Floating Trees on Ancestry: How and Why

[@suzannemcclendon]

I love floating trees and have a blue million of them in my trees. I use them all the time for building out my DNA matches' trees. I've been able to make connections between many of them and my family by doing this. I also have one to try to figure out if and how the witnesses on my great-grandpa's delayed birth certificate are related to us. Edited to add: After watching this video, I decided to test something out in regards to being able to find those "floaters". I added a custom tag called "Floating Tree" to my test person, which I named "Test Filter Fake". Then, I went to the tree search section and clicked the Filters button. I scrolled through the custom tags and clicked on "Floating Tree". It brought up "Test Filter Fake". So, using the custom tags is another way to be able to find the floating tree people. The big problem for me is remembering to tag the people. I am always forgetting to do that! Thanks for another great video!

[@GenealogyTV]

Great idea Suzanne! Love the custom tag idea.

[@suzannemcclendon]

@@GenealogyTV Thanks!

[@pinwheelgrl9304]

I add the word "ISLAND" into the third name slot. That way I can pull up all my branches by just the main person using it for a name search in my tree; and also see how many loose branches I have at a glance. Tags aren't as obvious for me.

[@suzannemcclendon]

@@pinwheelgrl9304 I responded to this earlier today, but my response hasn't come through for whatever reason. So, I will try again. I will word it differently and see whether this one comes through or not. I like to use the suffix field, too. It stands out to me better than the tags and I often forget to make the tags. They can't help me if I don't remember to use them. :) I was told that using the suffix field for basically a note pad can create problems when trying to export a gedcom of the tree. I don't know if you create gedcoms or not. I rarely do, but it is something to keep in mind.

[@awizenwoman]

So do I. I create related family via a fake spouse list male or female. I was originally inspired to do so by this video. This is how I avoid subscription charges.

[@joelwolski]

Very helpful info. I really liked that web link trick which I will implement immediately. Thanks. I just created my first floating tree this past week for a woman that's showed up as a "servant" or "hired help" in the household of 3 different family members (actually helped me confirm one of them). I even stumbled upon a land grant record to her from my 3rd great-grandfather a few years before he died. She went on the serve two of his children and died having never married. The craziest thing as it relates to this video is that her name was Lucy A Wagoner (sometimes spelled "Wagner" or "Waggoner") and when I saw the same family name in your tree, I knew I had to comment.

[@GenealogyTV]

Who knows. We might be related. Hey, don't forget to use a custom tree tag "Floating Tree"" or something like that to ID those floaters. That way you can find them later when you search from the tree view and filter to "Floating Tree."

[@PatriciaERice-s5g]

Thanks so much for the web link hack! I've lost track of floaters I created some time ago. Now that I have learned how to use cousin matches; floating people and trees have become a bigger tool in my genealogy kit. I am so excited about this 😊❤

[@annieg4851]

In the future, to find all your floaters in an Ancestry tree, just add a Custom Tree Tag called "Floater" to the person, and then you can pull them up easily in a list. Search your tree, and filter for the tag "Floater". Super easy!

[@GenealogyTV]

Yes... several people have mentioned that. I'll have to do something on that idea too. Thanks for sharing.

[@lynneb2262]

Exactly what I was about to type!

[@thomasscott4376]

I add the word FLOATER in the suffix field of the name. When I want to see them again, I search the tree for name FLOATER and see them all.

[@KGTiberius]

@@GenealogyTV Ancestry deleted my custom tag "Floating Tree" and cannot help me relocate these floating trees. I used to have a log of them before the Custom Tag was an option. ??? How can I locate the floating trees again and start over? Ancestry Support Live Chat was no help.

[@Chai4mom]

Such a useful idea, these floating trees. Thanks for your always fantastic explanation of the hows and whys.

[@uptoncriddington6939]

I’ve been looking for a Quaker whom I only know as Friend Test. Nice to see you have him, and that you’re right on the Money…😂

[@GenealogyTV]

LOL. Too funny.

[@kimba341]

You forgot to mention the Floater custom tag. Love your content!

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks

[@Buzzygirl63]

This was very helpful. I'm not currently researching any FANs but I do have a relative that I cannot quite place in my tree yet, so I hesitate to connect him to a parent at this point. One of his parents was one of my great aunts or great uncles, but as there were 12 of them I don't know which it was (I have some suspicions but no proof). He was given up for adoption as a baby. I will be able to request his adoption records soon, but until then I want him in my tree, just not connected to any one person yet. This was the perfect solution. Thanks Connie!

[@GenealogyTV]

My pleasure.

[@AlannahRyane]

I agree you are truly amazing. I only sub when I have time to dive in and exclude other projects so have missed a lot of new features. I have a ton of up to 20 year old floating trees so very excited to try all these ways you and your subscribers are using to link them. I better complete the publication process of my book if just to get back to my favorite passion thank you everyone🙂

[@GenealogyTV]

Thank you so much!

[@AlannahRyane]

@@GenealogyTV I just tested with one existing floater. Created web links with notes and created label 'floating tree web link' so they can find the web link its perfect!!! All my hypothesis and theories can be seen immediately now. AWESOME

[@JCK-gi2gm]

Great! The main thing for me was the extra tip. I'd always ignored the web link before. Now I'll be putting it to good use! Thanks!

[@GenealogyTV]

My pleasure.

[@phillyphilly2095]

Excellent video. Great tips!

[@GenealogyTV]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Rainydaylily]

Interesting video. I've been creating "floating trees" for years. I just deleted one because I finally was able to prove that the person in my main tree was NOT related or associated with my floating person. I never mentioned that I created these "snippets" because I though it would be frowned on. 🙂

[@grumpybear123]

This is exactly how I used to track DNA matches before you could link directly to their profile. I would add the web link to their profile on Ancestry to their spot on my tree.

[@nanabeccareading]

Thanks you for amazing videos!

[@GenealogyTV]

Glad you like them!

[@ivygeni55]

For fun, I do my neighbors, friends, my kids friends, old school friends, people I meet at the Park, Store..you name it. I share the love! So I start floating trees in one of my 3 main trees, but mostly in my biggest tree. I find that people in my county, and surrounding, tend to connect back into my main tree, so its logical.

[@johnbethea4505]

You are so great about what you do..I sure wish that you were a friend so maybe you could help me find my real grandfather that ties in with my Y-DNA but with a different name. I am 76 so most people are dead in my family trees..

[@GenealogyTV]

Well John... I try and help as many as I can with various videos. Here are two videos about Y-DNA kzbin.info/www/bejne/jnLPcqGogsSFnsk and kzbin.info/www/bejne/jneZlptqjJyIbJY.

[@johnbethea4505]

@@GenealogyTV thank you very much..

[@portlanddba8082]

Great info! Thank you for all that you do.

[@GenealogyTV]

My pleasure!

[@LanceHall]

I do this all the time. The Fan club cluster is just as important as the family members cluster and any DNA match cluster.

[@GenealogyTV]

Absolutely!

[@gubjorggisladottir3525]

Well... is that not what the "DNA surprises" tell us... so many "FAN" members are actually biological family members ...i.e. biological fathers vs. marriage partners. ?

[@BloodSweatandGears]

Floating trees are very helpful, but sometimes it is easy to have them get away from you, so you need to use them carefully, a tag is most helpful. Two other things I also do with my research tree. When I am satisfied with the documentation and research on a person, in the suffix category I add an icon check-mark. This way in the tree I can visually see the checkmark (better than tagging), and easily tell I have good data on a person. Also, if I make a mistake and somehow make a duplicate, it would not have my verified checkmark, so I can delete it with confidence. Next, for those people who are needing more research, I use a profile image that has the following on it; "RESEARCH NEEDED - this person has not been verified". This way, I can quickly see who not verified and who still needs research. This is also helpful, for others since my tree is public. So many people copy others trees, at least with mine they can see who I have doubts on, and hopefully errors will not propogate.

[@lynntaylorbuccafuri5924]

Awesome idea, thank you for mentioning it.

[@suzee_]

VERY helpful! thank you !

[@GenealogyTV]

Glad it was helpful!

[@d.t.r.8036]

18:42 actually if you make a custom tag such as "float" or my personal fave "who?" and add that tag to the anchor person for each floating tree, you can easily "filter" by that tag to find all the floating branches/trees you have going in that bigger tree. Also, when it comes to using the floating technique for DNA matches -- it gets really useful if you have used the color dots in a modified version of a LEEDS chart to create a separate tree for each color group, put in the folks who are in that color group and build out their trees a bit on your own... periodically scroll thru the list of all people on the tree looking for duplicates that showed up in some of those floaters...merge the confirmed duplicates... Does wonders for getting an idea of how which branch for your matches you are likely to find your connection...and then you can focus on those branches in particular to look for names you recognize from your own tree. I've used this technique in helping out adoptees. Gotta admit, hadn't thought about using floating trees for FAN situations, so thanks much for this helpful video.

[@GenealogyTV]

Great ideas. Thanks.

[@patnoble466]

I try to avoid adding an unrelated individual to create a floater. Whenever possible, I add them as new persons using the Ancestry record that prompted my interest. I use this for nearly all my unincorporated DNA matches. I tag them as DNA Floater and their direct lines as Floater Direct Ancestor. If you build a lot of floating trees it's vital to tag direct ancestors so you can figure out why a person is in your file.

[@GenealogyTV]

Very smart of you.

[@lynntaylorbuccafuri5924]

I love this idea, this way your matches are there and you can link them when you figure out how they relate!! I hope I’m understanding this correctly?

[@patnoble466]

@@lynntaylorbuccafuri5924 That’s the idea. I research my DNA matches’ trees within the same Ancestry file as my own tree. If and when I find the connection between the two trees, you can use the Same Person tool to merge the common individual(s). If you’re paying attention, the merge will be easy. Just be sure to utilize the link from Ancestry DNA to the match in your tree. And tag the floater match and its direct ancestors using Ancestry tags so you know why the floating tree exists.

[@lynntaylorbuccafuri5924]

Thank you so much @Pat Noble

[@uptoncriddington6939]

Occasionally I create profiles for people whom I detach from all others. That said, I also create dummy linking people so I don’t forget about them. In some instances, where I am fairly sure of a given person’s belonging to a family group, I mark the entry in the box following the surname box with the capitalised letters TF for tentative filiation. This is something I find useful.

[@davidmotz8233]

I have a "person" in my tree called "FAN Club" and add any floating trees I want as children of that so I can easily find them again. I think I have the privacy level on those set so they won't show up to others viewing my tree.

[@Sunjoy1]

Thanks so much for your expertise in this.. explains a lot!

[@GenealogyTV]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Greywolfgrafix]

There's a Turley family that keeps popping up in my matches, over in eastern Alabama. There's a Smith in there that may be how they're matching to me. My earliest paternal Smith was born 1815, and is in Carroll Co. MS by 1835 when he married there. He was from North Carolina.

[@ivygeni55]

In my biggest tree, pedigree view, home/me, I click add relative, child, {NAME, gender, me n unknown father}, save. Then: click on new aka Test, then profile. Then: Edit, edit relationship. X my name away, exit. Boom, Floating Branch. I do this for DNA Matches, for suspected family members, for my friends, whomever. Works very well.

[@GotG113]

Hi Connie :) is 11x17 the biggest size that the vivid pix will scan? And also, maybe we can suggest to Ancestry to add a feature to find the floating trees? I'm sure their programmers could figure out how to show you a list of people that are in the tree but are not connected to anybody. Like a filter maybe? Anyway thank you for all of the helpful information!

[@GenealogyTV]

Yes on the 11x17 image size. You could use your cell phone if needed to scan any size, but the image quality might not be as good. Capture it any way you can. Something is better than nothing. Also, Ancestry is aware of the need to identify floating tree members. However, I don't think it is high on their priority list. I think some of the software companies can identify disconnected people, but I'm not sure which ones. I thought FTM did, but I looked the other day and could not find it.

[@celticraven1383]

@@GenealogyTV I am so glad you commented on FTM. I have looked too without any luck.

[@GotG113]

@@GenealogyTV oh good I'm glad to hear that they are aware. Maybe someday 😃

[@suzannemcclendon]

@@GenealogyTV Is this something that Family Tree Analyzer could do? I just recently download that, so haven't figured it out yet and don't know what all it can do.

[@suellenw561]

@@GenealogyTV I use Legacy Family Tree which has an option to find "Unlinked Individuals" ... those who are not linked to anyone in the tree.

[@darrinway3577]

This is great.

[@GenealogyTV]

Glad you liked it.

[@joycejarrard6958]

I now live in Surry County NC, and there is a Money Road in nearby Wilkes county, so this was interesting to see. I am not from here, however.

[@GenealogyTV]

Thanks Joyce. I would not be surprised if the road is not related to my family.

[@hemichallenger3643]

Two comments. I use the floating tree mostly to track DNA matches. And yes, I need a way to keep track of those, because I never wrote a single one down. So I have no way of knowing how many floaters I have at the moment. I call it my Alzheimer's trees, because I wasn't smart enough to write them down.

[@GenealogyTV]

Use custom tree tags to help keep track of them.

[@kevinkendall2182]

If you direct Ancestry to export a GEDCOM file are these additional people included?

[@GenealogyTV]

Everyone is included in a Gedcom, who are in your tree data... so yes.

[@JCK-gi2gm]

Yes. Anyone associated with that particular tree will come along for the trip

[@robertahakala8428]

Love the tip of using Web link.

[@GenealogyTV]

Me too! I use them all the time.

[@LindaSchreiber]

The weblinks make great sense, and I do use them between individuals. But there are some situations where the floater you are looking at creating is hard to connect to any individual or close family. I also us the suffix field intensively for floating trees, as well. Often easier. Entering 'F- Swoboda' for surnames or 'F- Schaan' for locations makes them searchable. 'F-' will bring up all floaters. 'F- Sc' will start autofilling. Easy and fast to find floating trees!

[@LindaSchreiber]

Sorry. Should have said 'F--' with two hyphens to pick up that 3rd character.

[@GenealogyTV]

Some are using the MyTreeTags and creating a custom tree tag labeled as Floater. That way you can filter to just the tag and bring up all floaters in your tree.

[@RonAck01]

I wish i would have seen this sooner because I know I have some floaters but don't remember who. I just created a new person called FAN Links (Something I can remember). The only information I will have on this profile is links to floaters. Now when I run across someont that's floating or I create a floater I'll put a link in FAN Links. I'll always be able to find them.

[@monicahayes562]

Do "floaters" show in thrulines?

[@MusicInMotion_67]

What are your thoughts on floating trees vs tether trees?

[@GenealogyTV]

Floating trees are a great strategy for trying to figure out how people are connected together. I saw your other comment. I’ll answer it a little bit later.

[@penelopesoady5849]

Hi Connie, I have several small trees of DNA matches I can't yet connect to my main tree. These are Private and unsearchable at the moment. If I add them as floating trees to my main tree will the DNA connection be more obvious?

[@GenealogyTV]

If you are the owner of those private and unsearchable trees, then no. I believe the tree needs to be at least searchable for it to show in DNA match lists.

[@christinemiller5360]

Will Vivid-Pix scan slides?

[@GenealogyTV]

I don't think so, but I'm checking.

[@GenealogyTV]

Here is the reply from Rick at Vivid Pix. Hi Connie, Yes and No: Memory Station - no - however we offer slide, negative, etc. scanning through: www.vivid-pix.com/ProfessionalDigitizing/ RESTORE - improves slides, etc. Thanks, Rick

[@BloodSweatandGears]

One other thing about floating trees for me. I had letters and such from someone who was sponsored at age 14 to come to the USA in 1939, saving him from the NAZIs. In the letter thanking the family, he called them friends of the family, but I knew there was more to the story. So I made him a floating tree, and researched. I added a weblink to my grand Aunt, so I could find his record. It turns out his grandfather, was my great-grandmother's brother, thus why one of her daughters sponsored him. I also discovered that my great-grandmother's brother and wife actually survived Auschwitz (from 1939-1945) even being in their 70s, because they were able to play in the camp orchestra! I have their transfer records to the ghettos, and also to the camp, and finally to Switzerland! Once i found the link to my great-grandmother this tree no longer floated!

[@GenealogyTV]

Great story. Wow.

[@Mistydazzle]

Great info, thank you! Sometimes, when I’m searching for a particular relation in my actual family tree, I excitedly find this person in a disconnected tree on some person’s (not a DNA match - or, maybe they didn’t test). I don’t know how that tree fits in with this person’s family tree. How can we determine that? Are they floating FANs? Are they a distant branch of an in-law family? Those frustrate me, & maybe I just need to make a notation about the find & move on.

[@GenealogyTV]

Great questions. If you think about it, if there are small branches you are finding in other trees, they likely don't know how they fit either or they would have connected them to the larger tree. Yes, make a note of it if you think there is real info there that is going to be useful to you.

[@aprilwicker6611]

Would this be a good way to document adoption families? I have been adopted, so consider my adopted family my main family, but I still want to keep track of the DNA family. Or is there an even better way that I haven't discovered?

[@GenealogyTV]

April, if it were me, I'd use the "add alternate" parent feature in your profile and label them as adoptive parents. In your profile go to , Edit (upper right corner), edit relationships, then use the + Add Alternate Father & Mother... and label them as you wish.

[@BillTxn]

I have a floating tree that is the pedigree line of an individual who MAY be the ancestor of my daughter-in-law. Still, no one in the family is certain because the direct known ancestor was adopted, so the tree is built from the suspected biological father of that person. If DNA tests that are due to take place soon prove all this is correct, then the floating tree can be attached. If not, that tree is there for other researchers to use the work I have done.

[@GenealogyTV]

Yes! I typically do not remove floating branches even if I find they are not related. In many cases, I know they aren't related but are friends or FAN club members that appear in a lot of records, thus helping me tie those records to my ancestor.

[@KimberlyGreen]

This would be even more effective if Ancestry would just add an additional person category: FAN. They already father, mother, yada yada. They these FAN folks wouldn't be completely floating out in space somewhere. There would be a clear connection & association shown. Imagine, also, going to a non-ancestor's person page and seeing a list of _their_ "FAN"s. You'd suddenly get a visual representation of community. For visitors to your tree, that view might be crucial to solving their own research question(s). Being an IT professional, I _know_ a person's tree is just a relational database and it's definitely doable to add a new category to a table and represent it. They could just have a collapsed list, similar to the "siblings" drop down, but place it below the actual family members. Sigh. One can only wish, I suppose.

[@GenealogyTV]

You can do this already by creating a custom tag. Several people are using "Floater" or "FAN Club" as tags.

[@KimberlyGreen]

@@GenealogyTV Oh I know about custom tags & use them. I'm talking about something more extensive & that also involves GUI enhancements.

[@suzannemcclendon]

Kimberly, that sounds like a really cool idea to me!

[@tdogextremeadventures4926]

Just a quick question: Is the floating tree available for anyone to see? If it is can you make the floater invisible?

[@GenealogyTV]

If your tree is public, then anyone could find that person in your tree. If your tree is private and unsearchable then no. These are global settings in your tree, you cannot make one branch or floater invisible.

[@donlussi2424]

How do I attach a floating tree to a person in my main tree? My main tree won't pull up the person from the floating tree to add as a brother

[@GenealogyTV]

Assuming your floaters are in the same tree, go to either persons profile and click on Add in the upper right corner, click brother, then in the upper left side click on "Choose someone from your tree" and start typing their name. It should pop up with their name.

[@donlussi2424]

@@GenealogyTV problem is I had no choice for brother. Could only add mother, father, child. Went to the floating tree, same thing. So I added “unknown” father person A in the main tree. I now had option to add brother but it would not pull from the floater. So I went to the floater and added an “unknown” father to person B. I had the choice to add brother and this time I was able to pull person A over as a brother. I think the issue lies with not having at least one parent

[@donlussi2424]

I just retested with a different persons from floater and main who had parents and it worked. I tested again with persons who did not have parents and it did not work and both person A a and person B had to at least have one parent.

[@SwearMY]

I keep running into people with interesting stories that might be somehow related, and I never knew what to do with them.

[@GenealogyTV]

Well if they look promising, you can make a floater out of them.

[@MarkJT1000]

I created a floating tree a while back but couldn't get anywhere with them. Now I can't remember who was in it so I can't find them to delete them. Yeah, I know ..... research notes. 🙄

[@annettecarlson1350]

I posted a comment, and now cannot find it... was it deleted for some reason?

[@ntl5983]

Same thing happened to me, and I posted a useful tip that was not covered in the video... their loss.

[@GenealogyTV]

Humm... I don't recall deleting any of your comments. KZbin will sometimes if there is a weblink or found something unusual. I do remember seeing a comment from you a few days ago... but I don't believe I removed it.

[@annettecarlson1350]

@@GenealogyTV Ok, thanks Connie. I did have a link in it. oh well, I don't want to recreate it, right now. Thanks!