How to Add People to Your Tree

There are two primary ways to add a people to your RootsFinder tree, whether it's an individual, a spouse, parents, or children.

1. By adding a source containing information about them (through the timeline or web clipper)

When you enter information from a source, you're adding evidence. (Answering genealogical questions) As you extract all the information from your source and tag it to people in your tree, you may encounter someone who isn't in your tree yet. RootsFinder makes it very easy to add new people as part of your data entry process. To do add a new person by adding evidence about them:

If you're starting from a person page, click the + symbol above the person's timeline and then click "Add Event/Fact." If you're using the web clipper you'll automatically see the same data entry form as of you had clicked "Add Event/Fact."

Add information about the source and primary event, then proceed to tab 4, "People." If you're starting from a person page, the person will automatically be tagged for you already.
To tag an additional person click "+ Add More People"
Set the relationship to the primary person as needed
Type the name of the new person the way you want it to appear in your tree. As you type, RootsFinder will look for people you already have in your tree who match what you're typing. If you're sure none of them are the new person you're trying to add, click "New" in the list. This will create a new person with the name you've typed.
By default, the name as it appears in the evidence will be the same as the name you want shown in your tree. However, you may want to change this to show what the source actually says, rather than what you wanted shown in your tree. For example if the evidence says Jim but you know you want the person to be listed in your tree as James Smith, you would type James Smith in the list, then correct the evidence to say Jim Smith. Then you'll be able to find him either way, and you won't lose evidence that was documented by your source.

2. By adding a person directly to the tree without adding evidence

You may want to bypass RootsFinder's evidence-based paradigm and simply enter a person directly into your RootsFinder tree. There are several places you can do this, and they all involve the same basic steps:

Locate the + sign in the section you're working with
If applicable, select the relationship you want to add (parent, child, spouse, etc.)
Type the name as you want it to appear in your tree and set the gender
Important: select whether the person is living or deceased. This determines whether or not it can be seen by other people
Add birth and death information (if you know it)

3. By clicking on the people tab located in the left side menu. Then click "+" at the top right of the people tab.

4. Additional option: FamilySearch import

You can also add people by importing them from FamilySearch. To do this, either download additional generations for someone, or use the FamilySearch comparison tool to identify additional family members you want to import.

For more information, we suggest: " Download more generations from FamilySearch," "FamilySearch Integration Part 1: Get Started with FamilySearch Import," and "FamilySearch Integration Part 2: Sync with FamilySearch"