Welcome to Wikitree!

Date: [unknown] [unknown]
Location: [unknown]

Welcome to Wikitree! This is an informational page highlighting some of the most important aspects of Wikitree for beginners or new users.

If you would like to be added to the trusted list of this page and help edit, please contact Sonczalla-1. This page may be updated periodically with new information as I get feedback from viewers.

---

Contents 1 What is Wikitree? 1.1 Mission 1.2 Vision 1.3 Community 2 The Honor Code 3 Your Personal Profile 4 Your Biography 5 Wikitree Identification (ID) 6 Formatting 7 Categories 8 Stickers 9 Free Space Page 10 Other Help Pages

What is Wikitree?

Mission

Our mission is to grow an accurate single family tree that connects us all and is freely accessible to us all, forever.

Vision

WikiTree balances privacy and collaboration so that living people can connect on one world tree to common ancestors.

We privately collaborate with our close family members on modern family history. As we go back in time, the privacy controls open up. Collaboration on deep ancestors is between distant cousins who are serious about genealogical research, careful about sources, and willing to see their research validated or invalidated with DNA.

Because all the profiles are connected on the same system our collaboration is creating a single family tree that is connecting us all, preserving our history, and making our shared genealogy available for the world to access, for free, forever.

Community

WikiTree is a community.

Our shared tree is open to the world. Everyone is invited to enjoy the fruits of the tree. However, those who actively help to grow it must agree with our mission and our nine-point Honor Code.

Despite the many benefits of community membership, it's all free. There are no "premium" memberships. Nobody will ever be charged for access to anything on WikiTree.

The Honor Code

Before you can create profiles, you must read and accept The Honor Code. This can be found on your personal Wikitree profile, or by clicking this link: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Special:Honor_Code

• We collaborate. When we share ancestors we work together on the same ancestor profiles.
• We care about accuracy. We're always aiming to improve upon our worldwide family tree and fix mistakes.
• We know mistakes are inevitable. We don't want to be afraid to make them. We assume that mistakes are unintentional when others make them and ask for the same understanding.
• We know misunderstandings are inevitable. We try to minimize them by being courteous to everyone, even those who don't act accordingly.
• We respect privacy. We privacy-protect anything we think our family members might not want public. If that's not enough for someone, we delete their personal information.
• We respect copyrights. We don't knowingly copy information that's owned by someone else. If we ourselves want to preserve a copyright, we're clear about what's copyrighted so others don't accidentally copy it.
• We give credit. Although most genealogy isn't copyrighted, researchers deserve credit for the work they've done.
• We cite sources. Without sources we can't objectively resolve conflicting information.
• We are united in a mission to increase the world's common store of knowledge. We always respect copyrights and privacy, but we keep information as free and open as possible.

Your Personal Profile

You will find there are various options which connect you to information on Wikitree.

• Communication Preferences: edit this option to tell others how you are interested in communicating.
• DNA Testing: edit this option to add your DNA information. This is not the same thing as uploading your DNA to find matches. After you add this information, the information you enter will be shown on nearly all the pages you have created or connected to in your ancestry (except it sometimes will not show in much later generations.) If other people are working on DNA projects for a specific surname or profile, it is a way for them to find and collaborate with you. If your privacy settings are to NOT share your pedigree, it will not show on all other profiles.
• Following Tags: Activity on WikiTree profiles with followed surnames will appear in your Wiki Genealogy Feed and tagged G2G (Genealogist to Genealogist Forum) discussions will appear in your G2G Feed. A summary of both will be emailed to you every day. You can turn off the email updates in your settings. If you wish to follow a country (to receive updates on your G2G feed, check the forum for the proper tag verbage. For example, if you just follow "Poland" you will receive many updates on your Genealogy feed for everyone with the surname Poland. Therefore, use what the Poland Project states: Poland_Europe. If you are not seeing information on your homepage, you may need to adjust your settings. You can find the link at the bottom right of your homepage: [customize appearance of this page].
• Badges: various badges will be awarded to you as recognition of your contributions to Wikitree. They may be a form of thanking, recognition as a project member, high level of contributions/edits, etc.

The task bar at the bottom of image show the following:

• Profile (public view): after you have set your privacy level, you may click on this to see how your profile appears when others are viewing it.
• Edit: Used to edit your biography. What should you add about yourself? Consider your level of privacy and that this information can be viewed by the public. Click around and look at what other people have added. What do you want Wikitree to know about you?
• Images: Upload an image of yourself to display on your profile.
• Family Tree & Tools: (Now called "Tree Apps") Your quick link to your tree in pedigree view. This tab has recently been changed to "Tree Apps". To view your pedigree, there is an option to view "basic tree" (to the right of the GO link.)
• Changes: Shows you the last time a change was made on your profile and what it was. Changes can be reversed if a mistake is made.
• Privacy: IMPORTANT. Select the level of privacy you wish. The tab gives a detailed explanation.
• Profile (private view): How your profile appears when you OR anyone on your "Trusted List" views your profile.
• Categories: This tab will quick scroll you to the bottom of the page to show you the categories in which your profile is listed.
• Comments: This tab will quick scroll you to the bottom where any member can make a comment on your profile (regardless of privacy settings.)
• Matches: This tab will quick scroll you to the bottom of your profile. A fun feature of Wikitree! After you enter in your tree, you can check any profile from any time in history to see if you are related. If so, it gives you the breakdown of how!
• Sources: This tab will quick scroll you to the "Source" headings in your biography. Yes, you are living and you will need to add a source for your profile. It could say: "personally added the information at the time of registration and believe all the information to be correct."

Your Biography

As mentioned before, add anything you want people to know. How long have you been researching your family tree? Do you have any specific areas or names of interests?

Wikitree has a specific biography format. The following text MUST be included. You will see it when editing the biography, not when creating a profile:

As Wikitree grows in popularity around the globe, it is important to indicate on your profile which language you speak. You do so by adding the following sticker (add it below the ==Biography== heading) if you speak English: {{Languages|en}}.

• If you only speak a little English you would add {{Languages|en-1}}
• The number after "en" (English) is the degree of understanding. 0 = no understanding; 1 = basic; 2 = intermediate, 3 = advanced, 4 = near-native.
• Use this format if you speak other languages: de = Deutsch, pl = Polski, uk = Ukrainian/українська.
• For more information and languages see: Language Template page
• The {{Languages|en}} results in:
  en

  This user is a native speaker of English.

---

Would you like stickers to display your ethnicity? If you become a part of any projects, there are usually stickers you can use as well. Here are a few you may be interested in adding your profile (scroll down for more information):

• {{User Ethnicity|flag=Flags-17.jpg|fraction=100%|ethnicity=Polish}} results in:
  

  ... ... ... is 100% Polish.
• {{User Ethnicity|flag=Flags-51.png|fraction=1/8|ethnicity=Ukrainian}}
• {{User Ethnicity|flag=Flags.gif|fraction=1/4|ethnicity=German}}
• If you notice, you can change the flag image description and ethnicity description to what suits you. You can find the list of flags here (click on the image for a jpg text): Space: Country_Flags.

---

Wikitree Identification (ID)

Each Wikitree profile is given a specific ID number. You'll find this number in the top right corner of each profile OR in your profile URL. For example, my Wikitree ID is Sonczalla-1. (The number after the surname indicates the number of times that surname has been entered into Wikitree.)

This ID is used in many ways on this site, so it is important to understand it.

• Adding multiple profiles to one photo.
• Adding an existing Wikitree profile to another profile (father, mother, spouse, sibling.)
• Add a profile to a G2G forum question.
• Merging duplicate profiles.

Example of how to add multiple profiles to one photo:

---

Example of how to connect to an existing profile:

---

Merging duplicate profiles: If you have created duplicate profiles or two profiles that are the same, you need the ID numbers from both profiles. Open up one of the profiles, scroll to the bottom where there is a link for merging. You will need to either merge the highest number into the lowest number (ex. I would merge Sonczalla-23 into Sonczalla-1) or merge the incorrect LNAB (last name at birth) into the correct LNAB.

Formatting

After you have created a profile, you will always see the following text (which is required):

Help:Editing Tips

The following items can be used in your biography to organize your information (Make sure these items are completely on the left side of the page):

• A double equal sign before and after a word will make it a header: == Biography ==

• A triple equal sign before and after a word will make it a subtitle: === Military ===

• An asterisk will indent the line and create a bullet: *
• Double asterisk will indent the line further and create a bullet (you can add more to get the same effect): **

• The colon is an invisible tab: :
• Double colon indents the line further: ::

• If you want to list (for example) children, add # in front of the person. This will generate numbers you will see in profile view. If you need to add a person to the list later, it will be automatically updated in chronological order. Make sure there are no line spaces or it will not work.

• If you add a lot of information, you can cite your source in your biography after the text instead of below the ==Sources== heading. You can create "inline references" that automatically link the biography text to the source at the bottom of the page. The sources at the bottom of the page will automatically update in chronological order by number each time you make new changes. Use <ref> and </ref> outside of the source text. Watch this video for more information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8yyS_46URc&feature=youtu.be For example:

Birth Record of the Cieplice parish: <ref> https://szukajwarchiwach.pl/56/2024/0/-/17/skan/full/htCKZ79jDBuqyvreyrW9hg. Cieplice Parish Birth Record 1891-1899; Archive of the State in Przemyslu / State Archives located in Przemyslu; written in Latin, Greek Orthodox church; accessed 09/12/2018 </ref>

* Scan 48, 25 Aug 1893, house # 309, Joannes

* Father: Daniel Maj of Joannes and Maria Harpul

* Mother: Eva of Joannes Wotczasty and Eva Nahryny

See the following images as examples of how to implement these different elements:

---

There are various ways to format. Some prefer to only use a ===Timeline=== and some use several subheadings to outline a profile (with subheadings such as Birth, Family, Military, Census, Death and Burial.) You will also find many profiles where the biography looks like a story. It is up to you how you wish to format the profiles you create, but please respect the formatting that others have used if you wish to add information. If it looks like they have spent time on the profile (and you can tell which have had plenty of TLC vs. "dump and run" profiles), try your best to integrate your new information into their format. If you are unsure, leave a comment at the bottom of the page. When I refer to "dump and run", I mean profiles that have clearly been uploaded by a GEDCOM file and then neglected (usually the formatting is a mess.) In those instances, you can clean up those profiles if you have time.

Anyone may edit the profiles you create if the privacy settings are open. This is not as alarming as it seems. Wikitree has many "database doctors" who clean up errors. There are also many Projects which like to add categories or sources to your ancestor's profiles (either by place, military, cemetery, etc.)

Categories

There are many categories on Wikitree, it's up to you what you want to add to your profile. It's all about putting all the people who have this category on their profile in one place, on another page. This helps other researchers who focus on people from a specific place or cemetery. Remember that Wikitree is a community of not only people researching their own genealogies, but also volunteers who research and transcribe cemeteries, military units, politicians, records from a specific location, etc., creating this huge network of interconnecting units.

There are many location categories which we call parallel or mirrored categories. If you see two categories of the same location, but in a different language you only need to add one category in order for it to appear in both categories (that is, if they are properly mirrored.)

There is a category widget that appears as an icon above the edit box (in edit mode). This is a quick way to add a category (if one has been created). You DO NOT need to use diacritics in your search (ex. ą, ł, ó). If you are unsure if there is a category that you need, begin by looking here: Category:Categories. You can also search for a category using the "Find" link at the top right of your page.

Another way to add categories (if you've found a category) is to put double brackets around the category text. For example: [[Category: Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria]] . You can find this category page here: Category: Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria

Wikitree is in a constant state of "building." Categories are always being added by projects (location or cemetery.) If you do not see a category available first check if there is a project involved with that category. If you need a category made or are unsure where to look, ask on the G2G Forum. https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/questions/genealogy People there are always very informative and helpful.

For more information about various categories out there, click Category:Categories.

Stickers

Stickers are used to emphasize something interesting in the profile. Make sure they are below the biography heading (see formatting). The images and some wording in the sticker templates can be changed according to your preferences.

• Category: Stickers
• Space:Poland_Stickers

Free Space Page

The Free Space Page is a blank document within Wikitree you can located in the drop down menu. It is a veratile document where you can create a page about a village or a surname, etc. The page you are viewing right now is a free space page. You will find it in the top right drop down menu under "Add".

Over time, genealogy hobbyists collect various items and want to share them with others. One such example are the letters ancestor Col. Stephen Clark wrote to his wife during the Civil War: Space:Civil_War_Letters_from_Col._Stephen_Russell_Clark_to_his_wife_Del. You'll see in this document what Wikitree can really offer. I have been able to identify many people he mentioned in his letters and hyperlink their own Wikitree profiles to this page.

Here is another free space page with images of people the family have not been able to identify: Space:Clark%2C_Potter%2C_and_Denison_photos. The hope is that someday someone with a duplicate photo will be able to let us know who these people are, or I can share this link with family members.

Other Help Pages

You can find the help pages in the Help drop-down menu. You can always ask for help on the G2G forum. Here are some quick links:

• Help:FAQ
• Styles and Standards
• Help with Gedcoms
• Formatting
• G2G (Genealogist 2 Genealogist) Forum. https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/questions/genealogy.
• Help:Projects This is the top of the line page for various projects around Wikitree. Many are linked to categorization, but also more specific ways that you can volunteer!