5 Ways to Make Your Tree a More Effective Research Tool
Technology is fantastic when it comes to organizing and keeping track of our family history. With a click, a record is attached
to our family tree. From there we can share with family, sync with mobile devices so it’s with us wherever we go, and connect
with others who are researching the same families. But did you know it can also make you a more effective researcher? Here
are 5 things you can do to make your online tree an even more powerful research tool.
Merge with Care
When you add records to your Ancestry tree, you are adding facts as well. Facts from the records, and facts that are not always in
agreement with facts on other records. It is in this merging process that you can easily spot discrepancies, provided you take the
time to read carefully what you are putting into y our tree. As the record below is being saved, you can see that the name on the
record being saved (on the left) is more complete than what is already in the online tree. Checking the box next to the more
complete name will update the name in the tree.
In the same record, look at the new residence that is being added. It gives the residence as it appears in the record index, but that
location does not include the county. By editing the location and choosing the standard location from the drop-down
suggestions, it ensures that a recognized place is being included in the tree, which will help with searches from the tree and
generating more accurate hints.
You can do more than that. Above the record comparison
you see vital information about the person in question.
Look to see if the details in the record agree with the
details in your tree. In this case you might question why
Paul is being listed in a school catalog when he’s 40, but
upon looking at the record, it is a list of alumni and gives
his current residence, which can then be added to the
description of the record. Read on to learn how this can
help your research as well.
Visit the Ancestry Support Center at help.ancestry.com.
For account questions or technical help, call 1-800-262-3787.
5 Ways to Make Your Tree a More Effective Research Tool
Leave Yourself Notes
As you add records from Ancestry, you’ll see events
that have been indexed in the records appear in a
timeline format on the left side of the Facts page. When
you click on an event, you will see lines connecting the
event to the sources that document that event.
Knowing what sources provide evidence for that event
can help you evaluate and resolve discrepancies. For
this person, what this view doesn’t show is that every
record available pointed to a different birth year. If you
add that conflicting information to the description for
the birth event, you can better assess what year is correct. After looking at each record, you can add the dates by clicking on the
Edit button in the right corner of the event.
Looking at the various census years isn’t much help, but an 1842 baptism record lets you rule out any dates after that, and
knowing that he was Catholic and that Catholics were typically baptized relatively soon after birth, you can base your estimate on
that date. Because the baptism record does not provide a birth date, it is not included in the sources for that event, but because it
is attached to this tree with a source, you can easily add it as a source by selecting Source Citations on the left and clicking the
green + next to that source in the list (below).
Other items that could be included in the description:
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Other people living in the household in censuses or others named in the record, such as witnesses to a marriage
Addresses from the record placing people in an exact place at the time of an event.
Index discrepancies
Occupations and other identifiers
The possibilities are endless, but one thing is certain – adding these details will have you seeing your family in a whole new
way.
Visit the Ancestry Support Center at help.ancestry.com.
For account questions or technical help, call 1-800-262-3787.
5 Ways to Make Your Tree a More Effective Research Tool
Leave Yourself Notes (cont’d)
Notes and Comments
If you have more extensive details about your ancestor that you want to include, you can do that in the Notes or Comments field.
You can access Notes and Comments in the Tools drop-down menu. (Tip: To avoid having to constantly open the Tools menu, you
can click on Show Research Tools and all of the options from that drop-down will be available just below your ancestor’s profile at
the top of the page.)
Notes are a great place to include information you want to keep handy or to maintain your research to-do list. You can also use
them to post theories about a person or for evidence analysis, explaining why you believe something to be true. They are only
visible only to you and any editors of the tree.
Comments are visible to anyone if your tree is public and the person is deceased. Comments provide a way for you to collaborate
and engage with others who are interested in that person. They let you exchange information and work together to flesh out
what you know about this person.
Visit the Ancestry Support Center at help.ancestry.com.
For account questions or technical help, call 1-800-262-3787.
5 Ways to Make Your Tree a More Effective Research Tool
Turn On and Off Family Events
Figuring out where your ancestor was living at the time of an event is key
to finding a record of that event. Including life events of other family
members can help you trace your ancestor’s movements through the
years, allowing you to focus your search on the most likely locations for
that record.
However, when you’re working with a large family, sometimes those
events can clutter the view of what was going on with the individual. So
we’ve made it easy to turn these events off and on so you can see them when you want and hide them when you don’t. Simply
select the Show drop-down menu and click on Family Events to either show (✓) or hide (not checked) the feature. 
Make Your Tree Public and Collaborate
As the popularity of shows like Who Do You Think You Are? and Finding Your Roots attracts the
interest of more people, your chances of connecting with cousins who can help you break
through your brick walls increases. Statistics have shown that if your tree is public, you’re more
likely to be contacted by cousins than if it is private. Cousins you may not even know could have
inherited pieces of your family story that are
available nowhere else in the world. Not sure if
your tree is public? Click on View Tree
Settings from the drop-down menu with your
tree name, and then select the Privacy
Settings link in the center. Then choose
Public.
Visit the Ancestry Support Center at help.ancestry.com.
For account questions or technical help, call 1-800-262-3787.
5 Ways to Make Your Tree a More Effective Research Tool
Read the LifeStory
Your family history is more than just names and
dates. It’s your family’s story, and no one knows
that story better than you. The LifeStory view is
where you can tell the story of your ancestor,
starting with the details already in your online tree.
Ancestry brings in the basic facts from the Facts
View, including any additional comments you’ve
put into the description. You can click on the Edit
link on the right of each section to make changes
and add family stories, your own memories, and
other details that provide context to your
ancestor’s life.
But even if you prefer to tell your story in some
other format, it pays to scan through it. Because
the LifeStory draws facts from the records you’ve
entered in your tree, it can alert you to things that
aren’t quite right in your tree. In this example,
three of the children had been added incorrectly
with the 1880 census, so the LifeStory presumed
that because they weren’t attached to the mother,
they were the product of a different relationship.
Using the Quick Edit functions, it’s easy to go in to each
child that had been incorrectly attached and add the
correct mother.
Visit the Ancestry Support Center at help.ancestry.com.
For account questions or technical help, call 1-800-262-3787.