see newer information at my other blog post - Using Relative Finder - A How to Tutorial (Revised Information)
Using Relative finder (a Site created by the
Computer Science Department at BYU) to find a direct or indirect descendancy to Somerled “Norse Slayer” Lord of the Isles.
I've chosen to demonstrate how to find descendancy to Somerled since I am from the Clan MacDougall. You can easily create other groups based on other royal families like the RUS, English Kings etc.
Relative Finder Web site
http://roots.cs.byu.edu
Relative Finder uses data from new.familysearch.org.
In order to use Relative Finder, you must be registered with new.familysearch.org and with Relative Finder.
Relative Finder can tell you how you are related to famous people of today, and the past, as well as your friends! It is best to have at least 100 relatives associated to you in family search to get better results. So the more you research the better things can get.
Link for relative finder signup
http://roots.cs.byu.edu/devdigroots/createaccount2.php?x=61&y=20
Familysearch.org registration page (one of the worlds largest databases of genealogy)
https://ident.familysearch.org/cis-web/pages/registration/registration.html?referrer=new%20FamilySearch&lng=en
As you begin the process you will link your information in the Familysearch.org with your account at relative finder. This will then allow them to see what kind of people you related to. The original linkage can take some time and it is not a bad idea to update this once in a while especially if you have a growing ancestor list.
Once you have an account created and the necessary ancestor information plugged into familysearch.org you can create reports.
Some of the many reports you can create are as follows
US Presidents, Signers of Declaration of Independence, Famous People, May Flower Voyagers, European Royalty, Religious Reformers, Inventors, etc.
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| Most of the Built in Groups |
They have included a simple search feature on the site. This covers the above general categories, but you may want to go after someone specific and thus create your own groups.
You will need to create a group to run your reports and have more control on what is returned. This allows for you to separate between maternal and paternal lines. This control is not present in the "simple" search and helps if you find you have royal blood.
Once you have create a group you will need to populate the group with some specific
AFN (Ancestral File numbers). These codes are the ID assigned to specific individuals.
If you don’t provide a specific AFN you may find you have too many people listed under a specific category and do not see the person you want to find. This is common in Royal Lines. I had no clue Somerled was hiding in my maternal line till I added his AFN.
Since we are interested in finding out if we are related to Somerled primarily his AFN is listed below. A few other important people of the same time frame are listed as well for reference.
King of the ISLES, Somerled PZ7J-20
King of Scotland, David I "The Saint" 8XJB-C4
King of England, Henry II “Plantagenet” 8WKP-WF
King of Norway, Olaf IV Magnusson 9BBJ-HS
King of Norway, Magnus III Olafsson"The Barelegs" 9B4C-S2
After you have the script run the reports you can drill down to get a more specific chart by clicking on a link provided next to the person in question.
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| Partial Descendency Chart |
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| Reports page |
These charts show the direct linkage between the people listed. A small sample with Somerled has been shown. In many cases you’ll find the printout can spill over into 3-6 pages since a fair number of generations will be presented. I find a majority of my royal ancestors are back 23-26 generations out. A typical screen only holds 6-7 generations.
I’ve created a special group relating to Somerled and his contemporaries listed above.
One thing I have noted. Since the information that is in the Ancestral file database (AFN) is older and less verified in some cases the results come out funky. I tried to take the chart created and go back wards and forwards inside of my familysearch.org data. It gets a bit choppy somewhere at the 10 -15 generations marker. Does this mean I'm not related even though the chart shows that I am? Can't say for sure. One thing I know for sure is that the familysearch.org database is getting revised on a daily basis. New names are being provided. Also duplicates and errors are being corrected on a regular basis. Also in the case of royalty you may find that multiple marriages exist. This can complicate things at times.
Still it is fun to run these reports.
And the fact I can say I'm 4th cousins 9 times removed to Walt Disney is cool. To bad that does not qualify me for free admission.
Buaidh - NO - Bas
