Please let us know if you have needed help on something not covered in this section or in our Frequently Asked Questions

Many of us use one genealogical program or another and nearly all of them have a very graphical look to them. You can see your family group sheets, display charts, etc. This website is much the same except that, instead of it being on your computer, it is on the internet. This walk-through will introduce you to the primary functions of the site. The bold, green links embedded on this page will open a second window (or tab); you can follow these steps in the new window/tab while referencing the steps here. In either case, the following link opens a new window (or tab) to our Home Page. Features of that page can be seen and the window/tab can also be used to explore the features discussed below.

On the home page you will see links to the various sections of the site, links to My Family's ancestors, and a Search box on the right side of the page.

To begin, click on any link and you will notice that every page (like this one) contains a set of four icons directly under the page header. The function of each icon link is quite straightforward:

On the right hand side of the header, you will see three drop down menus: Find - Media - Info. These can be used to quickly access any area of the site. If you hover the mouse (not click) you will see drop-down menus that give you many options to help navigate this site.

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In the search box (right side of home page), put Dreher in for the Last Name and Johann in for First Name and press <Enter>.

This will give you a list of the results that were found to match. On this list, click on the name of the Johann whose birth is 29 May 1841. You are now at his Individual Page, the header of which you see below.

Take a few minutes to orient yourself with the layout of Tab 1 Individual. This is the "core" display of the genealogy pages. The standard view shows all of the most pertinent 'Personal Information'; the other views listed in the green bar limit information to a specific category. Note that the personal information is divided into three sections -- the Individual selected, his/her Parents, and his/her Spouse and Children (if any). Clicking on the "Group Sheet" link next to the appropriate Family ID will bring up the Selected Person's Family Group sheet (spouse and children, with the individual as a parent).

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Now let's look at the 5 tabs next to the "Individual" tab: Ancestors, Descendants, Relationship, Timeline, and Suggest.

NOTE: On the Individual, Ancestors and Descendants pages you have the option to create a report in 'pdf' format for the information you are viewing. To make use of this option you will need to have installed Adobe Reader in order to view the report. If you don't already have it, you can download the (free) Adobe Reader software by clicking this link.

Tab 2) Click on "Ancestors" and you will find a dynamic chart. The default view is the "standard" view (4 generations). (Note that each generation is shown in a slightly different shade, getting progressively lighter with each older generation.) Clicking on any of the names on the chart will take you to the individual sheet for that person.

Notice that there are little blue arrows pointing down beneath many of the boxes. If you hover your mouse over the arrow (not click!) a drop-down list for that person will open. You can click on a name in that sheet to take you to their individual sheet. Clicking on any icon will show the next generation above (ancestors); clicking on the icon will show the ancestry starting from the next generation below. Wherever you see the pedigree icon , you clan click to show the ancestry from that individual. Also note that in the green bar just above the chart, you can specify the number of generations you want to display (beware that the page will get increasingly wider and longer, requiring more scrolling, as you increase the number of generations).

In the green bar there are a number of other Ancestor chart views available by clicking on Compact, Box, Text, Ahnentafel, or Media. The latter displays both lines of parentage for any individual -- and lists that person's grand-parents, great-grandparents, and so on -- as far back as is known, based on the number of generations selected for the display. The icon that may be shown alongside a name in the Media display means that at least one photo, history, or other media item exists for that individual. The Ahnentafel chart (also known as an ascendants table - See Wikipedia article on Ahnentafel for details.) lists all the generations in tabular form, complete with all children and birth, marriage, death, and burial details if known. Try clicking on each of the Ancestor display options to see what they offer.

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2) The " Descendants" tab gives you a listing of all descendants of this individual.

The default view is the "Text" list, also known as a "descendant drop chart." Notice that in many places there is a little white box with a minus sign in it. Click this box and that branch of this tree will collapse to this position. Try it! Also, once the descendants are displayed in this text format, you can show a graphic view (with photos) of a specific branch of descendants from that ancestor by clicking the descendant icon next to the descendant whose chart you wish to display. This chart includes the siblings of each ancestor. Thus, the younger the individual, the greater the number of generations in the chart; and the greater the number of siblings in a family, the wider the chart becomes.

Try clicking on the other types of Descendant charts, listed on the green bar: Standard - a traditional "tree" with photos (where available), Compact - without photos, and Register - a list of generations in tabular form, similar to Ahnentafel.

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3) The " Relationships" tab allows you to generate a box chart to show the relationship between this individual and any other person in your tree.

Just click on the "Find" button under "Person 2" and search for "Lloyd Farmer" (remember, last name on top). Select 'Lloyd John Farmer' (ID-I01116) and click "Calculate"

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4) The " Timeline" tab allows you to view a list of important (and some not-so-important) events that occurred during his lifetime. Hovering over the timeline with your cursor will reveal that individual's personal events (birth, marriage, births of children, death).

Timelines for up to four other people can be added to the page to show the timeline relationship between this person and the others.

You can also populate a timeline by finding any 2-4 individuals manually and thereby compare them across the ages. This gives you a unique perspective to see what was going on in the world during the lives of our ancestors.

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5) The "Suggest" tab allows you to suggest any changes or additions and then automatically sends the information to me, so that we can evaluate your suggestion and add it to the database. The identity of the individual you are referencing is automatically attached to the message when you make a suggestion using the Suggestion tab.

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Where the people are ... There are two primary ways to get to the records of an individual:

1. Surnames - located in the upper right corner under the Find menu option. Using this option displays a master list of surnames in the database and allows you to drill-down by surname, which will give you a list of people to choose from. Click on "show all surnames" to get an alphabetical listing of all surnames in the database.
2. Search - a simple search box is located on the right side of the home page. Enter a name (surname on top!) and you will be shown all the records in the database that match your request.. If you know who you are looking for, then you are already halfway there! If you need to be more specific in who or what you are looking for, use the "Advanced Search" feature on the home page or by clicking on the search icon in the upper left hand corner of every page. There, you can specify several different criteria to search against, including birth and death information as well as spousal information. This is how to search for a woman when you know only her married name (use the "Spouse's Last Name" field). You can even search by event or place.

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As described above, the "Suggest" tab allows you to suggest any changes or additions (corrections, updates, comments), or any other information about a specific individual or family record; it then automatically sends the information to me. I will evaluate your suggestion and add it to the database if appropriate. The identity of the individual or family you are referencing is automatically attached to the message when you send us a suggestion.

As the master copy of our database is maintained 'offline' we do not offer the facility for users to directly edit information. If you wish to tell or ask me something general, rather than related to a specific individual or family, then use the 'Contact Us' link in the 'Find' drop-down menu.

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Photographs and other media can be linked to individual and family records. I have added some photographs but have a lot more yet to categorize, scan and add to the database. I would very much like to hear from you if you are able to provide photos or other media showing or relevant to anyone in the database. In addition to photos, I am looking for newspaper articles, obituaries, stories and other related documents. Please let me know if you can offer anything.

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If you are a descendant or relative of anyone on this website, then don't forget to sign-up for an account and then login (use link above left) to get the full benefits and to view information on living relatives in your branch of the tree! I also maintain a list of Frequently Asked Questions that you may find useful.

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