Interconnectivity fun on wikitree

Question

Just sharing.

I've been trying to be a bit systematic on wikitree using CC7 as a starting point, working inwards from my 5xG Grandparents. Picking apart the innumerable grandchildren all named after their same grandparents. Fortunately interconnectivity within small Yorkshire villages means that, although I have remarkably low levels of pedigree collapse considering the vast majority of my ancestors were from one small area in Yorkshire, siblings often married siblings or cousins and it's so much easier to determine this than it is on ancestry.

I decided to give myself a bit of a break from old records and come back to my great aunts and uncles. And almost immediately discovered that my great aunt's second husband's first wife was second cousin to her first husband!

My last conversation with my great aunt had my Mum and I laughing with her about being three merry widows, I can't wait to get all the details up on wikitree.

I know there are different approaches to wikitree. What you can do on here is literally endless. I am starting to craft my own aim which is less about going generationally backwards and more about identifying those random connections amongst relatives I met as a child. Broad, not deep seems to be the way for me.

Comments

Thanks for sharing your process, Natasha. It sounds like you're having a ton of fun. I can relate to the broad not deep and am constantly trying to find new ways to approach my work on here. I too am tackling my CC7 (with a lot of help I might add), and at the moment, I'm trawling through my ancestry hints to make sure I haven't missed a source on a profile, or even an extra child along the way. My branches are spreading outwards as a result, even beyond CC7, and it's so exciting to see the connections that are made along the way.

Thanks for sharing your corner for Yorkshire with us.

Susie :-)

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Ah those pesky extra children who were somehow born in a different parish or staying with relatives over the all important census night.....although I do find I have to be super careful with familysearch and ancestry connections as others can be incredibly keen to add in an extra child who was born 50 miles or so away! I'm torn on CC7. On the one hand it reflects the increased importance of sideways relationships in more recent generations, on the other hand it often seems too wide. I tend to add a bit of a geographical boundary. Others are likely to have much better knowledge on how to trace and evidence a family who have emigrated, plus there's more of a chance of a random double connection if I focus on the places and names I know well.

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I hear you. I don't use family trees on either familysearch or ancestry. I just use primary, and sometimes reliable, secondary sources. I do love the way it's showing closer and closer connection to friends, and between my biological and adoptive families. It's a gentle reminder that at the end of the day we're all party of one big family. :-)

Answer 1

I’ve discovered that names my Mum knew as a child and used to visit where often related to each other. The relationship was beyond cousin/aunt and not named so she assumed they were just family friends, and she has been surprised by finding out quite how many were related via a great aunt etc.

Comments

I love it. And it helps the family be more interested in family history too. They are not as fascinated as I am by ancestors from two hundred years ago. But when I can tell then the person they dated is related through Grandma's Dad, who was cousin to the husband of a cousin of their dates Grandfather it all becomes so much more real!

[edited for sentence sense!]

Answer 2

Similary I got this mouthful out of my home database similar to the "relationship to me" on WikiTree

"2nd great-great niece's husband's 2nd
great-great uncle's wife's 4th great-grandson's wife's 8th cousin twice removed's wife's great-
nephew's wife's 2nd cousin's wife's 2nd cousin 3 times removed"

Thought I would share I found the statement amusing if not completely confusing, fortunately there was a chart attached.    

Now to add those connections to WikiTree.

Comments

Ha, I don't think i've ever managed that complexity, but love it!