Spouse's tree

Discussions about using and improving the new FamilySearch online application.
RBeatse
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Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2007 6:47 am

Spouse's tree

#1

Post by RBeatse »

is there a setting that I am missing? When I am signed in, I can see my whole tree but I can only see my wife but not her line. I'm sure it is because her parents are alive and so there are epitaxy issues but I think there should be something that can be implemented to fix it (if there isn't something already).

How I see it could work: I, from my screen, could request access to my spouse's line (the Church has records that shows that we are married). Then when my wife signs in, she gets a notification that access has been requested. She has the ability to approve the request or deny it (maybe she could even click an option to not allow this person to ever request in the case of a divorce or something). She would always be able to revoke access at a later date if needed also. Once she approves it, my family tree, of which my wife's family is a part of, is complete.

Thoughts? Help?
russellhltn
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Re: Spouse's tree

#2

Post by russellhltn »

RBeatse wrote:When I am signed in, I can see my whole tree but I can only see my wife but not her line. I'm sure it is because her parents are alive
Correct. FamilyTree doesn't show anything about the living. Any "living" people added are placed in a special private area where only the person who added them can see them.

You could have her log in just to see if she sees her parents. (I suspect it doesn't even show her parents to her, but I could be wrong.)

But bottom line, I think you're going to have to manually add living people as needed to connect to the deceased. It's an issue with privacy laws, particularly in different countries, and not a technology issue.

RBeatse wrote:How I see it could work: I, from my screen, could request access to my spouse's line (the Church has records that shows that we are married). Then when my wife signs in, she gets a notification that access has been requested. She has the ability to approve the request or deny it
An interesting idea, but for legal reasons, I'd think it would be her parents that would have to approve access.
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RBeatse
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Re: Spouse's tree

#3

Post by RBeatse »

She can see her parents. I can see both of my parents (but not their marriage, go figure).

Even if I add the parents manually, will I be able to "link" them sufficiently to eventually have the rest of the tree fill in? If that is how you have to do it, then it would be nice to be able to designate records as "living bridges" (I made that up) so that they do not clutter up the rest of the database. For example, if I add my in laws and put in their parents, the database will have multiple versions of the same people.

As far as getting the parent's approval to add them to my tree, that makes perfect sense and could work also.
russellhltn
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Re: Spouse's tree

#4

Post by russellhltn »

RBeatse wrote:Even if I add the parents manually, will I be able to "link" them sufficiently to eventually have the rest of the tree fill in?
As far as I know, it's all manual until you add the first deceased generation to your tree. So in your case, you'd probably have to add your wife's parents and link them to her grandparents and then you'll be set. (I'm assuming her grandparents are deceased.)

I like the concept of "living bridges" as that's exactly why you would add them to your tree - not to complete your tree, or to add decedents, or siblings, but to bridge you to the deceased.
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aebrown
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Re: Spouse's tree

#5

Post by aebrown »

RBeatse wrote:Even if I add the parents manually, will I be able to "link" them sufficiently to eventually have the rest of the tree fill in? If that is how you have to do it, then it would be nice to be able to designate records as "living bridges" (I made that up) so that they do not clutter up the rest of the database. For example, if I add my in laws and put in their parents, the database will have multiple versions of the same people.
Actually, what you are talking about is exactly how FamilySearch works already. When you add living people, they are in what is officially called your "private space." Those are records just for your use, which can certainly function as "living bridges" if you want to think about it that way. One of the main reasons for private spaces is to bridge the gap between the living and the dead; once you've connected to deceased people, the rest of the tree is automatically connected.

Since these records in private spaces are visible only to the owner of that private space, they don't really clutter up the database, at least in any way that would impact anyone else. Your version really has nothing to do with your brother-in-law's version of the same people.
RBeatse
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Re: Spouse's tree

#6

Post by RBeatse »

Thanks for the help and clarification. :)
jascallister
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Re: Spouse's tree

#7

Post by jascallister »

Isn't it possible to have have it be like linked or Facebook and you can request permission to add an individual and they can then accept you in return? That seems like a good way to get over the privacy issue
victoria.k.ison
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Re: Spouse's tree

#8

Post by victoria.k.ison »

I agree that there ought to be a way to add one's spouse's line without typing in all of their and their parents and their grandparents' information. It is especially discouraging to those of us in the younger generation. In order for my husband and I to be able to learn from and research the other's family history, we both have to manually add several people. All of our parents and 5/8 grandparents are living, so it's a bigger task than it seems. Working within international law to give people permission to see their living in-laws would be highly beneficial, though I understand that those reading this post in the tech world likely don't have the ability to make that happen. But if you can pass on the fact that there is support and a "need" for this feature, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for all you do!
rmrichesjr
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Re: Spouse's tree

#9

Post by rmrichesjr »

victoria.k.ison wrote:I agree that there ought to be a way to add one's spouse's line without typing in all of their and their parents and their grandparents' information. ... But if you can pass on the fact that there is support and a "need" for this feature, that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for all you do!
Most likely, the best way to get your suggestion looked at by decision makers would be to use the Feedback link at the bottom of some FamilySearch pages. If you click on the 'Home' tab in the upper left-hand corner and then scroll to the very bottom of the page, it's right above the copyright notice, third from the left. I would suggest making it very clear that you want your suggestion considered for possible future implementation. Otherwise, the response to feedback may take a short-term view rather than the longer-term view.

Meanwhile, a possible partial workaround comes to mind. (Disclaimer: I have not actually tried the exact idea, but I understand the general concept "should" work.) If there are multiple people who would need to enter the same information about living people, much/most of the duplicate data entry can be avoided by uploading that information in the form of a GEDCOM file. The GEDCOM file could be created once and then shared among relevant family members. Each FamilySearch user with a copy of the GEDCOM file can upload it into his/her own "private space". A few posts up, aebrown gave an great explanation of how "private spaces" currently work in FamilySearch. In the FamilySearch Help Center, I see that a little manual work will still need to be done to link the records from the uploaded GEDCOM file into your own tree. However, that process should at least be faster than manually typing in everything.

Now, how to get a GEDCOM file? The PAF program can do it, as can many other local genealogy programs. There used to be a program called Get My Ancestors that could download information from FamilySearch into a GEDCOM file, but I understand it no longer works. There may be other options that I'm not aware of. If you have a Family History Center in your stake, someone there should be able to help find a way to create a GEDCOM file. Otherwise, FamilySearch help should be able to help.

I'm sure others have much better ideas of how to do the GEDCOM thing. Please correct/update/improve on the above suggestion.
russellhltn
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Re: Spouse's tree

#10

Post by russellhltn »

victoria.k.ison wrote:Working within international law to give people permission to see their living in-laws would be highly beneficial,
I suspect that's the issue. Showing information on living people is legally risky. Getting their permission to be shown would be so time consuming, it would be far faster to enter them yourself.

In turning the hearts to the fathers, I wouldn't be that quick to skip over the living. They're going to be the best source to get you connected to the first generation of the deceased.
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