Help Centre - Frequently Asked Questions

Building your Family Tree

When you've registered, you'll be automatically taken to the Home page. Click on the 'Family Tree' option at the top of the page.

We've put together some useful information to help you start researching your family tree.

Adding Names

Your tree will begin with your own name. From there, the best way to build your tree is to start working backwards.

·          Add the names of relatives by clicking on the 'Add' button found below a name in your tree.

·          You’ll see options to select Add Child, Add Partner, Add Mother/Father or Add Sibling.

·          Once you’ve added the details to your tree click on 'Save'.

·          Follow this link to read more about how to build your tree.

 

Add Child

If you’re adding children to your tree, you must add at least one parent.

·          In the case of illegitimacy or if you prefer not to display the parent's identity, we suggest you add the parent as Unknown Unknown or something similar.

·          It’s not mandatory to add a year of birth, but you can estimate this and then tick the box to show it’s not accurate.

 

Add Partner

You can add more than one partner to a family member, and you can attach different children to those specific partners.

·          When viewing the Family Tree page, select the name you want to add partners to.

·          Select 'Add Partner' and fill in the boxes with the details that you already know.

·          Once you’ve added the details, save the changes.

 

More than one partner / change parents?

If someone in your tree has more than one partner, and you’ve added a child to the wrong parent, here’s how to correct this:

·          When viewing the child's details in your tree, click on the 'Edit' button.

·          Scroll down to the Relationships section on the Details box that will open on the right hand side of the tree page.

·          Click on the 'Change' tab beside the incorrect parent's name.

·          Start typing the correct parent's name and click on it when you see it appear. Then save the changes you've made.

 

Duplicate relations

When viewing your full tree, you may sometimes see a relation duplicated if they've had more than one partner.

·          We do this so that you can easily see their different relationships.

·          They'll only be shown once in the immediate view of your tree though, but you’ll see them attached to each partner.

 

Made a mistake?

If you’ve made a mistake, simply click on 'Delete', which you'll see just below the relation's details.

·          You can only delete a name from your tree if it’s at the top or the bottom, or has no other branches attached to it. For example, you can remove or delete the child of a relation.

·          You’ll see a message saying you can’t delete a relation if other names are attached to that person. You’ll need to look at your tree and either remove names from the bottom upwards or from the top down.

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Wrong parents?

If you’ve added someone to the wrong parents and the correct ones are listed elsewhere in your tree, here’s how to amend this:

·          Locate the relation in your tree and click on the 'Edit' tab in their name box. This will open their details page on the right hand side of the tree.

·          Scroll down to the Relationships section and click on the 'Change' tab beside the incorrect mother/father.

·          Start typing the right parent's name, then click on the correct name when it appears and save the changes.

·          Repeat the process for the other parent, again saving the changes.

 

Want to correct something?

Click on 'Edit' below the name of the relation in your tree. You can then amend the mistake and save the changes.

·          You can also click on the tab with two arrows on the top right hand side of the tree page.

·          This will open the ‘Edit Details’ panel, where you'll see more fields where you can add or edit information.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The British Newspaper Archive

British Newspaper Archive

Read about historical events at the time they were happening. Perhaps you'll discover your ancestor in their local newspaper?

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