Family Tree
Grow Your
Your Genealogy Problems Solved
16
Have a genealogy question for Chris?
Email [email protected] with
‘Grow Your Family Tree’ in the subject line.27 April – 10 May 2022 • Issue 630 Next issue: Find Northern Ireland’s birth, marriage and death recordsI live in Northern Ireland and would like to
trace my family tree. Bearing in mind that
all records were lost in a fire in Dublin in
1922, is it worthwhile subscribing to a
genealogy company?
Davis AndrewsNot all records were lost in the fire. Civil
records for births, marriage and deaths in
Northern Ireland from 1864 to 1921 areavailable for free at http://www.irishgenealogy.ie.
You can pay for more recent records via
the GRO Northern Ireland (www.snipca.
com/41402). The 1901 and 1911 Irish
censuses are free at http://census.
nationalarchives.ie, plus fragments from
earlier censuses.WikiTree on the top menu to see a simple
three-generation family tree, on which
biographical details can be added to
profile pages for you, your parents, and
your grandparents. Each profile page is
given a WikiTreeID number, and their
own URL. The profile page shows an
individual’s birth, marriage and death
information, and also identifies
immediate family connections, such as
parents, siblings, spouses and descendants.
In my example, I’ve created a basic tree
for myself and my father, and want to add
more information to the page of my
grandfather Charles Paton. I can add a
photograph (^1 in our screenshot above
right), his name and details about his
birth, marriage and death, plus sources
for this information. I can then invite
WikiTree members (‘cousins’) to help find
Charles’ profile page by sharing it on
Facebook, Instagram and other social-
media sites^2. I can also invite family
members by emailing them directly^3.Edit trees created by
other people
To take things further, you can become a
Wiki Genealogist, which gives you unlimited
rights to edit profiles submitted by other
people – though you must first sign up to
and abide by WikiTree’s nine-pointW
ikiTree is a ‘free forever’ wiki
site that lets members build
family trees with the help of
other people. You start by adding your
own basic information, and then ask
other members’ permission to make
changes to their own tree – and let them
alter yours in return.
It’s a giant collaborative project with
the ultimate aim of connecting all living
people on a single tree. Since launching
in 2008 it has grown to contain
30,011,705 profiles, edited by 893,
members from around the world. If you
ever get stuck, watch the video tutorials
and live webcasts on the official YouTube
channel: http://www.snipca.com/41426.Create a tree and add details
There are three membership levels on
WikiTree, and all are free: Guest Member,
Family Member and Wiki Genealogist.
To become a Guest Member, click Get
Started on the home page (www.wikitree.
com) and register. At this stage the only
information you can add will be about
yourself. Progress to a Family Member by
upgrading your communication
preferences, specifically which members
you want to discuss genealogy with, and
how public you want your tree to be.
Once you’re a Family Member, click MyHonor Code (www.snipca.com/41425). It
also lets you contact other members via
the site’s internal messaging system, make
public comments, and interact through
the site’s Genealogist-to-Genealogist
Forum (www.wikitree.com/g2g).
As the aim of WikiTree is to build one
large family tree for the whole of
humanity, it doesn’t allow users to import
GEDCOM files to work on. However,
using the site’s ‘GEDCOMpare’ tool you
can upload files to compare them with
those already added by others. You’ll find
this tool through the My WikiTree menu
option at the top of the homepage.
Once uploaded, WikiTree will scan the
file and tell you how many “suggested
matches” it has found (2,991 in our case- see^1 in our screenshot below). Click
the green Compare button^2 to compare
it with a file from one of these.
Share your research on WikiTree
Sign up to this ambitious online project and you’ll be part of a
‘global family tree’. Chris Paton explains how to...
Upload and compare your GEDCOM files with
those uploaded by others2
1
Add photos and biographical information to
profile pages1
3
2