9th cousin 9 times removed, but it's quite speculative that we share a common ancestor born about 1406 in England.

Note that you can view relationships (or connections) between any two profiles from these pages using the appropriate Wiki IDs.

Browse Categories

Many profiles are organized into categories - such as places they lived, or where they were buried. If the profile has been placed into any categories, the "Categories" button will appear at the top of the profile next to the "Comments" button. Click "Categories" to see the current list of categories, then click on any individual category link to see who else falls in that category.

Here are a few sample categories:

When editing a profile, there is a set of icons above the edit pane. The "Categorize" icon is the second from the right and looks like a series of steps.





Collaboration
  • Login to edit this profile and add images.
  • Private Messages: Send a private message to the Profile Manager. (Best when privacy is an issue.)
  • Public Comments: Login to post. (Best for messages specifically directed to those editing this profile. Limit 20 per day.)


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