Did you guys ever watch the TV Series “Who Do You Think You Are”? Each episode a different celebrity would take a journey to trace his or her family tree. It was really fun for them to discover their roots and who their ancestors were. Some were shocked to find out where and who they came from.
Did you also know that you can do that exact same thing? There are a few programs available that cost money to make a family tree, but Relative Finder is absolutely FREE!
Here are the simple steps to get you going:
- Log in or create a Family Search account: Click on Free Account if you don’t have one
- Create your family tree: This is where it may take some time. But it’s super fun. Enter in your direct family members. Any information about LIVING family members that you input can only be seen by you (the person putting in the information). Information about deceased people will be show in the database so others can connect with you. The goal here is to make it back far enough on your family tree that the system will pick up your deceased family members. Once the system picks up the names, you can go to Relative Finder and pull up TONS more relatives. There may even be famous ones!
- Relative Finder: Once your family tree is far enough along to be picked up by the system. You can scan all of your distant relatives. Look at the categories like Authors/Poets, Movie Stars, U.S. Presidents and more! Did you find anyone famous??
Create a Group: Have you ever wondered how you are related to certain people? Like long lost cousins? You can set up a group of your own too.
Once your are in Relative Finder, Use these steps:
- Go to the heading labeled Groups
- Click Create, and form a group named something like “Mary Jones’s Cousins,” using your own name.
- Once you’ve created your group, go to the Groups link.
- Click Manage.
- Choose the cousin group you recently created.
- Find the heading labeled “Add a Deceased Person.”
- Add the descendant’s Personal Identification number (PID) from Family Tree. This will add the person to your group.
- Click View All Relations.
- From the headings, click Relation to Friend.
- If you want to see how the descendant is related to famous Americans, or European royalty, click View Ancestors.This same cousin group could be shared with family members working on common lines.
This is a fun way to see where you come from and who your ancestors are. Plus, with the groups option, it would be fun to see if you are somehow related to your neighbor or friends. You never know! 🙂
**If you have questions about Relative Finder, You can check out the FAQs on their site. You can also contact them directly.
