Fixing Relationships in FamilySearch (FS) Family Tree

Family Tree Training

This Fixing Relationships activity takes place in the Instructor Materials - Simple Sandbox which is currently NOT AVAILABLE.

While the Simple Sandbox is down you can use the following Guide entitled "Creating a Fictitious Family in Beta.familysearch.org to practice Fixing Relationships" Handout

What's Up?

Guide to Fixing Relationships in FamilySearch(FS) Family Tree. This lesson guide contains written STEPS interspersed with PICTURES that show how to correct family relationships in Family Tree. The STEPS with Pictures Guide presents different kinds of mixed-up family situations in a fictitious database called the Instructor Materials - Simple Sandbox and leads you through how to correct them. The Instructor Materials - Simple Sandbox offers a safe place to practice, one or more times, fixing family relationships because you are not actually working in FT. YOU NEED TO WORK IN MOZILLA FIREFOX TO DO THIS ACTIVITY. Otherwise, what you see on the screen may be different from what is in the Guide. Whenever you return to the Simple Sandbox, Reset the Simple Sandbox. No changes are ever made to your ancestors in Family Tree when you work in the Simple Sandbox. Use of this four page Lesson Guide provides hands-on experience in performing entry and intermediate level tasks to correct family relationships in Family Tree. It can be used individually or by a teacher in a class setting.

STEPS with Pictures Guide - (Do activity using Mozilla Firefox)

Immense gratitude to Dixie S. Cragun for hours of incisive evaluation and insightful editing of the Steps with Pictures Guide. To view, save and print above Fixing Relationships STEPS guide.

Click here To view, save and print above "Fixing Relationships Exercise in Family Tree" Worksheet

Use of Instructor Materials - SIMPLE SANDBOX

The Instructor Materials - Simple Sandbox is a fake database featuring Robert and Ann, members of their family, and other individuals. This database contains fictitious people some of which are duplicates. All of this is intended to provide a safe place to practice more complicated tasks in Family Tree, such as finding and merging duplicates and fixing incorrect relationships. Use the browser Mozilla Firefox. To avoid difficulty with the sandbox, no more than five persons should sign-in to make an account at one time. Click the Sign-in button ONLY ONCE. The first time you go into the Simple Sandbox, click on Simple Sandbox First Account. You will be asked to sign-in with your Family Tree username and password. Be patient... it will take a few minutes to generate your account. Every time after the first visit, click on Simple Sandbox Reset Your Account. You will be given a new fake database. The given names that appear in each family are the same as before (Robert, Ann, Rachel, etc.) But the surnames, dates and places are different. Activities done in the Simple Sandbox can be done repeatedly and do not affect your ancestors' information in FT. Before any changes are made in the Sandbox, it is assumed that the correct information for Robert and Ann's family have been established through careful research. Note: When finding and merging duplicates in the real Family Tree database, thorough research should always precede and determine what changes are made to your families.

Fixing Relationships in FT Exercise - (Do this activity in Mozilla Firefox) This simplified Fixing Relationships Exercise sheet is for use in practicing the removal and replacement of relationships(5) found in the fake database called the Simple Sandbox. It goes through the same five procedures performed in the handout above, only some details and pictures are omitted. To repeat these exercises in Robert and Ann's family, click on Simple Sandbox RESET YOUR ACCOUNT.

How to best use "Fixing Relationships..." Guide

This lesson guide can be used individually, in a one-on-one mentoring session or in a class situation. It is designed to provide beginner and intermediate level FT users with a hands-on practical experience in fixing incorrect relationships in the fictitious database of the Instructor Materials - SIMPLE SANDBOX.
The lesson guide is found to be most successful in enabling users to do the task independently when it is part of a "Model with Steps; Do with Steps" approach. First the teacher/mentor performs the Steps in their sandbox account... at the same time drawing attention to the specific directions on the guide. After that, the participant does the task in the Simple Sandbox by following the same Steps. Thus, by the end of the lesson, they have read through the Steps TWICE and performed the task ONCE. Retaining the guide for reference, they are better able to repeat the task on their own later on.

Other FT Entry/Intermediate Task Guides (STEPS with Pictures)

1. Putting Photos and Documents as Memories in FamilySearch Family Tree 2. Attaching FamilySearch (FS) Records to Family Tree Using the Source Linker 3. Putting Documents as Sources in FamilySearch Family Tree 4. Finding and Merging Duplicates in FamilySearch (FS) Family Tree