My March through the FamilySearch Family Tree: Day 31 (what's next?)

The month flew by, but I feel that I ended it with a much stronger family tree on FamilySearch Family Tree, especially my paternal side, but also my maternal-side ancestors. There are still things to do, but I think that I learned enough that the month-long experiment was worth doing.

I encourage anyone who has never used the FamilySearch Family Tree to explore it. And I encourage those who have tried it in the past but who were disappointed with all the problems to look at it again, and consider doing it, at least in part.

There are other collaborative trees out there. WikiTree is one, and I will be expecting to write about my experiences there sometime in August. Between now and then, I may take a closer look at Geni. There are other sites, too, but one can only spend so much time with these things. I also will continue to work on my "official" tree on my own computer, and I will upload copies to public sites (Ancestry, MyHeritage, etc.).

I am hopeful that my actions will result in collaborations with previously unknown cousins. Part of the fun of doing genealogy is doing it with others. Imagine working with a distant cousin to attempt to break down a brick wall involving common ancestors!

I would love to hear about your own experiences in using FamilySearch Family Tree, especially successes. I want to hear about any tricks you have learned. I posted links to this entire series on Facebook in The Genealogy Squad group, and that is a great place to engage with other genealogists, including me!

I am also going to talk to the folks at FamilySearch who are the official Family Tree managers. I can give them the benefit of my own experience and perhaps suggest ways to improve it.

I hope you enjoyed my "march" in March. If there are other sites or tools you'd like me to spend a month exploring, let me know.