Why make a family tree?

Think of a family tree as a map. A map is where your knowledge of a place is stored. If you're mapping out a town, you’ll add to the map when you come across a new street or body of water. The more detailed your map gets, the more useful it becomes. At some point, a road in your map will lead out of town, and someone in a neighboring town may have a map with the same road. Then, your maps can connect. 

Family trees work the same way. They store your knowledge of your family history. And the bigger your “family map” gets, the more likely it is to connect to a “map” someone else made. But instead of connecting through roads, your family trees will connect through shared ancestors. 

When you take an AncestryDNA test, family trees become even more useful. They can help you learn how you’re related to DNA matches and show you which last names your tree and your matches' trees have in common. 

Adding people 

Once you've started a tree, you add people by connecting them to someone already in it. 
 

1. In your tree, click on a person.
2. In the opened card, click More options (the three horizontal dots) and choose +Add relative.
3. Select the type of relationship you're adding. 
4. Enter information and click Save.

For help, see Adding People to a Tree.

Deleting people

1. Select the person you want to delete.
2. In the opened card, More options (the three horizontal dots).
3. Click Delete this person. 
4. To confirm, click Delete. 

Fixing relationships

Fix relationship mistakes in your tree by disconnecting someone from the wrong relationship and reconnecting them to the correct relationship. 
 

1. Select a person whose relationship you want to change.
2. In the opened card, click Profile. 
3. In the top-right corner of their profile page, click Edit and choose Edit relationships.
4. Next to the incorrect relationship, click the X and choose Remove.
5. In the same card, select the correct relationship. 
6. In the find a person field, start typing the name of the person you’re connecting through this relationship and select their name from the drop-down menu.
7. Click Save.

For help, see Fixing Relationships in Trees.

Privacy

Even in public trees, the names and other personal details of people labeled “living” are only visible to you and anyone you’ve invited to view your tree. To change the privacy settings:  
 

1. Go to your family tree.
2. In the toolbar on the left, click More (three dots) and select Tree Settings.
3. Click the Privacy Settings tab.
4. Choose Public Tree or Private Tree. 
5. Click Save Changes.

For more information, see Family Tree Privacy.

Changing a tree name

1. Go to your family tree.
2. In the toolbar on the left, click More (three dots) and select Tree Settings.
3. Edit the “Tree Name” field and click Save Changes.

Deleting a tree

Once a tree is deleted, it cannot be recovered. 
 

1. Go to your family tree.
2. In the toolbar on the left, click More (three dots) and select Tree Settings..
3. In the bottom-right corner of the Tree Settings page, click Delete your tree. 
4. To confirm, click Delete.