What to do When You Have a Full Family Tree
Are you the type of person who has a full family tree? Do you have relatives who are enthusiastic about researching and connecting the family and have “done all of the work”? I get this excuse a lot when I talk with people about their family history. They say all of the work has been done and they know their ancestry for 8+ generations. So now what? How can they contribute to family history work when they feel like everything has been done?
Find Photos and Stories When You Have a Full Family Tree
When you’re faced with a full family tree, then look to see if the photos and stories are complete or as complete as they can get for each ancestor. You are not only contributing in a meaningful way, but it’s also a lot of fun! It will shift your perspective from just doing research to gathering photos and stories. I know in my family that I’m the one that likes to research and other members of my family love to do the photos. This helps us talk about the stories behind the photos and talk with other living relatives who have those photos. For some people, it may not feel productive because their focus is to find new names to add to the family tree, but it actually helps the researchers a ton!
Get to Know Your Ancestors
So you have a full family tree, but do you know your ancestors on that tree? Do you know them well? How about their families? Are those names on that tree actually people to you? A fun activity to do with your family is to pick an ancestor or ancestral family and learn all you can about them. You can find all of the historical, political, economic, and environmental events that they lived through. It helps us connect with our ancestors better when we know that they got through some hard challenges just like us. In addition, by picking an ancestor, you may find that their research hasn’t been completed all of the way. So there may be research holes that you can help fill in if you still want to research.
Indexing When You have a Full Family Tree
One of the best ways to contribute to family history work is through indexing. Now, some people are hesitant in this area because they don’t want to type in the wrong name or mess anything up when they are deciphering a difficult text. However, there are other people double checking your work after you submit it. So you can make mistakes and still have them fixed later. But this is a great way to learn old handwriting, help digitize whole sections of records, and just make the online family history work better. It’s helpful to remember that you may have a full family tree, but many others do not. In fact, I have a friend who is helping his neighbors and friends get their family tree filled up because his family tree is full. He inspires me to do the same thing for my neighbors.
Look Outside Your Direct Line Ancestors
The way we organize our family history is to start with our direct line ancestors first, then move to their siblings, and then to their siblings’ children. So if you feel that your have a full family tree, then check the siblings and nieces and nephews of your direct line ancestors. It’s surprising what you find when you start looking into individual families. This is helpful when you really want to research an ancestor, but your other family members have beat you to it. So don’t give up hope! You are going to have to work a little harder to find an ancestor that needs researching. But just like a tree has many branches to it, so does our family tree. The main branches might be done, but not the little side branches.
Conclusion
Don’t give up hope when you feel that your family tree is full. Just change your perspective to find the way that you are going to contribute. You can research those ancestors who aren’t in your direct line if you really want to do research. You can help your friends and neighbors research their family. Your family is also wanting to know their family history through stories and experiences. So don’t limit yourself by thinking that it’s all done. Believe me, I’ve been doing this for years and it’s NOT all done! You just have to find your place in this work and you will.
For more articles to get you started check out the list below:
In the meantime…good luck and happy hunting!
Tiffany
P.S. Do you have a genealogy coach yet? I offer free 30 minute consultations to solve your questions. Just go to my contact page and my work with me page to learn more.
family history, family stories, family tree, full family tree, indexing, photos, stories