Step 5: How to Add a Person Into Family Search

You can enter the vital information of a person you have found that is not yet in the family search database.  There are a lot of steps, but it's pretty simple and straightforward.


Step 1:  DOUBLE CHECK the person at the top of the page.  For example,  if you are adding a relative for William H Keller, make sure William H Keller is the person listed at the top left of your page.

Step 2:  Determine the relationship you want to add.   For example, when I do a search for William in Ancestry. com, the 1880 census shows a son named Charles for him and his wife, Hannah.




When I check on family search, Charles is not listed as a child of William and Hannah.  He is missing.




Step 3:  I do as much research as I can by searching on Ancestry.com and/or other sites to find birth and death dates for Charles Keller. (See Blog entry #7 entitled "How to do a Search on Ancestry.com") By following the links, I find Charles' grave on Find a Grave.



I also click on his name on the 1880 census to find his birth information. You can type "Pennsylvania" as his birth place. You should type "about 1877" as his birth date unless you find more specific information.




I follow more links and find more specific birth and death information on the Social Security Death Index.


(All of these are links I clicked on in Ancestry.com.  Hints for each person are located in a column on the right called "Suggested Records.")


Step 4:  I am now ready to add Charles as a child of William and Hannah.  I find their family grouping and click on "+Add Child."



Step 5:  An information box will pop up that looks like this.  Now's a great time to reconfirm that the parents listed on the top right are the correct ones and that you are creating the correct relationship!


Step 6:  Type in all the pertinent information you have.  For increased accuracy, I just copy and paste from my sources.

Step 7:  Make sure that you click on (the correct gender) "Male" and "Deceased."

Step 8:  As you type dates and locations, you will get a drop box with a suggested standardized format.  Click on the one that applies.  Here's one for the death date:




Here's one for the birth place:



Step 9:  When you have all your available information entered in, click the blue "Next" box at the bottom left.  This allows family search to compare your information with their databases.

Step 10:  You will get various responses here.  If no match is found by family search, then a "No Match Found" box will open that looks like this:  In this case, you just click on "Create Person."

Step 11:  Sometimes a person (or multiple people) IS located in family search, and you must compare the names and dates and determine if it is the same person.  If it is, click on "Add Match."  If it is NOT the same person, just go ahead and click "Create Person."


Step 12:  Charles Sylvester Keller is now added to this family.  Click on his name (twice) to see his vital information and make any additions to his record.


Step 13:  Before you leave his record, you must cite all the resources you used to find his information.  To learn how to site resources, refer to the next blog entry entitled "Citing Resources."


Step 14:  To add a parent, follow all the same steps after clicking on "Add Parent" on the right.



Step 15:  To add another spouse, click on "Add Spouse" above William's name.  Again, make sure you're adding people in the right connections/relationships.  If you make an error, refer to Blog # entitled "Correcting Mistakes."