Really enjoyed this - I have one tip I would like to add. I have collected several Gerbics over the years looking for my family, many collected pre Internet. After watching your video I decided to try making a Floating Tree for these people. They do not connect to my current family tree but I wanted them somewhere where I could easily see them, expand on their tree and hopefully find a DNA match with one of them. Because these people do not connect to someone in my current tree - I need to make them truly float. I wanted to be able to quickly find the trees, and didn't want to rely on my memory of who they were. What I did was make a custom tag on Ancestry and tagged them. Each group got their own special tag - they each start with FT and then information so that I could quickly identify which is which. Then I can go into the filter feature on Ancestry and find these families. Once they were built and expanded somewhat I came up with many unusual surnames. I went into my DNA matches and searched for these unusual surnames within my matches trees. I turned up nothing. But even that helps as I am able to eliminate some people, also it helps others who might come across their families in searching So just wanted to add that filter that allows people to find these floating trees when they have forgotten the names.
Connie, there is another way to create a floating person in Ancestry that may sometimes be easier. Say you’ve searched a record group on Ancestry, such as the SSDI or one of the censuses, and Ancestry has responded with a list of search results. Your person is one of the entries. By clicking on “View Record” for that person, the record will load, and there will be a "Save" button beneath the data. Clicking on that will give you two options: “Save to someone in your tree” or “Save to your Shoebox”. Select “Save to someone in your tree.” A box pops up asking you to identify the person to save the record to, but down in the lower right corner is an option that asks if you’d like to create a new person and save the record there. Clicking that will bring up a new screen with the record data pre-populating the data fields for a new person. Change anything you like, hit the Save button, and you will create a new person with one record already attached that is not connected to anyone else in your tree.
This was very useful, thank-you. Sometimes there is a family member on a census and the relationship might be something like "niece" or "great aunt" and you want to add them in some way but you don't yet know how they connect. This is the perfect way!
I had accidentally discovered the unlinking feature leaving a floating person but until this video it did not dawn on me to use it for this purpose. I am one of those people who has about 25 trees keeping track of different people who aren’t linked to my main tree LOL so this was very good information thank you.
I love the use of linking back and forth. I stopped using your method a while back because I had to add the record and immediately unlink the parents. I never add a floating tree without already having a record in mind. Find a record for the person you want to add as a floating person. Then I go to "add person to tree" and click "add as new person." That way you never have to do the extra step of having to unlink relationships.
This is such a useful idea. Our local historical society has been working on a community family tree as everyone is related in our small town. But before I started doing this, I worked up separate trees for the families, and when we finally found the person to link the families, well, it is not easy to link the two trees. So doing this ( you had mentioned it in a prior video) allows us to easily connect the families. Thanks.
@@GenealogyTV It is fun to create and it allows us to let family researchers know what we have that might help them. We will upload photos or other docs to the tree so researchers can find (hopefully) them. We are small enough that it is a project we can manage without becoming overwhelming. And then we can use what we find in our cemetery walks.
I've known for a long time how to create a floating tree AND how to add a web-link to a person, however I have never thought about connecting the floating tree with the web link. Brilliant! So thank you very much for that!
Thanks, Connie! This is a great way to keep track of those people that keep popping up on documents as witnesses, etc. to my ancestors. That's a wonderful detailed handout, as usual. - Debbie Jones
Ohhhh.... That's fantastic. I have inadvertently created floating trees and been perplexed as to how I did it. I often discover little links relating to witnesses on certificates or recognise names on censuses as neighbours but then forget where I wrote it down or who I saw it about so this information is brilliant. I love the short videos like this, they really help me to understand how to do things and why they are good to do. My family tree doesn't reflect all the good things I have discovered through these videos though as I get so so sidetracked and distracted that I forget what I set out to tidy up lol.
I found an article about my great great grandmother's funeral here in South Wales in 1917. It lists a whole string of guests and their relation to my great great grandmother, including cousins and nieces who are all new names to me - very exciting but hard to figure out. This looks like the answer I needed! Thank you! | Diolch!
Thank you! This is just what I needed to know and couldn't even find the words to form the concept. Long-time genealogist, but really suck at technology!
This was an excellent video. While I've been creating floating trees for quite some time now, I had never thought about your bonus tip. Thanks! That will definitely make tree naviagation much easier. Have a blessed day!
Great idea. I'm researching formerly-enslaved persons in the 1870 census, and I am now using this technique to associate the persons for whom they are working/living. The shoebox technique isn't readily visible; now I can build a tree in hopes I can find a will or probate for one of their ancestors which would indicate why my ancestor is living with a particular person in 1870.
Excellent! And the person (a DNA match) can be added as a floating tree within your main tree and you can link to them by clicking the DNA tree link symbol in the DNA match section of Ancestry and link to that person as they float until you find the common ancestor between the two of you.
This was a nice find. So that explains why I see trees (from matches) with an ancestor's name, but no one in that person's main tree had said ancestor as their ancestor. I just wished it would show you a list of all floating trees somewhere.
Love this hint!! I've created about 5 trees so far, but this will make it easier to conceal or gather them all in one (my "DNA" tree), thank you so much!!!
This works. I did this when I was a beginner , not on purpose it was someone who I added by mistake I unlinked but forgot to delete the person. Long story short a few years later I was indeed able to link the "wrong" person who ended up being related to my great grandfather. I would have never been able to explain it like you have
Yes... you should keep those mistakes in your tree if the person is real. It might help someone else, even if we had to break a line that we found to be incorrect.
As I am working and am sure I've found the biological father for a step grandson I created a floating tree in my tree of his DNA cousins. Once the DNA match is confirmed I will have 300-400 individuals in his father's side already done. Again I thank you for the valuable hints and suggestions you continue to provide.
I did something like this in a different way. I perform a search on the person I want to add. When I find a record that pertains to that person, I save the record. Instead of selecting an existing person, I choose . That saves the steps of creating a relationship then having to remove it.
Something that used to annoy me - when you create the person that you intend to then disconnect and use as the starting person of a floating tree, Ancestry will often trigger a load of incorrect hints based on where that person was initially attached (and these sometimes take a while to clear). To get round this, I created a person called 'Floating Person' that permanently sits there, disconnected from anything - I now always use that 'person' as the start for any new floating trees. (I wish Ancestry would simply implement a 'create unlinked person' feature - maybe one day).
I've been doing this for years. I have many floating trees and I have connected quite a few to main trees. I created a bogus profile named Emanon Emanon (Noname Noname), and I use that to link/delink the floating person. It just gives me piece of mind to do it this way. Thanks for posting this info!
@@GenealogyTV Lol - I have two unique surnames in my family (one on paternal side, one on maternal side), and you would think it would be easy to track. However, there are many multiples of people with the same given first name throughout the centuries. It gets quite confusing for me at times. My parents alone both have between 35-40 first cousins, and almost every branch of the family has a daughter/son named after a parent/grandparent.
This is super helpful. Probably a good idea would be to add a custom tag (actually maybe 2, 1 for FAN Club and 1 for DNA Matches Not attached). Then you could periodically do some clean up by filtering for those tags and see who is out there floating around in the background.
Thank you for this. I am very excited to use this tip. I have 3 surnames that keep showing up together. On the boat, living in same area and marrying. It has been difficult to keep track of everyone. Again Thank you for the idea.
I loved the web link hint! I plan to use it for weblinks to another member’s tree. I like using other trees to compare and contrast with my tree, until I find enough evidence to be convinced that a person I suspect belongs on MY tree is satisfactorily proven.
Excellent video..I use the methodology often for DNA matches before I have discovered the exact family connection...I also enjoy adding FAN club individuals, with this method to highlight those with cherished photos...another great tip I have learned is using the Tree Tags so that I can easily filter all my main floating individuals in one list!!
Thank you so much, Connie! Especially for the detailed step by step on how to do this! I have recently been contacted by someone who says he is a first cousin to another first cousin on 23and me… they tell me he shares DNA with my father’s side of the family. This man just found out his father on birth certificate is not his biological father. I have recommended he do his DNA through Ancestors. I have offered to Link his DNA to my account Tree. I was wondering how best to do so, and had made another Tree….but while watching this, decided to delete that tree and add him as a floater in my tree. I may have a brother?! But until we get results, not sure yet. Thank you again!
Yes, this is exactly what the Floating tree is for. If he is putting this DNA test on his own account, then he would share ti with you. If you are paying for and administering his DNA kit, then you could put it on your account and manage the kit. Here is an episode on how to share your Ancestry DNA. See if this helps. How to Share AncestryDNA Test Results ruclips.net/video/QeJoNKy1ocA/видео.html
It’s really an old-school way of doing genealogy. People used all caps on surnames in journals so that people could find their surname easily when skimming through a document. I like it for my research notes, and my Digital files. I have a whole system on organizing your files that starts with the surname in all caps by the first name then the document name.
Question- I am doing more indepth research on my family tree, thanks to you. I have a problem with a Family. When I started I just used Ancestry and hoped that the download info was correct. Well, I found families that were wrong. One of the brother's is accually another brother's son. I'm not sure how to combine these two without removing each download and mess it all up. I also have a g+ grandfather that was sheriff of London, in the 1500's but a lot of docments have his son as the Sheriff. As I look at the documents it just does not make sense since the son was only 17 at the time and was an Elderman? Tried to look up Sheriffs of London and there is not much on Birth dates.(John De Hardy) Ive worked for years building my fathers tree and I need to figure how to fix this without deleting decades of information. Appreicate the help. Kim
I don't know how I missed your comment here. Sorry for the delay. First, don't delete anything. However, you can fix the relationships by disconnecting and then reconnecting properly. Re: the other comment about the Sheriff... Often we name our children after our parents, so could it be the 17 year old was the grandson of the actual sheriff (by the same name)? It's just a thought.
Thank you for the web link suggestion - I had made a web link between the DNA Match page, DNA match family tree page and the initial person in my floating tree, but had not though to also create a web link between my profile and the DNA match floating tree to easily find them. Also useful for the research I'm doing for relatives who's DNA tests I manage and linking their DNA match floating trees to their profile.
I created one for two children my 2nd great grandmother I formally adopted after their father was killed during the Civil War. I still have not found a family connection but the daughter remained close to my family until her death. My grandfather grew up with these two kids, so they were treated like family.
Just recently did this. I developed a tree branch but when i got a marriage certificate I realised a person was wrong and the rest of the branch was no longer connected. The name is quite unusual so I still think they will eventually connect so I delinked the branch. In other cases I have noticed other peoples trees from hints that erroneously link to people that exist in my tree so I make sure those parts of my tree are better documented but I sometimes also make a small unlinked tree with correct links concerning the other people who have been linked wrongly - hoping it will create a hint and prevent further cascade of the error to other trees as people are prone to copy.
Thanks for you knowledge.... if you do find a link to a member in the floating tree, can you just hit merge to the shared member and link the entire floating tree to your tree? Thank you again, Dr Bob
No. What you can do is ask that member for a Gedcom file. Then add it to a syncing software like Family Tree Maker as a separate tree. Then in FTM merge the trees. Do your homework first, to make sure you understand how this process would work.
The floating tree is within my personal tree and used for researching two different, same named, same time framed, people with different lineages in early 1700’s. I am bringing the tree linage forward instead of into the past and when I find the missing link to the two trees, I want to know that if by merging the two connected people if ALL of the two trees will merge through the missing link....They may come from Irish cousins. I can’t see a need to ask for a Gedcom file if all research is contained in my personal tree and done by me... thanks .... I probably wasn’t initially clear enough..... Dr Bob
I do this when I find records that I'm not sure belong to my person. For instance, I know about her as an adult with husband and children. Is this birth record hers? Unless I can find some confirming evidence or feel confident in the connection, I create a separate person and look for evidence to justify merging them. I also do the linking trick you showed to link people I think might be siblings. And to link DNA matches to their own trees. I use RootsMagic and have many "floating" trees as I've built out DNA match trees looking for connections. These sync to ancestry without any special effort.
Hi Connie, I have been using the floating tree method for my DNA matches for my great uncle and dad. The floating trees are great, but is there a way to have the floating tree recognize a possible relation and DNA match between the floating trees. I think it would be so helpful to see what other suggesting the DNA matches connect/match to on person in a floating tree. For example, I have a unknown connection via DNA match to my great uncle and have been searching for the common ancestor between them, but have not found any records connecting them together so a Floating Tree is started for the Unknown DNA match and have been building out the unknown's tree. If there was a way for the unknown's tree to do a search to find find other DNA matches on my Uncle's tree this may be helpful. Thank you -- - Regina YU
Thanks for the web link tip. One reason why I've been reluctant to add floating people in my tree is that I was concerned that over time, I would lose track of why they were there. Adding web links eliminates that concern.
Yes...keep track of the floaters. You can also add notes in the profile of either the floater of the person you web-linked them to, to clarify why they are there.
From ISOGG.org English • français. A DYS number is the scientific name for a short tandem repeat found on the Y chromosome. D stands for DNA , Y stands for Y chromosome and S is a unique segment. STR markers are named according to guidelines published by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee.Jul 22, 2020 See also isogg.org/wiki/DYS_464
This is great info. Only problem is that some people are too lazy to check out what you say or they don't care. I have been on a mission for the past 2 years of contacting an important person with Ancestry who must be too busy to look at the info I have sent her many times over 2 years and in fact has never answered one of the messages. She says that one of her lines connects with my Chaney Line and I can give about 5 reasons that it is impossible. If I am wrong, ok I will be glad to change mine but I need some type of answer and especially since I am an Ancestry customer for many, many years. When someone sees something like in her tree they assume it is correct. Please check my theory Christa.
I'm trying to do this but after I create the new family member and edit the relationships to be unlinked there is no "View Tree" Option in the "Friend Test" Profile. If I click on my tree again the unlinked/floating "Friend Test" profile doesn't show. What am I missing?
Sorry, your comment got caught in the RUclips spam filter for some reason, I'm just now seeing this. You might have them turned off. In the profile view, go to Tools (in the upper right corner) and turn on Show Research Tools. You should see a new menu in the top section of the profile. Then you can click on View in Tree.
This is great information! I have a question about how to "add" people when I'm in the floating tree. As you add a person does it matter if you add them as sons or daughters or fathers or mothers? Thank you!
No it doesn’t matter. Just make sure you disconnect all relationships and put a web link in someone’s profile so you can find the floater again. Or keep a list somewhere.
@@GenealogyTV Great, thanks. I knew to disconnect , but wasn't sure once I start adding people if it would matter wether I added them as children or spouses of the person I started with.
So I have a separate tree in which I have narrowed down my grandmother’s father to 2 brothers. If I create a floating tree with my grandmother down to me and connect my dna to it then connect my grandmother to one brother and wait for the through lines to generate, is there any chance of determining which brother it could be? I have built out the brothers tree with genetic connections in it. Any advise?
No, hypothesis do not work on Thrulines. Thrulines is only as good as your tree and the DNA match trees. If there are errors in the tree, then ThruLines will have errors. Do not count on ThruLines to solve your genealogical problem. You’ll need to do that yourself through quality research.
@@GenealogyTV I used the WATO tool and it gave me someone from their generation. Both brothers (Cuban) lived in NY the same time as my great grandmother. My problem is my Grandmother was left in a foundling home after birth. DNA has confirmed the Irish line my Great Grandmother hailed from. I have Cuban dna matches as well. No other place for my Iberian roots to come from
One of your video's on floating trees talk about using Custom Tags "floating tree" to help find that floating tree. I can't find that video. Could you please guide me to that video?
I’m sure I have multiple Floating Trees in my primary tree workspace... people and groups of people added but never connected. Is there any way, in Ancestry, to “find” those Floating Trees?
@@GenealogyTV I’ll be more specific. My Dad’s family come from Yorkshire and I’ve been able to trace them back to the 1600’s. There is another group of people of same family name who are clustered in Sussex. While researching them, I built a rather extensive floating tree of them, with no link found to the Yorkshire branch. However, there are probably other small groups of other family members in other floating trees that I’ve probably forgotten about. Is there any way to have Ancestry tell you here’s these floating trees sitting out there with no connection to my tree?
@@GenealogyTV That's my question too (see his more specific explanation above). I would hate to create one or more floating trees but then forget about them/the names of people on them. Does Ancestry show you that you have floating trees? Like maybe if you click on "Trees" on the top bar where Ancestry's name is? Thank you in advance for your assistance with this matter.
This is a great suggestion and will give it a try. How would this work if my DNA match doesn't have a tree? There is a mystery first cousin is at the top of my DNA match list. She doesn't have a tree and hasn't responded to messages. Any advice?
She is what we call a DNA tourist. Likely took the test out of curiosity. Unless you know their name and can find them through other means, you may get not ever connect. She likely has her notifications turned off or has died.
Interesting….I find names in records that are in my/ husbands tree……I don’t know how they are related….ie sideways. Also many John..James…Thomas…Mary Anne… etc
Connie, Excellent Video! Is there a way to search for the "web link" name? Say I forget that I set up the "web link" that I create. It would be helpful if say I was searching for information on a relative using their name and the web links came up in the search. Or maybe I add a key word in the name like FAN_friend test and I search for the key word FANs. Love to hear your thoughts?
Humm... I don't know of a way... but if you figure it out, let me know. You might be able to use wildcards in your search. Ancestry uses * for 1-5 missing or unknown characters and ? for single characters... if that helps.
Connie, I have a question, wondered if you could help. Here it goes ..... I had a child with someone and found out that he is my 9th cousin. Why does it not show both relationships? Husbandcand 9th cousin? Because now everything shows that I'm tied to ancestors thru him only and not my bloodline. Does this make since?
I suspect you are talking about DNA... and maybe Thrulines? If you two are 9th cousins that means you have a GGGGGGGG Grandparents in common. There is no DNA left for you to have a genetic connection. That runs out about the 4th-6th cousin range. If you're looking at Thrulines... it is pulling from member trees and DNA connections... so it would depend on how you are looking at it to understand what is going on. So... the question for you is, what are you looking at to determine your question?
As a ninth cousin, you’re not going to have enough DNA left in common to see a match. That means you have your eight times great grandparents in common.
Connie just wondering if I create a person in a floating tree because I'm not sure how they are related to my person will that floating tree download into family tree maker or is it only available to look at on ancestry??
Good question. It should download... because technically it is part of your tree... it's just the person or tiny tree is disconnected from the main tree. You can try it and then search for someone you know is in your floating tree on FTM and see if they're there. I'm confident they will be.
Hi! I am a new subscriber and I have a few questions. First, are there any risks involved with using sites like Ancestory.com and what would those be? Second, how might researching and recording your family history be used with merit? Thanks! Peace be with you✌️
I love Ancestry. I have no issues with them. I keep my tree public so that I can work with others. If you set up a tree, others can't see living people. So if someone has died, make sure to mark them as deceased even if you have to estimate their death date. The work you do helping to trace your family history will be there for others for generations to come. It's important to document what we know before it is lost to time.
OK - great tips on floating trees. However, too late for me! I made a new second tree, based on surnames from an Eastern European orthodox Metrycal! Now, I may be able to link the two trees together. Is linking two separate trees possible on Ancestry without redoing all the data???
I have a bunch of floating people that I come across. I'm not sure how I did it, but I need to be able to call up all the floats so I can go through them and either attach them or delete them. Is there a way to do that.
Connie what if i find out the person i set up as a floating person IS- actually a family member how do i reattach i am thinking i go into the person's on my tree i want to connect the floating person too, and edit relationship? I get confused just thinking about it! ...lol
Go to your tree, Tree Search (upper right), search for the floater, open the profile, then add the right relationship in the right column (father, mother, spouse or family).
Boy you’re really making me think hard. After thinking this through I think it might. Because ThrLines is built on the back of other peoples trees and yours. That’s a great question, let me know if you learn anything.
@@GenealogyTV thanks for the reply. I asked as I'm trying to find an adopted friend's closest living relative. It's proving difficult as all I have is birth mothers name from the b/c and the closest DNA relative is a 3-4 cousin match. So I'm hoping that creating floating trees may lead to some further clues. So far thrulines has thrown up nothing at all.
Connie, yet another very helpful video. However, am I correct believing that if, for example, I have two trees, lets say one is an adoptee and then I have built out another tree from a distant DNA match of the adoptee, that I cannot attach the "distant DNA tree" to the "adoptee tree" and then unattach that tree? This it becomes a floating tree of the main adoptee research tree.
Just to be clear... a floating tree is just a disconnect mini tree within the same tree file you're working on. I'm not clear in your question... if you have two entirely different trees (with different names) or if you're talking about one tree. Ideally you want one tree (mine is the Knox-Henley Family Tree)... then I create mini floating trees within that. It's not a separate tree or file. Whatever tree you have your DNA attached to (you can only attach DNA to one tree) then that's where you want to do your hypothesis work when solving for adoptees/biological family. I'm sure that was as clear as mud.
@@GenealogyTV Thanks for the swift response. Possibly I have not explained myself well. I believe that it is impossible to merge trees within Ancestry? I am working on a friends adoption and as I was unaware of floating trees, I had created several trees for her close DNA matches. Now, from watching this video it would seem it would be best practice to have these as "one" tree which would comprise the trees so far researched (none of them yet have any family connections). So, to attempt to explain, my adoptee is tree A. I have a third cousin, tree B and a fourth cousin, tree C. These are all completely separate trees. It would have been better to attach tree B & C to tree A (the adoptee) and then detach them. However, I do not believe this is possible and it seems from your video that I would need to attach an individual from trees B & C and then build the trees again? I hope this make a little more sense...
Yes it does make sense now. Sorry for my misunderstanding. What you can do is make those trees public, and then from the tree you want to merge information into search, other trees and find your own trees and import information that way. Unfortunately, you can only do it one family group at a time. There is no way to merge entire trees in ancestry.
Thank you for this video another new lesson of what can be achieved in a family tree. Can I use this method to work a tree forward? A family friend, John, died earlier this year and I was given two (paper copies) family trees he had created. One of his family and one of another friend, John's step brother. As it turns out I'm distantly related to the John's stepbrother and to make things more interesting John and his stepbrother are also related. However both trees start with generation one way back in the 15/1600s and after looking at the trees I've come to the conclusion it would be much easier to start with generation one than generation twelve. Is this possible? I'm thinking it should be easy enough to do it that way or should I just start up new trees for each of them?
The great thing about this is you can do what ever rocks your world. If it were me, since you are related, I'd add the information to my own tree... as a floating tree or start where you two are connected and go from there. You could consider donating those paper trees (or copies) to the state archives for others to find too.
I'm trying to ascertain who my actual birth father is, so I've created a number of extra trees, each one represents a person that I believe is related to my birth father, and each tree is numbered. I've then created a spreadsheet, listing down each person, along with the number of tree that the name came from. Your thoughts on this would be most appreciated.
Curious how this works with syncing to FamilyTree Maker (FTM)? I know with RootsMagic (RM) I can find "unlinked" or floating people/trees, but haven't tried to find these in FTM. Really like this idea, especially with working with DNA matches! This opens up a whole lot of possibilities! Thank You!
I just tested this with FTM and it worked fine. I was able to create a test person, detach them in the tree, sync with FTM and the test person was there... by themselves. Success!
@@GenealogyTV I understand that the Ancestry DNA Common Ancestors feature can't provide me recommended matches for my floating trees, but does it use information from floating trees at all to create recommendations? I'm ever hopeful that Ancestry will someday find a way to help me mesh my floaters into my tree. I imagine their tech shop is working hard to help us move forward with logical matches that are sitting in our files just waiting to be paired and exploited. I enjoyed your recent cemetery video and then watched your guest's video on cleaning gravestones. I was truly amazed. Happy Halloween.
Thank you. I don’t see how floating trees can help you in thrulines. Because through lines is matching your tree with you in it, compared to other trees with DNA matches. All it’s doing is lining up trees and DNA cousin matches. So if you have a floating tree with a custom match I can’t see how that could show you in ThruLines. The idea with floating trees is that you research those floating trees to the point that it connects to you, when you use them for DNA connections.
If you've added your half sister properly to one of your parents, then it should be showing in the Thrulines with the cM. Alternatively, you can always add a personal note to her profile. You could also go into the shared DNA match where you and the half sister are shown together and highlight the weblink... then go back to your profile and add it as a weblink in the facts area.
I'm not clear on the question. If you have the floating tree within your tree... and it's not connected then Thrulines would not work for cousin matches that are on the floating part of the tree.
Keep in mind, if you saying a 4th cousin is based on a DNA estimate... then you need to outline the exact relationship to you and not base it on the estimate. If you are a true 4th cousin then you share a 3X Grandparents with that cousin. You and your (full) brother would have the same 4th cousin relationship. Therefore, your brothers son would be 4th cousins, once removed (a.k.a. 4C1R).
I need a way to find these disconnected mini-trees or individuals within my tree. Is there a way to list those who are not connected to the main tree but still exist as floaters?
I watched the video hoping to learn how to list out those who are floating because I have some who got disconnected and I don't know who they are. So this isn't helpful when I don't know their names. I need a search that says "Find Disconnected People" and lists all of them. I started my tree by importing my GED file that I built long ago on PAF and I'm certain that there are floaters out there. How do I find out? Different video?
If you don’t know their name, I’m not sure there is a way to find them. Do you need at least the first or last name to search. Ancestry does not provide a way to search unlinked people.
@@GenealogyTV Thank you for the response! :) What I might do is Export to a new GEDcom file and then upload it to some kind of tool. If you think of a tool like this, please let me know. I'll research what might work. But in the meantime keep up the great work. Love your stuff. Super helpful.
As i understand it a delinked tree is just as viable as your main tree and no different. You could look at tree overview and then look at a name list in people summary. The name list might ring bells but i might guess some people will look like duplicates of people in your main tree too and might stand out as such. If you have software that does reporting or charting like family tree maker 2019 those facilities might be able to highlight in someway detached people
Floating trees (on Ancestry) are not trees themselves but disconnected people or a cluster of people within your tree. You would delete the people individually like you would delete any ancestors profile. Do not delete your tree! If you do, you will lose everything. If you did good research, I would just leave it, if it's not hurting anything and is accurate research. If you are talking about FamilySearch, there is no such thing as a floating tree on FamilySearch because it is one giant collaborative tree.
Thank you so much for this neat trick. I have a 3x great grandmother, who is my brick wall. I believe she emigrated from Ireland to first Massachusetts then Pennsylvania. I think she had relatives already in Pennsylvania but I can not find any records indicating that my theory is correct. I will make a floating tree for her relative and hopefully prove or disprove my guess.
I've done two episodes that might help your Irish research. How to Research Your Irish Genealogy ruclips.net/video/pyXpEESFq1k/видео.html and FindMyPast UK and Irish Genealogy Research ruclips.net/video/9uJzTCV7K0Y/видео.html Thanks for supporting Genealogy TV!
I'm not sure exactly. I believe in one tree because of the simplicity in keeping track of your lines. However, I do keep different trees for my client research.
@@GenealogyTVI also keep all my own genealogy in one tree for my own convenience. The other trees are for friends, clients, or people whose backgrounds I have decided to trace.
Really enjoyed this - I have one tip I would like to add.
I have collected several Gerbics over the years looking for my family, many collected pre Internet. After watching your video I decided to try making a Floating Tree for these people. They do not connect to my current family tree but I wanted them somewhere where I could easily see them, expand on their tree and hopefully find a DNA match with one of them.
Because these people do not connect to someone in my current tree - I need to make them truly float. I wanted to be able to quickly find the trees, and didn't want to rely on my memory of who they were.
What I did was make a custom tag on Ancestry and tagged them. Each group got their own special tag - they each start with FT and then information so that I could quickly identify which is which.
Then I can go into the filter feature on Ancestry and find these families.
Once they were built and expanded somewhat I came up with many unusual surnames. I went into my DNA matches and searched for these unusual surnames within my matches trees. I turned up nothing. But even that helps as I am able to eliminate some people, also it helps others who might come across their families in searching
So just wanted to add that filter that allows people to find these floating trees when they have forgotten the names.
Great Idea! I like that one!
Connie, there is another way to create a floating person in Ancestry that may sometimes be easier. Say you’ve searched a record group on Ancestry, such as the SSDI or one of the censuses, and Ancestry has responded with a list of search results. Your person is one of the entries. By clicking on “View Record” for that person, the record will load, and there will be a "Save" button beneath the data. Clicking on that will give you two options: “Save to someone in your tree” or “Save to your Shoebox”. Select “Save to someone in your tree.” A box pops up asking you to identify the person to save the record to, but down in the lower right corner is an option that asks if you’d like to create a new person and save the record there. Clicking that will bring up a new screen with the record data pre-populating the data fields for a new person. Change anything you like, hit the Save button, and you will create a new person with one record already attached that is not connected to anyone else in your tree.
Thank you. A couple people pointed that out. Good idea. Now I know another way too. Appreciate it.
This was very useful, thank-you. Sometimes there is a family member on a census and the relationship might be something like "niece" or "great aunt" and you want to add them in some way but you don't yet know how they connect. This is the perfect way!
Glad it was helpful!
I had accidentally discovered the unlinking feature leaving a floating person but until this video it did not dawn on me to use it for this purpose. I am one of those people who has about 25 trees keeping track of different people who aren’t linked to my main tree LOL so this was very good information thank you.
This is why I am a fan of one tree.
I love the use of linking back and forth. I stopped using your method a while back because I had to add the record and immediately unlink the parents. I never add a floating tree without already having a record in mind. Find a record for the person you want to add as a floating person. Then I go to "add person to tree" and click "add as new person." That way you never have to do the extra step of having to unlink relationships.
Yes, I've heard others use the same technique you are using. I find I'm using it more and more with FAN club members. Thanks for the comment.
This is such a useful idea. Our local historical society has been working on a community family tree as everyone is related in our small town. But before I started doing this, I worked up separate trees for the families, and when we finally found the person to link the families, well, it is not easy to link the two trees. So doing this ( you had mentioned it in a prior video) allows us to easily connect the families. Thanks.
Oooh.... an historical society tree. I like that idea too.
@@GenealogyTV It is fun to create and it allows us to let family researchers know what we have that might help them. We will upload photos or other docs to the tree so researchers can find (hopefully) them. We are small enough that it is a project we can manage without becoming overwhelming. And then we can use what we find in our cemetery walks.
I've known for a long time how to create a floating tree AND how to add a web-link to a person, however I have never thought about connecting the floating tree with the web link. Brilliant! So thank you very much for that!
My pleasure.
Thanks, Connie! This is a great way to keep track of those people that keep popping up on documents as witnesses, etc. to my ancestors. That's a wonderful detailed handout, as usual. - Debbie Jones
Thank you Debbie, and thank you for your support.
Ohhhh.... That's fantastic. I have inadvertently created floating trees and been perplexed as to how I did it. I often discover little links relating to witnesses on certificates or recognise names on censuses as neighbours but then forget where I wrote it down or who I saw it about so this information is brilliant.
I love the short videos like this, they really help me to understand how to do things and why they are good to do. My family tree doesn't reflect all the good things I have discovered through these videos though as I get so so sidetracked and distracted that I forget what I set out to tidy up lol.
Super! Glad it was helpful.
@@GenealogyTV thank you for your ability to explain these things.
I found an article about my great great grandmother's funeral here in South Wales in 1917. It lists a whole string of guests and their relation to my great great grandmother, including cousins and nieces who are all new names to me - very exciting but hard to figure out. This looks like the answer I needed! Thank you! | Diolch!
Fantastic. What a great find! The fact that it has the relationships too is a huge plus.
Thank you! This is just what I needed to know and couldn't even find the words to form the concept. Long-time genealogist, but really suck at technology!
This was an excellent video. While I've been creating floating trees for quite some time now, I had never thought about your bonus tip. Thanks! That will definitely make tree naviagation much easier. Have a blessed day!
Thank you Suzanne
@@GenealogyTV You're welcome, Connie.
This is fantastic! I have a few trees for family friend/godparents that I have wanted to add to my tree but didnt know how. THANK YOU!!
My pleasure.
A great and very helpful video!! Thank you!! First time I have seen an actual step by step video on how to do this and the Web Link is an awesome tip!
Glad it helped!
Great idea. I'm researching formerly-enslaved persons in the 1870 census, and I am now using this technique to associate the persons for whom they are working/living. The shoebox technique isn't readily visible; now I can build a tree in hopes I can find a will or probate for one of their ancestors which would indicate why my ancestor is living with a particular person in 1870.
Great idea and use of this technique. Happy hunting.
Excellent! And the person (a DNA match) can be added as a floating tree within your main tree and you can link to them by clicking the DNA tree link symbol in the DNA match section of Ancestry and link to that person as they float until you find the common ancestor between the two of you.
Exactly!
SO FANTASTIC!!! Thank you❣️❣️❣️
You are so welcome!
This was a nice find. So that explains why I see trees (from matches) with an ancestor's name, but no one in that person's main tree had said ancestor as their ancestor. I just wished it would show you a list of all floating trees somewhere.
Love this hint!!
I've created about 5 trees so far, but this will make it easier to conceal or gather them all in one (my "DNA" tree), thank you so much!!!
Great idea!
I love this! It’s kinda fun, makes me feel like a secret agent ha! Thank you so much!
Yes! Funny!
Very useful and informative piece of information (that I wish I known before lol)Thank you
This is a great tool. Thank you so much!
My pleasure
This works. I did this when I was a beginner , not on purpose it was someone who I added by mistake I unlinked but forgot to delete the person. Long story short a few years later I was indeed able to link the "wrong" person who ended up being related to my great grandfather. I would have never been able to explain it like you have
Yes... you should keep those mistakes in your tree if the person is real. It might help someone else, even if we had to break a line that we found to be incorrect.
This is cool. I never thought of doing this
As I am working and am sure I've found the biological father for a step grandson I created a floating tree in my tree of his DNA cousins. Once the DNA match is confirmed I will have 300-400 individuals in his father's side already done. Again I thank you for the valuable hints and suggestions you continue to provide.
I did something like this in a different way. I perform a search on the person I want to add. When I find a record that pertains to that person, I save the record. Instead of selecting an existing person, I choose . That saves the steps of creating a relationship then having to remove it.
Good idea
You can also add right from the tree display using the arrow drop down.
Thanks for the tip.
Something that used to annoy me - when you create the person that you intend to then disconnect and use as the starting person of a floating tree, Ancestry will often trigger a load of incorrect hints based on where that person was initially attached (and these sometimes take a while to clear). To get round this, I created a person called 'Floating Person' that permanently sits there, disconnected from anything - I now always use that 'person' as the start for any new floating trees. (I wish Ancestry would simply implement a 'create unlinked person' feature - maybe one day).
Awesome video. I have a few people I'm following and not sure yet if they really are related. I'm going to use this feature!
That is awesome!
Great idea! Thank you!
Welcome
I've been doing this for years. I have many floating trees and I have connected quite a few to main trees. I created a bogus profile named Emanon Emanon (Noname Noname), and I use that to link/delink the floating person. It just gives me piece of mind to do it this way. Thanks for posting this info!
Interesting... Emanon
@@GenealogyTV Lol - I have two unique surnames in my family (one on paternal side, one on maternal side), and you would think it would be easy to track. However, there are many multiples of people with the same given first name throughout the centuries. It gets quite confusing for me at times. My parents alone both have between 35-40 first cousins, and almost every branch of the family has a daughter/son named after a parent/grandparent.
This is super helpful. Probably a good idea would be to add a custom tag (actually maybe 2, 1 for FAN Club and 1 for DNA Matches Not attached). Then you could periodically do some clean up by filtering for those tags and see who is out there floating around in the background.
Good idea. Thanks for supporting GTV. 😀
Great ideas!!
Thank you for this. I am very excited to use this tip. I have 3 surnames that keep showing up together. On the boat, living in same area and marrying.
It has been difficult to keep track of everyone. Again Thank you for the idea.
You’re welcome
I loved the web link hint! I plan to use it for weblinks to another member’s tree. I like using other trees to compare and contrast with my tree, until I find enough evidence to be convinced that a person I suspect belongs on MY tree is satisfactorily proven.
Yes! Just be sure to put a weblink in both directions. Person A web link to Person B and then visa versa.
Excellent video..I use the methodology often for DNA matches before I have discovered the exact family connection...I also enjoy adding FAN club individuals, with this method to highlight those with cherished photos...another great tip I have learned is using the Tree Tags so that I can easily filter all my main floating individuals in one list!!
Thanks for sharing! Great idea!
Thank you so much, Connie! Especially for the detailed step by step on how to do this! I have recently been contacted by someone who says he is a first cousin to another first cousin on 23and me… they tell me he shares DNA with my father’s side of the family. This man just found out his father on birth certificate is not his biological father. I have recommended he do his DNA through Ancestors. I have offered to Link his DNA to my account Tree. I was wondering how best to do so, and had made another Tree….but while watching this, decided to delete that tree and add him as a floater in my tree. I may have a brother?! But until we get results, not sure yet.
Thank you again!
Yes, this is exactly what the Floating tree is for. If he is putting this DNA test on his own account, then he would share ti with you. If you are paying for and administering his DNA kit, then you could put it on your account and manage the kit.
Here is an episode on how to share your Ancestry DNA. See if this helps.
How to Share AncestryDNA Test Results
ruclips.net/video/QeJoNKy1ocA/видео.html
@@GenealogyTV Thank you!! :-)
What is the reason for some last names all CAPS and some not? Thanks for explaining web link. Never used it. I see more uses for it now.
It’s really an old-school way of doing genealogy. People used all caps on surnames in journals so that people could find their surname easily when skimming through a document. I like it for my research notes, and my Digital files. I have a whole system on organizing your files that starts with the surname in all caps by the first name then the document name.
I hadn't thought of this.
We learn something new every day. :)
Question- I am doing more indepth research on my family tree, thanks to you. I have a problem with a Family. When I started I just used Ancestry and hoped that the download info was correct. Well, I found families that were wrong. One of the brother's is accually another brother's son. I'm not sure how to combine these two without removing each download and mess it all up. I also have a g+ grandfather that was sheriff of London, in the 1500's but a lot of docments have his son as the Sheriff. As I look at the documents it just does not make sense since the son was only 17 at the time and was an Elderman? Tried to look up Sheriffs of London and there is not much on Birth dates.(John De Hardy) Ive worked for years building my fathers tree and I need to figure how to fix this without deleting decades of information. Appreicate the help. Kim
I don't know how I missed your comment here. Sorry for the delay. First, don't delete anything. However, you can fix the relationships by disconnecting and then reconnecting properly. Re: the other comment about the Sheriff... Often we name our children after our parents, so could it be the 17 year old was the grandson of the actual sheriff (by the same name)? It's just a thought.
Thank you for the web link suggestion - I had made a web link between the DNA Match page, DNA match family tree page and the initial person in my floating tree, but had not though to also create a web link between my profile and the DNA match floating tree to easily find them.
Also useful for the research I'm doing for relatives who's DNA tests I manage and linking their DNA match floating trees to their profile.
Yes exactly
I created one for two children my 2nd great grandmother I formally adopted after their father was killed during the Civil War. I still have not found a family connection but the daughter remained close to my family until her death. My grandfather grew up with these two kids, so they were treated like family.
Interesting.
Great idea!
Glad you think so!
That is interesting. I was trying to create a separate tree for my Mum who was adopted and we know her birth mother, but not father.
Just recently did this. I developed a tree branch but when i got a marriage certificate I realised a person was wrong and the rest of the branch was no longer connected. The name is quite unusual so I still think they will eventually connect so I delinked the branch. In other cases I have noticed other peoples trees from hints that erroneously link to people that exist in my tree so I make sure those parts of my tree are better documented but I sometimes also make a small unlinked tree with correct links concerning the other people who have been linked wrongly - hoping it will create a hint and prevent further cascade of the error to other trees as people are prone to copy.
Smart. Yes I try to do the same thing as opposed to deleting the branch.
Thanks!! this was driving me nuts!! I have dna matches with unlinked or private trees....
Yes... this is perfect for that.
Thanks for you knowledge.... if you do find a link to a member in the floating tree, can you just hit merge to the shared member and link the entire floating tree to your tree? Thank you again, Dr Bob
No. What you can do is ask that member for a Gedcom file. Then add it to a syncing software like Family Tree Maker as a separate tree. Then in FTM merge the trees. Do your homework first, to make sure you understand how this process would work.
The floating tree is within my personal tree and used for researching two different, same named, same time framed, people with different lineages in early 1700’s. I am bringing the tree linage forward instead of into the past and when I find the missing link to the two trees, I want to know that if by merging the two connected people if ALL of the two trees will merge through the missing link....They may come from Irish cousins. I can’t see a need to ask for a Gedcom file if all research is contained in my personal tree and done by me... thanks .... I probably wasn’t initially clear enough..... Dr Bob
Love this!
I do this when I find records that I'm not sure belong to my person. For instance, I know about her as an adult with husband and children. Is this birth record hers? Unless I can find some confirming evidence or feel confident in the connection, I create a separate person and look for evidence to justify merging them.
I also do the linking trick you showed to link people I think might be siblings. And to link DNA matches to their own trees.
I use RootsMagic and have many "floating" trees as I've built out DNA match trees looking for connections. These sync to ancestry without any special effort.
Hi Connie,
I have been using the floating tree method for my DNA matches for my great uncle and dad. The floating trees are great, but is there a way to have the floating tree recognize a possible relation and DNA match between the floating trees. I think it would be so helpful to see what other suggesting the DNA matches connect/match to on person in a floating tree. For example, I have a unknown connection via DNA match to my great uncle and have been searching for the common ancestor between them, but have not found any records connecting them together so a Floating Tree is started for the Unknown DNA match and have been building out the unknown's tree. If there was a way for the unknown's tree to do a search to find find other DNA matches on my Uncle's tree this may be helpful. Thank you -- -
Regina YU
Thanks for the web link tip. One reason why I've been reluctant to add floating people in my tree is that I was concerned that over time, I would lose track of why they were there. Adding web links eliminates that concern.
Yes...keep track of the floaters. You can also add notes in the profile of either the floater of the person you web-linked them to, to clarify why they are there.
Wow,my grandmother was a Knox!
So was my husband. :)
I would like to know what the number of DYS marker stand for ??. Is it a molecular mass?. for example DYS 358
From ISOGG.org
English • français. A DYS number is the scientific name for a short tandem repeat found on the Y chromosome. D stands for DNA , Y stands for Y chromosome and S is a unique segment. STR markers are named according to guidelines published by the HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee.Jul 22, 2020
See also isogg.org/wiki/DYS_464
Thanks- this will help me with the mystery cousins that my DNA has produced.
Yes. Excellent use for this task.
Thanks bunches
You are so welcome
If I unlink a family member from parents to workout DNA match when I have completed the match can I link it all back to my main tree.
Yes as long as you haven’t deleted anybody. You should be able to connect them again using the search someone in my tree function.
Connie, I’m really curious, how long have you been doing genealogy?
About 45 years.
You don't look old enough!
This is great info. Only problem is that some people are too lazy to check out what you say or they don't care. I have been on a mission for the past 2 years of contacting an important person with Ancestry who must be too busy to look at the info I have sent her many times over 2 years and in fact has never answered one of the messages. She says that one of her lines connects with my Chaney Line and I can give about 5 reasons that it is impossible. If I am wrong, ok I will be glad to change mine but I need some type of answer and especially since I am an Ancestry customer for many, many years. When someone sees something like in her tree they assume it is correct. Please check my theory Christa.
I'm trying to do this but after I create the new family member and edit the relationships to be unlinked there is no "View Tree" Option in the "Friend Test" Profile. If I click on my tree again the unlinked/floating "Friend Test" profile doesn't show. What am I missing?
Sorry, your comment got caught in the RUclips spam filter for some reason, I'm just now seeing this. You might have them turned off. In the profile view, go to Tools (in the upper right corner) and turn on Show Research Tools. You should see a new menu in the top section of the profile. Then you can click on View in Tree.
This is great information! I have a question about how to "add" people when I'm in the floating tree. As you add a person does it matter if you add them as sons or daughters or fathers or mothers? Thank you!
No it doesn’t matter. Just make sure you disconnect all relationships and put a web link in someone’s profile so you can find the floater again. Or keep a list somewhere.
@@GenealogyTV Great, thanks. I knew to disconnect , but wasn't sure once I start adding people if it would matter wether I added them as children or spouses of the person I started with.
I have done this for many years, I did not know how to connect with the web link.
Love this idea. Great way to have a visual for the FAN Club!
Thanks Deb
So I have a separate tree in which I have narrowed down my grandmother’s father to 2 brothers. If I create a floating tree with my grandmother down to me and connect my dna to it then connect my grandmother to one brother and wait for the through lines to generate, is there any chance of determining which brother it could be? I have built out the brothers tree with genetic connections in it. Any advise?
No, hypothesis do not work on Thrulines. Thrulines is only as good as your tree and the DNA match trees. If there are errors in the tree, then ThruLines will have errors. Do not count on ThruLines to solve your genealogical problem. You’ll need to do that yourself through quality research.
@@GenealogyTV I used the WATO tool and it gave me someone from their generation. Both brothers (Cuban) lived in NY the same time as my great grandmother. My problem is my Grandmother was left in a foundling home after birth. DNA has confirmed the Irish line my Great Grandmother hailed from. I have Cuban dna matches as well. No other place for my Iberian roots to come from
One of your video's on floating trees talk about using Custom Tags "floating tree" to help find that floating tree. I can't find that video. Could you please guide me to that video?
Connecting Floating Trees to Your Main Tree on Ancestry.com at 9:20 ruclips.net/video/Q9X_2t0aZ2Y/видео.html
@@GenealogyTV thank you
I’m sure I have multiple Floating Trees in my primary tree workspace... people and groups of people added but never connected. Is there any way, in Ancestry, to “find” those Floating Trees?
Well when you search for an ancestor, if they are in someone else's floating tree, they might pop up in the member tree area..
@@GenealogyTV I’ll be more specific. My Dad’s family come from Yorkshire and I’ve been able to trace them back to the 1600’s. There is another group of people of same family name who are clustered in Sussex. While researching them, I built a rather extensive floating tree of them, with no link found to the Yorkshire branch. However, there are probably other small groups of other family members in other floating trees that I’ve probably forgotten about. Is there any way to have Ancestry tell you here’s these floating trees sitting out there with no connection to my tree?
@@GenealogyTV That's my question too (see his more specific explanation above). I would hate to create one or more floating trees but then forget about them/the names of people on them. Does Ancestry show you that you have floating trees? Like maybe if you click on "Trees" on the top bar where Ancestry's name is? Thank you in advance for your assistance with this matter.
This is a great suggestion and will give it a try. How would this work if my DNA match doesn't have a tree? There is a mystery first cousin is at the top of my DNA match list. She doesn't have a tree and hasn't responded to messages. Any advice?
She is what we call a DNA tourist. Likely took the test out of curiosity. Unless you know their name and can find them through other means, you may get not ever connect. She likely has her notifications turned off or has died.
@@GenealogyTV Thank you. Hopefully the other matches will provide the answers I'm seeking.
Interesting….I find names in records that are in my/ husbands tree……I don’t know how they are related….ie sideways. Also many John..James…Thomas…Mary Anne… etc
Connie, Excellent Video! Is there a way to search for the "web link" name? Say I forget that I set up the "web link" that I create. It would be helpful if say I was searching for information on a relative using their name and the web links came up in the search. Or maybe I add a key word in the name like FAN_friend test and I search for the key word FANs. Love to hear your thoughts?
Humm... I don't know of a way... but if you figure it out, let me know. You might be able to use wildcards in your search. Ancestry uses * for 1-5 missing or unknown characters and ? for single characters... if that helps.
I don't believe search covers web links. But I use a naming structure for my weblinks so I always know what I'm looking at.
Connie, I have a question, wondered if you could help. Here it goes ..... I had a child with someone and found out that he is my 9th cousin. Why does it not show both relationships? Husbandcand 9th cousin? Because now everything shows that I'm tied to ancestors thru him only and not my bloodline. Does this make since?
I suspect you are talking about DNA... and maybe Thrulines? If you two are 9th cousins that means you have a GGGGGGGG Grandparents in common. There is no DNA left for you to have a genetic connection. That runs out about the 4th-6th cousin range. If you're looking at Thrulines... it is pulling from member trees and DNA connections... so it would depend on how you are looking at it to understand what is going on. So... the question for you is, what are you looking at to determine your question?
@@GenealogyTV I use family search. But I'm not sure if I'm asking the question correctly. I have to look into it further.
As a ninth cousin, you’re not going to have enough DNA left in common to see a match. That means you have your eight times great grandparents in common.
Wow! I suspect your Moneys are related to Hubby's Moneys. They are from Yadkinville, NC! There are more distant Waggoners, Johnsons.
They are very likely related. This is on my husband side of the family as well.
Have you run across Aesop Coonrod Money? Coonrod is adapted from the German Conrad.
Connie just wondering if I create a person in a floating tree because I'm not sure how they are related to my person will that floating tree download into family tree maker or is it only available to look at on ancestry??
Good question. It should download... because technically it is part of your tree... it's just the person or tiny tree is disconnected from the main tree. You can try it and then search for someone you know is in your floating tree on FTM and see if they're there. I'm confident they will be.
I have family tree maker 2019 and you can delink people just the same within that. It synchs and carries those delinked trees into Ancestry.
Hi! I am a new subscriber and I have a few questions. First, are there any risks involved with using sites like Ancestory.com and what would those be? Second, how might researching and recording your family history be used with merit? Thanks! Peace be with you✌️
I love Ancestry. I have no issues with them. I keep my tree public so that I can work with others. If you set up a tree, others can't see living people. So if someone has died, make sure to mark them as deceased even if you have to estimate their death date. The work you do helping to trace your family history will be there for others for generations to come. It's important to document what we know before it is lost to time.
OK - great tips on floating trees. However, too late for me! I made a new second tree, based on surnames from an Eastern European orthodox Metrycal! Now, I may be able to link the two trees together. Is linking two separate trees possible on Ancestry without redoing all the data???
Only with a third-party software like family tree maker.
Will the floating tree sync with Family Tree Maker?
Yes, as long as you are syncing the same tree. But you still need to search for that person in the Floating Tree to find it.
I have a bunch of floating people that I come across. I'm not sure how I did it, but I need to be able to call up all the floats so I can go through them and either attach them or delete them. Is there a way to do that.
Not really unless you gave them a tag or hyperlinked them to someone else in your tree. Tree tags a super helpful for this.
Connie what if i find out the person i set up as a floating person IS- actually a family member how do i reattach i am thinking i go into the person's on my tree i want to connect the floating person too, and edit relationship? I get confused just thinking about it! ...lol
Go to your tree, Tree Search (upper right), search for the floater, open the profile, then add the right relationship in the right column (father, mother, spouse or family).
Connie, thnk you for this. Will floating trees link into Thrulines if the 'master' tree is for someone that has DNA tested?
Boy you’re really making me think hard. After thinking this through I think it might. Because ThrLines is built on the back of other peoples trees and yours. That’s a great question, let me know if you learn anything.
@@GenealogyTV thanks for the reply. I asked as I'm trying to find an adopted friend's closest living relative. It's proving difficult as all I have is birth mothers name from the b/c and the closest DNA relative is a 3-4 cousin match. So I'm hoping that creating floating trees may lead to some further clues.
So far thrulines has thrown up nothing at all.
Connie, yet another very helpful video. However, am I correct believing that if, for example, I have two trees, lets say one is an adoptee and then I have built out another tree from a distant DNA match of the adoptee, that I cannot attach the "distant DNA tree" to the "adoptee tree" and then unattach that tree? This it becomes a floating tree of the main adoptee research tree.
Just to be clear... a floating tree is just a disconnect mini tree within the same tree file you're working on. I'm not clear in your question... if you have two entirely different trees (with different names) or if you're talking about one tree. Ideally you want one tree (mine is the Knox-Henley Family Tree)... then I create mini floating trees within that. It's not a separate tree or file. Whatever tree you have your DNA attached to (you can only attach DNA to one tree) then that's where you want to do your hypothesis work when solving for adoptees/biological family. I'm sure that was as clear as mud.
@@GenealogyTV Thanks for the swift response. Possibly I have not explained myself well. I believe that it is impossible to merge trees within Ancestry?
I am working on a friends adoption and as I was unaware of floating trees, I had created several trees for her close DNA matches. Now, from watching this video it would seem it would be best practice to have these as "one" tree which would comprise the trees so far researched (none of them yet have any family connections). So, to attempt to explain, my adoptee is tree A. I have a third cousin, tree B and a fourth cousin, tree C.
These are all completely separate trees. It would have been better to attach tree B & C to tree A (the adoptee) and then detach them. However, I do not believe this is possible and it seems from your video that I would need to attach an individual from trees B & C and then build the trees again? I hope this make a little more sense...
Yes it does make sense now. Sorry for my misunderstanding. What you can do is make those trees public, and then from the tree you want to merge information into search, other trees and find your own trees and import information that way. Unfortunately, you can only do it one family group at a time. There is no way to merge entire trees in ancestry.
Thank you for this video another new lesson of what can be achieved in a family tree. Can I use this method to work a tree forward? A family friend, John, died earlier this year and I was given two (paper copies) family trees he had created. One of his family and one of another friend, John's step brother. As it turns out I'm distantly related to the John's stepbrother and to make things more interesting John and his stepbrother are also related. However both trees start with generation one way back in the 15/1600s and after looking at the trees I've come to the conclusion it would be much easier to start with generation one than generation twelve. Is this possible? I'm thinking it should be easy enough to do it that way or should I just start up new trees for each of them?
The great thing about this is you can do what ever rocks your world. If it were me, since you are related, I'd add the information to my own tree... as a floating tree or start where you two are connected and go from there. You could consider donating those paper trees (or copies) to the state archives for others to find too.
Yrs past i made several trees. As time goes on im finding where they fit my main tree. Is there a way to graft them in without retyping?
I'm trying to ascertain who my actual birth father is, so I've created a number of extra trees, each one represents a person that I believe is related to my birth father, and each tree is numbered. I've then created a spreadsheet, listing down each person, along with the number of tree that the name came from. Your thoughts on this would be most appreciated.
Have you taken a DNA test?
Curious how this works with syncing to FamilyTree Maker (FTM)?
I know with RootsMagic (RM) I can find "unlinked" or floating people/trees, but haven't tried to find these in FTM.
Really like this idea, especially with working with DNA matches!
This opens up a whole lot of possibilities!
Thank You!
I just tested this with FTM and it worked fine. I was able to create a test person, detach them in the tree, sync with FTM and the test person was there... by themselves. Success!
@@GenealogyTV I understand that the Ancestry DNA Common Ancestors feature can't provide me recommended matches for my floating trees, but does it use information from floating trees at all to create recommendations? I'm ever hopeful that Ancestry will someday find a way to help me mesh my floaters into my tree. I imagine their tech shop is working hard to help us move forward with logical matches that are sitting in our files just waiting to be paired and exploited. I enjoyed your recent cemetery video and then watched your guest's video on cleaning gravestones. I was truly amazed. Happy Halloween.
Thank you. I don’t see how floating trees can help you in thrulines. Because through lines is matching your tree with you in it, compared to other trees with DNA matches. All it’s doing is lining up trees and DNA cousin matches. So if you have a floating tree with a custom match I can’t see how that could show you in ThruLines. The idea with floating trees is that you research those floating trees to the point that it connects to you, when you use them for DNA connections.
I have added a DNA matched "Half-Sister" to my tree as a floating tree. Can I link her Shared DNA Cm to her profile? If so, how?
If you've added your half sister properly to one of your parents, then it should be showing in the Thrulines with the cM. Alternatively, you can always add a personal note to her profile. You could also go into the shared DNA match where you and the half sister are shown together and highlight the weblink... then go back to your profile and add it as a weblink in the facts area.
@@GenealogyTV You can also add the cM as a suffix to name
Connie! We're related. Clarence Monroe is my 8th cousin once removed.
Are you talking about Clarence Monroe Walls? If so. he was the maternal grandfather of my husband.
@@GenealogyTV yes ma'am. So, I guess I'm related to tour husband. Lol small world.
How do I find someone reasonably priced to help me trace my ancestry? I am 86 years old.
Consider my private coaching via Zoom. That way I can really dig into your situation. More info here. genealogytv.org/virtual-private-coaching/
Can I assume that DNA matches will not exist with myself and the floating tree?
I'm not clear on the question. If you have the floating tree within your tree... and it's not connected then Thrulines would not work for cousin matches that are on the floating part of the tree.
Please make sure captions are turned on. Thank you.
Hi Dorothy, You can turn on captions in the lower right corner of the screen (CC button) if you are viewing on a computer.
If someone is my 4th cousin what relation will they be to my Nephew (my Elder Brothers Son) ? Do you know ? David (Ancestry member)
Keep in mind, if you saying a 4th cousin is based on a DNA estimate... then you need to outline the exact relationship to you and not base it on the estimate. If you are a true 4th cousin then you share a 3X Grandparents with that cousin. You and your (full) brother would have the same 4th cousin relationship. Therefore, your brothers son would be 4th cousins, once removed (a.k.a. 4C1R).
@@GenealogyTV Thanks
I need a way to find these disconnected mini-trees or individuals within my tree. Is there a way to list those who are not connected to the main tree but still exist as floaters?
Yes... in this video I show you how to disconnect. Then you find them again in the search window on the upper right side in the tree view.
I watched the video hoping to learn how to list out those who are floating because I have some who got disconnected and I don't know who they are. So this isn't helpful when I don't know their names. I need a search that says "Find Disconnected People" and lists all of them. I started my tree by importing my GED file that I built long ago on PAF and I'm certain that there are floaters out there. How do I find out? Different video?
If you don’t know their name, I’m not sure there is a way to find them. Do you need at least the first or last name to search. Ancestry does not provide a way to search unlinked people.
@@GenealogyTV Thank you for the response! :) What I might do is Export to a new GEDcom file and then upload it to some kind of tool. If you think of a tool like this, please let me know. I'll research what might work. But in the meantime keep up the great work. Love your stuff. Super helpful.
As i understand it a delinked tree is just as viable as your main tree and no different. You could look at tree overview and then look at a name list in people summary. The name list might ring bells but i might guess some people will look like duplicates of people in your main tree too and might stand out as such. If you have software that does reporting or charting like family tree maker 2019 those facilities might be able to highlight in someway detached people
How do you find floaters so you can delete them
Search their name from the tree. Personally I don’t like to delete them. There’s good work there.
I was one of those 2 tree people. Now I'm a 1 tree person.
I would far rather see the floating tree within the main tree, and be able to just drag it around and add it on when the link is found.
How can I find and delete any floating trees within my account that others created while helping me in my search for my BF?
Floating trees (on Ancestry) are not trees themselves but disconnected people or a cluster of people within your tree. You would delete the people individually like you would delete any ancestors profile. Do not delete your tree! If you do, you will lose everything. If you did good research, I would just leave it, if it's not hurting anything and is accurate research. If you are talking about FamilySearch, there is no such thing as a floating tree on FamilySearch because it is one giant collaborative tree.
Thank you so much for this neat trick. I have a 3x great grandmother, who is my brick wall. I believe she emigrated from Ireland to first Massachusetts then Pennsylvania. I think she had relatives already in Pennsylvania but I can not find any records indicating that my theory is correct. I will make a floating tree for her relative and hopefully prove or disprove my guess.
I've done two episodes that might help your Irish research. How to Research Your Irish Genealogy ruclips.net/video/pyXpEESFq1k/видео.html and FindMyPast UK and Irish Genealogy Research ruclips.net/video/9uJzTCV7K0Y/видео.html Thanks for supporting Genealogy TV!
Why does ancestry recommend that one create one tree? I have nearly 100.
I'm not sure exactly. I believe in one tree because of the simplicity in keeping track of your lines. However, I do keep different trees for my client research.
@@GenealogyTVI also keep all my own genealogy in one tree for my own convenience. The other trees are for friends, clients, or people whose backgrounds I have decided to trace.