Are You Making the Direct-Line Mistake in Your Family Tree?

Are You Making the Direct-Line Mistake in Your Family Tree?

One of the most common research mistakes that family historians make when building their tree (especially for the first time) is also one of the most limiting and potentially detrimental. We like to call it the Direct-Line Mistake, and its influence on your research outcomes is pretty huge.

The direct-line mistake can be defined as the act of researching and adding to your tree only those people who you descend from directly (ie grandparents, great-grandparents etc and nobody else). Family historians do it to save time, to keep the size of their tree more manageable, and to stay focused on specific research goals.

On the surface, this kind of research makes some sense…focus your efforts on the people who matter most to you and you will be able to move back through the generations much more quickly. Sounds good, right?

Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

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What some researchers fail to see is that limiting yourself to only direct ancestors in your tree is equivalent to reading only 1 out of every 10 pages in a history book. Not only are you missing out on a huge amount of information, but the data you do collect can easily be taken out of context.

If you want to develop a full picture of your ancestors’ lives, and ensure (to the best of your ability) that the picture is accurate, then you need more than just the records and facts surrounding your direct lines.

Researching a Wider Circle of People in Your Tree Means:

1. You will inevitably end up discovering more facts and records about your grandparents: when we take the time to research the lives of their close relations we discover details and documents that we may have previously overlooked.

2. You will be able to break down brick walls more easily: if you’re stuck trying to go back another generation, or are unable to find an important fact, researching close relatives may give you the break you need. For every relative you research your chances of locating this information increases dramatically. For more help with using this proven strategy and others to break down brick walls in your family tree, please see our online genealogy course.

3. You will develop a deeper story about your family: family history research is more than just a collection of names and dates. When we take the time to research our ancestors’ family members we begin to form a more detailed picture of their lives — one that can help us understand our ancestors’ struggles, triumphs, relationships, commitments and goals.

4. You will be able to differentiate one person from another: There is no better way to ensure that the ancestors you are adding to your tree are, in fact,, the correct ancestors than by making sure that their siblings, children or neighbors match up correctly. When we do not have this information available to us it is much, much easier to make big mistakes.

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Get two full weeks of free access to more than 20 billion genealogy records right now. You’ll also gain access to the MyHeritage discoveries tool that locates information about your ancestors automatically when you upload or create a tree. What will you discover about your family’s past?

In addition to your grandparents, you should also be researching and including the following individual:

  • Their biological, adoptive and half siblings (in detail)
  • Their adoptive, step or foster parents (in detail)
  • Their siblings’ spouses (basic)
  • Their siblings’ children (basic)
  • Additional spouses of your grandparents (in detail)
  • Their children from any marriage (in detail). Of course, the siblings of one grandparent are the children of another — but looking at this relationship more than one way helps us see the importance.
  • Neighbors (basic). Look especially for neighbors that lived next door for a long time. These people may be your key to breaking down a brick wall in the future (or finding your relatives in a future census when names were misspelled)
  • People who lived with your grandparents. Long term boarders, friends, distant relatives, servants. (basic)
  • Other individuals who you see popping up in your records often.

We’ve marked those people whose details are usually the most beneficial, but each case is unique. You may find that your grandparents’ neighbors were deeply involved in their lives and that time spent researching them is the most beneficial. Obviously, most of us do not have the time to research every connected person in detail, but even adding some basic information to your tree can be very helpful.

How far you want to go is up to you but, the larger your circle, the greater the chance you have of creating an exciting picture of the past filled with depth and accuracy.

We suggest that you start by going through your tree and adding the siblings of your ancestors. Try to fill out birth, marriage and death information – this is often where you will strike gold when it comes to locating missing information in your tree. If you do not care to add them to your main tree you can create a copy for this purpose – or simply add them to your notes.

If the job feels overwhelming, choose an area of your tree that you have been struggling with and start there, or take out an hour or two each week to add the siblings for one person. Take it slow if you need to, but do it if you can. Who knows what you might discover!

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By Melanie Mayo-Laakso, Family History Daily Editor

24 thoughts on “Are You Making the Direct-Line Mistake in Your Family Tree?”

  1. My original DNA profile listed me as 72% Western European and only 2 % English. In the new Profile, I am in the new grouping; England, Wales & Northwestern Europe at 80 %. Originally my English Heritage was 2%. My Mother, sister, brother, and cousin showed predominately English Heritage. Myself, my Great Aunt and nephew were predominately Western European. I am no expert with genealogy and DNA technology but when I was teaching school, this would be like giving a student an A on Friday and then amending my criteria by Monday and changing their grade to a C. It would have been nice to know this was coming and that my original DNA in 2012 could change so drastically. To me, this was poorly handled and makes me question whether I should seek out another genealogy site to continue my research. Many, many questions ???????????

  2. Hey..whose parents were Swedish immigrants, is still mostly a mystery. I believe that she may actually have been his birth mother! The “two” ladies shared the same first name. I believe I have found his Mother’s family at Ancestry but none of them seem to have any information on Grandmother other than her name and her immigrant parents. I still would like to know the “full” story about my paternal ancestors. I learn little bits about them as I go. It is slow but my Father’s BC wa the key that led me to census records and Family Trees at Ancestry. My Mother’s maternal Grt-GF was discovered by going “sideways” and following family associates until I eventually found her family and a great wealth of information going back to the 1600s. I would never have found them had I not followed family associates and distant relatives eventually returning back to the mystery ancestors that I sought. Click the URL below to read about my father’s family and how I discovered their history.

  3. My original DNA profile listed me as 72% Western European and only 2 % English. In the new Profile, I am in the new grouping; England, Wales & Northwestern Europe at 80 %. Originally my English Heritage was 2%. My Mother, sister, brother, and cousin showed predominately English Heritage. Myself, my Great Aunt and nephew were predominately Western European. I am no expert with genealogy and DNA technology but when I was teaching school, this would be like giving a student an A on Friday and then amending my criteria by Monday and changing their grade to a C. It would have been nice to know this was coming and that my original DNA in 2012 could change so drastically. To me, this was poorly handled and makes me question whether I should seek out another genealogy site to continue my research. Many, many questions ???????????

  4. Lisa,
    I am not sure that you will understand this about records, but they too often are MIA never to be located again. As groups rearrange, files and artifacts are purged or left behind inadvertently as other records are relocated; natural disasters -floods, fire, tornadoes, hurricanes, etc. cause loss of records. And sometimes the record never existed.
    For those who were immigrants or refugees names too often were anglicized without consent from the person whose name was changed. US immigration was and still is a disaster, far too ethnocentric and controlling. Assimilation is a very inhumane expectation and mandate. Immigrants came with documentation -applying for visas meant producing documents. Refugees fleeing their homelands barely came with clothing never mind documentation.
    And adoptees have their identities stolen, few managing to access their own original birth certificates because the states too often have closed adoptions and sealed records. As an adoptee ages, the chance that his/her records -all of them-will be purged and destroyed, without benefit of digitalization or microfiche, grows greater.
    Recently I discovered that the state in which I was adopted has no record of me or my younger sister ever having been wards of that state-medical records, DSS records, adoption files, etc., are gone, and probably irretrievable as the state does not microfiche or digitalize. All that exists is the false birth certificate in vital statistics manufactured by a court in 1950 to steal my identity and replace it with another which resides in the state’s dept. of vital statistics. As I was not born in that state, my original birth certificate is not attached to the amended redacted certificate in a name not my own. Fortunately I have the original along with my sister’s, but I had to make great effort to obtain them. 16 years of my life history have vanished…
    Your Indiana great grandfather could possibly be an adoptee-one reason which could account for your inability to locate records. Even if he is not an adoptee, you would need details of his birth to have access to his birth certificate-if you fall under the state’s criteria for having access to it. My suggestion is that you contact Indiana’s office of vital statistics to inquire about this grandfather, or contact the state archives or a historical society or family… 3rd cousins sometimes know what we do not, and grannie’s notes and books (like a bible) often contain useful information.
    There are many German-American groups in the US including genealogy societies specializing in Germanic history of immigrant families. You may wish to explore those in your area or the area in which your ancestor lived.

  5. Not sure if this will get to anyone, but worth a try.
    I am not a couple brick walls:
    First, my GG Grandfather… I cant find any information on his actual birthday, nor his parents names’. He was born in Indiana but I do not know his birthdate.
    Another GG Grandfather…. can’t not find any records. I finally found out his true name (he was using his middle name). He was born in Germany and his surname could have been spelled differently.
    I could really use some help, ideas or places to research, if anyone can help.
    Thank you !!

  6. I have found and continue to find errors regarding my family in the tree work of people who are not related members of the line the mistake is in. After reading this article I now will stop asking the question of what their interest is in my family, or my husbands. Finding loaded trees with thousands of names people just assume they found their family, but those trees need to be researched before you decide this is your line. For the sake of future research it is imperative to keep the facts straight and if you don’t know the facts or don’t want to take the time to research the facts then perhaps not guess at what may be the birth date of an ex husband or a subjects father which is what I keep finding. My own mother has no known children for instance and my husband’s maternal grandmother was mixed up with another lady who had one son and died before her, the actual grandmother had two daughters.

  7. When my wife and I taught a genealogy for our local adult education program (12 years), we always called this “Going through the back door.” We emphasized that for women in particular, tracing their brothers could lead to genealogical gold. Nearly every one of our students over those 12 years found information by researching relatives, and even neighbors, friends, or total strangers they found in family photo albums.

    As I work on genealogies for African American families here in Boyle County, Kentucky, I still go “Through the back door.”

  8. Linda Spencer Reid

    I Created a direct line tree and 8 “family lines” trees starting with great grandparents so that I could expand sideways and have found this keeps the direct line tidy and manageable but gives huge scope for research in the 8 main lines. I use a particular icon to identify the direct line through each of these trees.

  9. Carmelita Kammann

    Barbara, I have communicated with you before about our Bayless line. Do you have any early Bayless portrait copies ? I am saying early to mean 1800’s and preferably early 1800’s. To give you a short review of my Bayless background C I am related through “Free John” Bayless and his wife Sarah Hawkins son of Samuel Bayless and Mary Nodding.
    Carmelita Pranter Kammann

  10. That is why some family tree programs have an option called, “Other Parents” that can be filled in. So you can be listed with your actual BIRTH parent names,, and their ancestors/ yours as well.

    AND, then the names of your adoptive parents, family, etc. and their ancestors if you so wish to do so.

    Or other names that you know they went by, or what ever reasons they chose to CHANGE the name.

    Yes, it is hard at first, starting out. You only know you Mom and Dad’s names. May know your grand parent names, but from then on back it is REAL challenge to find that data.

    Either interviewing your parents, as you would for a school project, and not all will be willing to give out more information.

    May have to go around them, as I did.

    Many wonderful stories are lost this way when parents will NOT TALK about their life as young adults, or teenagers, a young child, or about their parents and their home life.

    Best for your continued research.

  11. If you “refuse” the related hints, they do tend to disappear and show only a blank shadow “this hint is no longer available”

  12. One comment on creating separate trees for your ancestors on Ancestry – if you have take an Ancestry DNA test, you can only match the test to ONE tree. I will not apply the results to more than one tree, so you if you are adopted – you might miss blood kin connections…

  13. Just what I was looking for. Unfortunately, I found this article too late – I already found the answer on another service. I just filled out CA ADOPT-215 with an online software. It looked much better typed than hand-written. I used https://goo.gl/AgxIZ7 and it’s very easy to use.

  14. I find more information from my non-direct lines than I do with my direct lines. I have never focused only on my direct lines because the information I have found is too limited. Many people have benefited from me not focusing only one my direct lines especially back in the days before Ancestry and other genealogy websites. I was finding non-internet sources that were not available to the public and they were able to knock down some of their brick walls. Unfortunately my direct lines are still full of them.

    I never understood why people create trees with only a direct line. They are doing a disservice to themselves. I have found many cousins that I never knew existed because I researched my cousin lines and many marriage links.

  15. Putting an adoptee in a tree of court-ordered with no strands of DNA shared is a huge error-and as an adoptee I emphasize should never be an option. It is bad enough if the individual -like me knows she (he) is adopted, but far worse when the adoptee has never been told of their actual status.

    My sister and I were abandoned by parents in 1948. I was a little over 2 years of age and had memory; my sister of about 6 mos of age had none. Our brother not even a year younger than I was kept by the parents. He would have had at least some memory for a short period of time, but that would have faded within a year, aided by the fact that his sisters were never spoken of again.

    My sister and I were immediately separated and I never saw her again, nor she me. Because both of us were adopted in a sealed file closed adoption state, she has no way to know that she has sibling, s and I have no way to trace her because her files are sealed by court order. Upon the fina adoption order, both of our birth names were stripped from us and replaced with court-ordered names.

    My sister is listed in my family tree by the names given on her original birth certificate as daughter to our parents. My brother is on the tree as himself, and I am listed as the birth name on the tree with explanations regarding adoptive name, married names and my legal name I petitioned a court to have (I did not have to go through a court to use the name now mine, but I wanted the record signed, sealed and so ordered.

    I have my siblings’ birth certificates, my brother’s military records and his death certificate, my original an adoptive birth certificates. I also have my parent’s birth certificates. (all are copies of the originals affixed with the proper seals and statements of authenticity

    Not included are any names to do with those who adopted me or who had anything relationship with them-including their natural children born after my adoption. Simple reason: they were not and are not my family-and we do not share any genetic material or history.

    I have now DNA analysis on five databases so that if my sister has her DNA tested and we are on the same data base, we will be an immediate family match-siblings. Even should she have found copies of the final adoption order, she will find only her birth name with no other information, not even her real birthplace.

    All adoptees want to know who we are, where we came from and most importantly who our family is and what our culture, etc. is. Whether or not we had a good or bad adoptive experience. It is just as much our birthright to know these things as it is for you who were never deprived of a normal life. We adoptees do NOT belong to anyone other than those who share and who gave us our genepools. As DNA testing becomes common place, and falls within a price-range not cot prohibitive, the secrets, fibs, little white lies and larger black ones will be exposed.

    Please don’t advocate actions which muddy the waters for us or for those for whom we search. I was lucky to find one lone uncle over decades of search. He is 91 and the last of the paternal lineage we share. All else except a cousin or two re gone this life, and dead men or women tell no tales. I have 13 generations of paternal ancestors traced, but only 9 of my maternal ancestors … but I know my deepest gene pools -which includes one Neanderthal male and four continents … I only hope I will be fortunate to share this information with my sister. Had I not fought tooth and nail for my own origins, I would not be able to be the person I am or the sister looking for a sister who doesn’t even know that I exist.

    Mix me and her with adoptives not our kith and kin? No way, José! NO court is strong enough to mess with Mother Nature, not to change our Haplogroups or shared centimorgans.

  16. I did have a few clues. I knew that my father was born in Minneapolis and I had the date. I knew who his “parents” were and I had met them a few times. His mother always seemed distant. She died when I was about 7 years old. MY memory of her is of a mysterious woman standing behind my Grandfather and myself and watching us from a short distance. She seemed quiet and cold. I now think I know who she was but she is still mostly a mystery. I have letters and photos from my father’s adoptive family so when I began working on my Family Tree, I was able to learn about them. In time I was able to get my Father’s BC and learn who his birthbparents were. His Mother, whose parents were Swedish immigrants, is still mostly a mystery. I believe that she may actually have been his birth mother! The “two” ladies shared the same first name. I believe I have found his Mother’s family at Ancestry but none of them seem to have any information on Grandmother other than her name and her immigrant parents. I still would like to know the “full” story about my paternal ancestors. I learn little bits about them as I go. It is slow but my Father’s BC wa the key that led me to census records and Family Trees at Ancestry. My Mother’s maternal Grt-GF was discovered by going “sideways” and following family associates until I eventually found her family and a great wealth of information going back to the 1600s. I would never have found them had I not followed family associates and distant relatives eventually returning back to the mystery ancestors that I sought. Click the URL below to read about my father’s family and how I discovered their history.

  17. So true! I found the name of my 2x grgrandfather in a family history book of the man who married his widow. Totally unrelated family, but it gave me the next name I needed.

  18. Please can you share how you found your Father’s birth parents? My Father was also adopted. He passed away in 1982. I only know a few stories I have been told. None of them have panned out. How did you get his birth certificate? He was born in Kentucky. Put in a home called All-Prayer Foundlings Home when he was 3 in 1928. It closed down many years ago. I am getting no where. Thank you for any help you may be able to give me. Donna Wilkins

  19. Annie in Minnesota

    I have also used the noted methods. The one that was the most successful was noting that there seemed to be 2 unrelated families of the same name with the same unusual spelling in 2 neighboring cities in Minnesota. Wondering whether they were actually related I began building a tree for the second family just in case. After my mother’s death I found the names of 2 of the people in the second tree in my maternal grandfather’s journals, phone books and party lists. Then I was sent copies of the front pages of a family bible which showed the marriage date and children’s bithdates and places of birth as well as baptismal dates from this union. The dates matched some of the dates of birth and parents’ names of people in the second family. Then I found the death date and burial place of their father and his burial place and parent’s names. When looking for the cemetery where he was shown buried I found he had been moved to the cemetery where one of my family members was buried found him buried in the same plot. Turned out he was the “missing” brother of my gggrandfather. He had lost his wife, left his kids with his in-laws (whosebible pages were sent to me) and immigrated to Canada where he remarried had a large family and then immigrated to Minnesota shortly before my family. The two families were not only related, everyone in Minnesota with that named was/is related.

  20. I have done this from the beginning. My maternal Grt-Grandfather was my Brick Wall. I needed to research horizontally to eventually discover his family and origins. My Father was adopted. It took years just to discover his adoptive family. His real parents were a mystery for many years. I only recently found his birth certificate – he never saw it! Using the BC and a story my Father told me about his childhood led me to his birth family and then on back another generation to Swedish immigrants! I would never have known anything about my Father’s family had I not searched “horizontally” and had kept on trying to go directly back vertically. I still know little about his family but so much more than I or he originally knew.

  21. I have used this approach for years. I also research family friends and neighbors in their own trees. I have made some very important discoveries looking at everybody. And, as you said in the article, getting a real picture of my ancestors lives and times.

  22. I suggest sort of a “hybrid” approach. From the WW II generation BACK it is VERY common to see families with 5 children who lived to adulthood and most got married. So that’s 5 kids and 5 spouses = 10. Those spouses had 4 siblings. Those 4 siblings had 4 spouses. The 4 spouses of the siblings had 4 siblings. And THOSE siblings had spouses, etc.

    A tree can quickly expand HORIZONTALLY ridiculously. The problem is often compounded by the fact that immigrants tended to live in ethnic neighborhoods. So you wind up with 10 John Fitzgeralds and 15 Mary Coppingers in the same area, around the same age, and often NOT related.

    On Ancestry I have my main tree that is basically lineal ancestors, I create SEPARATE trees for JANE XYZ’S ANCESTORS AND SIBLINGS. My paternal grandmother had 6 siblings and HER father had 8. So I have a separate Anna Coppinger’s Ancestors and Siblings tree. I put things specific to her in the main tree ONLY (city directories, etc) and put all the relatives’ stuff only in the other tree. (I guess I should point out that between documents on Ancestry and from relatives, I don’t have just 5-10 documents TOTAL for her, it’s over 120.) Things like censuses showing the person AND parents and siblings I put in the Siblings tree.

    I generally DON’T put the main person’s spouse and children in the Ancestors and Siblings tree. If you do, you wind up with loads of hints you don’t want–because the information IS in the MAIN tree.

    One thing that IS annoying about the Ancestors and Siblings approach is that Ancestry recognizes the same person in both trees and keeps showing hints from the detailed tree in the other tree. Unfortunately, Ancestry doesn’t have a way to set “Do not use show hints from other trees with the same owner.”

  23. This is oh so true. I have found some really fascinating facts whilst researching outside my direct line. Even found that my ex partner of seven years was related to my sisters husband, none of us had a clue until my research showed the connection.

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