Quick steps
On Ancestry, you generally add a person by starting from someone who is already in your tree:
- Sign in and open your tree.
- Click or tap the person the new relative is connected to.
- Choose Add relative (the label may read slightly differently, or appear as a plus icon).
- Choose the relationship, such as father, mother, spouse, sibling, son or daughter.
- Enter the name and any known facts, then save.
Ancestry updates its layout occasionally, so the button labels may not match exactly. The logic of picking a connected person first stays the same.
Adding parents, spouse, siblings and children
Each relationship is added from the person it relates to:
- Parents: open the child’s profile and add a father or mother.
- Spouse or partner: open one partner and add a spouse. You can often include marriage details at the same time.
- Children: open a parent and add a son or daughter. If the child has two known parents, make sure the right other parent is selected.
- Siblings: see below.
Adding a husband or wife
To add your husband or wife, find yourself in the tree (or your parent, if you want to add your own spouse next to you), choose to add a spouse, and fill in the details. Enter your spouse’s information thoughtfully, because it will be tied to you. If your spouse is living, Ancestry will treat the profile as private to other viewers. If your spouse has their own AncestryDNA test, the person can later be linked to the matching profile; see linking to someone’s tree on Ancestry.
If someone had more than one marriage, add each spouse separately and attach the children to the correct couple.
Adding siblings
Siblings are typically added through shared parents. If you add a sibling from your own profile, Ancestry usually connects them to the same parents. If you have not yet entered your parents, add them first, then add the sibling. Half-siblings need to be linked to just the one shared parent, and the other parent added as a different person.
Adding an unattached person
Sometimes you have a person whose connection to the tree is not yet known, such as a possible relative with the same surname. Ancestry can usually accept a person who is not linked to anyone, often through an option to add a person from the tree menu. This is useful as a holding place while you research. Watch for the following:
- Unattached people may not show up in the main tree view, so note their names somewhere.
- Do not guess a relationship just to make them fit. A wrongly attached branch can become hard to untangle. A research log, as described in how to organize genealogy research, is a good place to keep track of unattached names.
What details to enter
Useful details include full name (maiden name for married women), birth date and place, death date and place, and gender. Leave a field blank if you are unsure. Use the approximate options only if you can justify them, and keep places in a consistent format, from smallest to largest area, such as town, county, country. Add a short note about where the information came from.
Use hints and sources carefully
Ancestry offers hints, which are suggestions of records or other members’ trees that may match a person. They are suggestions, not facts. Compare the names, dates and places in a record to what you already know before accepting it, and attach the source so you can find it later. If other members’ trees disagree with each other, look for original records such as civil registrations, census returns and parish registers.
For those wanting to share findings, see how to share family trees on Ancestry.
Privacy for living relatives
Ancestry generally hides living people’s details from other members who view your tree. Even so, you may prefer to enter only names and relationships for living relatives, and avoid adding sensitive details.
Fixing mistakes
If you add the wrong person or the wrong relationship, open the profile and edit or remove it. Take care when deleting someone with descendants, because it can leave other people disconnected. Before large edits, consider exporting a backup; see how to print or download your Ancestry tree. If a tree is beyond saving, you can start over after reading how to delete a family tree on Ancestry.
Inviting someone to see the tree
Once you have added more people, you may want others to see them. Use the sharing settings to invite relatives and pick a role. The invited person will not usually add people on your behalf unless you give them Contributor or Editor access.