This week, we explored the pedigree views for Family Tree. The menu just above the pedigree chart has symbols for the various pedigree views. When the symbol is clicked, the name of that view appears, as well as the pedigree chart in that format.
Landscape View - This is the default view and is the most useful when doing basic research. It shows you as the center person, with ancestors to the right and descendants to the left. This view was recently updated and now shows more information than before. Each square on the chart is a family unit, with husband on the top and wife on the bottom. All standard genealogy pedigree charts are in this format. The male line above and the female line below.
Marriage information, portraits, ordinance information, hints and other notices all show. In addition, a small arrow that points down by either a husband or wife name indicates that there are additional spouses. To see what the notice icons are, just click on them and a box will open with information. If you do not want all this additional information to show, click on the "Show" button on the top right and a list of items that can be excluded will appear. The last item on the list is "Invert colors" which allows you to have a dark background with white letters or a light background with black letters. Choose the one that is easiest for you to see.
An arrow at the end of any pedigree line indicates that there are more generations. Click on the arrow to open the next screen. When you reach the end of a line, the next generation family box will say Add Husband and Add Wife. If you know the next generation, you can add from here. Remember these are the parents of the last generation known, but they are the husband and wife of the family unit. Don't let the terminology confuse you.
Portrait View - This shows the chart in a vertical rather than landscape style. It does not show all the information that is shown on the landscape. Any pictures are larger and only birth and death years are shown. It is a nice visual chart, but is not useful for researching.
Fan Chart - This shows the chart in a fan view, which is helpful for seeing four additional generations at one view. Any missing pieces show up clearly. It is also a nice chart for printing out.
Descendancy Chart - This chart shows the descendants of a person. This can be very helpful in finding names not completed for the temple.
Tree - Regardless of the view you choose, you will appear as the root person, or the beginning person. To change the beginning person, click on the name of the person you want. A small box will open. At the bottom of the box, there are two choices: Tree and Person. By clicking on Tree, you will move that person to the root position. This is especially useful when working on the descendancy view.
Personal Details Box - There are other pieces of information in the box that opens when clicking on a person's name. (It looks like a note card to me, so that is what I call it.)
Under the name is an ID number. This is a number assigned by FamilySearch when a new person is entered. It is often easier to find someone by the ID number.
Next to the ID is a star and the word Watch. If you click the star, it will turn dark and the word changes to Unwatch. When you work on someone, you may want to click this button. Each week, you will get an email indicating when someone has gone in and made any changes or additions to that person. This is a great way to make sure errors aren't added to your person. It is also a way to see what information and sources other people have found and you can then add them to your primary tree.
Date and place for birth and death are complete. This is an easy way to get the complete date while working from the pedigree chart.
Next are symbols that tell you how many sources, discussions, and memories are attached.
Temple ordinance information is given. It is color coded. A list of the color codes is in the Temple section.
The last line is Tree and Person. Tree makes this individual the root person for the pedigree charts. Person takes you to a separate page with personal details. Most of the actual work is done from the Person page. We will start on that next week.
Questions:
1 - Clarify ancestors and descendants. The simple answer is that ancestors come before you (parents, grandparents, etc.) Descendants come after (children, grandchildren, etc.) To be precise, ancestors are only the direct line. All of their children, etc., the aunts, uncles, and cousins, are technically collateral lines. Many people include everyone from earlier generations as ancestors.
2 - When opening another page in FamilySearch, a new page sometimes opens without closing the one you are in. Other times, the new page overwrites the existing page. If you want to make sure that a new page opens without closing the first page, click on the RIGHT click of your mouse as you hover over the link. Choose Open Link in New Window. It will then open as a new page without closing the previous page. This will allow you to toggle back and forth between the two if you want.
I think that covers most of what we talked about. Next week we will start to explore the Person Page.
Thanks.
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