Finding Living Relatives

Finding and connecting with living relatives can initiate lifelong relationships and fill holes in your family tree.

by Jenny Smith

Have you ever looked at your family tree and noticed a living relative you don’t know? Or maybe you have an empty section of your tree that you wished you could piece together? That’s just what happened to me.  

My parents divorced when I was very young, and after my dad passed away a few years ago I realized that I did not know much about his side of my family. I set out to find those missing pieces and, in so doing, found several living cousins!  I was so excited.  The great thing was it didn’t take me more than 10 minutes to find them, thanks to modern technology and social media.  We connected as a result, and it has been so much fun learning about my dad, his mom, and the whole family over in Wales. I cannot wait to visit! I even found out one of them recently moved to Crystal City!

How did I find and connect with living relatives?

• Using Facebook, I looked through the lists of friends on family members’ accounts and identified people with the surname I was looking to find.  
• Then I sent sent them Facebook messages explaining who I was and that I was very interested in connecting and learning more about my family.  Easy peasy!

What are other ways to find living relatives?

• Talking to family members you do know and asking questions about more distant lines
• DNA – there are many options out there! This takes more than 15 minutes but once you have the results, it doesn’t take long at all to explore names you’ve never seen.

Now that you’ve found them, what should you do?

• Connect, Connect, Connect
• Send emails, Facebook messages, etc
• Send pictures
• Plan a visit
• Add them to your Family Search tree

How to I add living relatives to my family tress in Living Relatives to Family Search?

(Instructions are found at https://www.familysearch.org/help/helpcenter/article/how-do-i-add-living-relatives-to-a-person-in-family-tree.)

NOTE:  Living relatives in your family tree are private and will not be made visible to any other users.  It is important to protect this private information.

General add instructions

• For a new person, you must enter at least a first or last name, indicate the sex of the person, and check deceased or living before you can continue the add process. If a person already exists in the system, and you are the person who created the record, you can find him or her by ID number by clicking Find.

Steps (website)

1. While signed in to FamilySearch.org , click Family Tree.
2. Navigate to the Person page of an immediate family member of the living individual.
3. If you do not see Vitals near the top of the page, click Details.
4. Scroll to the Family Members section.
5. Click the appropriate link (Add Spouse, Add Child, or Add Parent).      
6. Enter information about the individual. Indicate that he or she is living.
7. Click Next. 
8. Click Create Person.

Steps (mobile app)

1. In the Family Tree mobile app, navigate to the Person page of a family member of the living individual.
2. Tap the appropriate tab (Spouses for spouses and children or Parents for parents and siblings).
3. Tap the appropriate link (Add Child, Add Spouse, Add Parent, or Add Sibling).
4. Enter information about the individual, and then tap Continue.
5. Indicate that the person is Living.
6. Enter any birth information, and then tap Continue.
7. Tap Add or Add This Person.

Steps (Family Tree Lite)

1. In Family Tree Lite, navigate to the person page of a family member of the living individual.
2. Click View Family.
3. Click the appropriate link (Add Spouse, Add Child, Add Parent, or Add Sibling). 
4. Enter information about the individual. Indicate that he or she is living.
5. Click Next.