Genealogy Chat

Hi. I'm a new member posting on my mother's profile (she doesn't do it anymore but I'm fascinated).

Anyway, I'm a bit stuck here. I have a little quirk in my family tree in that my grandfather's spouse had a brother who was the spouse of the same grandfather's sister (they met at the wedding of the first couple to marry).

So the family tree path goes as follows:

Grandfather -> his spouse -> her brother -> her spouse X

However the tree is splintered here as there are 2 listings for the same person, i.e. her as my grandfather's sister and her as my grandfather's spouse's sister-in-law. Is there a way I can connect the two?

Ask the help line what to do.

Ok, I'll do that. Whilst I'm at it (instead of creating a new thread), do you know if there's any way of simply copying over someone's family tree, instead of individually typing in every single entry?

Assuming you have been given permission, go to the tree you want to copy relatives from.

Find the first entry you want to copy over.
Click on 'copy' on the bar which separates the diagram from the written details.
Go back to your own tree (from the 'view other trees' drop down box.)
Find the closest relative you already have.
Add a Partner/sibling/parent...which ever is relevant
Click on 'clip board' and select the name you want.
A chart opens up and you tick the boxes against the info you want to use.
Scroll down and 'save'

You may be able to copy several people on to your clipboard at once.

Every one would advise that you take other people's research as a guide and check the information for your self, or ask them how they came by it. We've all made assumptions at some point, and it is sooo easy to disappear after the wrong family

Just had an experiment - you can copy and marry people off which are already in your tree.

Assume you have your Grandmother and Grandfather already.
Make sure you have their siblings - sister/brother
Click on the sibling you want to copy > copy to clipboard
Go to the brother/sister of the other grandparent.
Add partner
Select from Clipboard
Tick the details you want to transfer over
Save

You'd need to put a note about who the parents are of the 'copied' person as the link doesn't show. it sometimes helps you to call them say Jane(2) Doe and John(2) Smith so that you know what is going on.

If you invest in an offline tree, it is easier to do there. Down load the tree from here, make the relationships and upload back to this site. it will over write the existing one.

This is happened in 2 generations in my own tree, so I can understand how confusing it can be!

If you use an offline software tree building package such as Family Tree Maker you can link people to existing people in your tree - as I have similar relationships in my family. You can then upload the gedcom file into GR.

As GR doesn't really have the facility to link to existing people in the tree you do tend to have to duplicate the person and have a note to say they are the same person as X in the tree etc.