.png)
Have you ever looked at your Ancestry family tree and wondered:
How did I create so many duplicate persons in my family tree?
Why are so many people in my tree I am not related to?
More importantly, how do I prevent this from happening in the future so I do not have to spend time cleaning up my family tree later?
Many new and experienced Ancestry family tree users make mistakes in their trees when adding new people, but the mistakes are avoidable.
Learn how to avoid making mistakes when adding people to Ancestry Family Trees.
Avoiding Adding Unnecessary People to Your Ancestry Family Tree
As you build your family tree, you will discover records that have relatives of your ancestors where you can add new people to your family tree that are not already in that are not there. These may include siblings, cousins, nieces/nephews, and in-laws.
Before adding these folks to your family tree, make sure you want them.
You MAY want them in your family tree if they are new relatives you want to find (particularly parents, siblings, children, and spouses). Or, they may be persons who help you resolve your difficult genealogy research questions, including but not limited to DNA matches.
However, try to stay focused on your family tree.
You do not necessarily need to add your cousin’s wife’s parents when adding a marriage certificate to your cousin’s profile.
To keep your family tree like a well-kept garden, only add people to it who you will be actively researching.
↪️ Are you looking for more genealogy resources?
Grab your copy of these FREE Genealogy Research Guides.
Avoiding Adding Duplicate People to Your Tree
When you do add new people to your family tree, ensure that they are not already in your family tree.
In the video linked above, I attached the 1920 Census to Charles’s father.
The record also documented three additional children: Mildred, Albert, and Walter. I did not have Albert or Walter in the tree yet, but did I have Mildred?
Make a habit of clicking the “Not a New Person” link before adding a new person to a family tree. Notice how Ancestry will show you all the children in the family tree for a couple in the image above (while of a different family, it is still understandable).
Ask yourself if the person in the record is the same as the one already in the tree.
Frequently, people add duplicate copies of individuals to their family tree because they do not do this step.
While you can merge people later, preventing messes at the onset is better.
Where Else Can You Mess Up Your Tree As You Build?
A messy family tree has duplicate persons, duplicate images, inconsistent place names, or inaccurate facts migrated from one record to another. To keep this post simple, I didn't discuss some other problems that you likely have found in your family tree.
If you have discovered other mistakes people could avoid when building their family tree, share them in the comments below. Or, if you have a question about some challenges you're having on Ancestry, let me know in the comments section as well. Perhaps you know of a mistake or question you will make for a future video.
More Ancestry Family Tree Hints