Move three generations

[Jennie]

Hi, I have recently realised I may have the wrong 6 x g grandfather on one of my lines. I would like to move him and the above generations but don't want to delete if these are actually my ancestors. Is there any way I can move three generations to another tree, until I am sure I have the correct line? Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Jennie

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Move three generations

Hi, I have recently realised I may have the wrong 6 x g grandfather on one of my lines. I would like to move him and the above generations but don't want to delete if these are actually my ancestors. Is there any way I can move three generations to another tree, until I am sure I have the correct line?

Just remove his son (your 5xG grandfather) from his (your 6xG grandfather's) family.

You don't need to remove or delete anything.

If further research proves the connection, you just re-add the son to the family.

In the meantime you can do research on both families.

[Jennie]

Re: Move three generations

Thanks Dennis for your reply. I'm not sure I understand your answer because if I remove his son, (and where would I put him and all his info?) I will also remove all his descendants, won't I? I really wanted to put the new-found 6 x g grandfather on my tree, and his parents and grandparents. Don't worry, I will just have to think some more about it. Thanks again, Jennie

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Move three generations

Thanks Dennis for your reply. I'm not sure I understand your answer because if I remove his son, (and where would I put him and all his info?) I will also remove all his descendants, won't I? I really wanted to put the new-found 6 x g grandfather on my tree, and his parents and grandparents. Don't worry, I will just have to think some more about it. Thanks again, Jennie

I wasn't very detailed, sorry. I don't mean remove as in delete. I just mean to remove him from his parents.

With the parents showing, drag the questionable son from the child area onto the clipboard.

You're done. Everybody is still in the file, but the parent's don't have the questionable son as a son, and the questionable son has no parents, but has all his descendants intact. There are two disconnected trees (or "islands") in your file. And that's OK

[Jennie]

Re: Move three generations

I see now what you mean, although I will have to move him, his parents and grandparents to the clipboard because my new-found 6 x g grandfather has different parents etc. A good temporary solution though, until I know for sure which ancestors are really mine. I've only used the clipboard for making immediate changes but didn't think of using it for longer term problems. Thanks again.

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Move three generations

I see now what you mean, although I will have to move him, his parents and grandparents to the clipboard because my new-found 6 x g grandfather has different parents etc. A good temporary solution though, until I know for sure which ancestors are really mine. I've only used the clipboard for making immediate changes but didn't think of using it for longer term problems. Thanks again.

You really don't need to move anyone but him. The connection will be broken. But he won't "live" in the clipboard. You can empty the clipboard and he'll still be in the file, along with all his other relatives. The only thing moved to the clipboard is the link between him and his parents.

It's a different matter if you want to remove him from the file. Check out "Deleting People Using the Clipboard" in the manual, with regard to having a link vs. a record in the clipboard...

[John Bayle]

Re: Move three generations

Maybe I'm missing something here but....
It seems to me that nobody has to be removed. Just break the link (delete the link)
between 5th Great grand parent and 6th Great grand parent. Leave the people where they are. Add new folks as parents of 5th great Grand father if you'd like.
Then if further research shows that was incorrect you can go back and fix on another day.

Deleting a link may mean some folks become a separate island, but the software now has a way of tracking that and reporting on such islands.

[Dennis J. Cunniff]

Re: Move three generations

Maybe I'm missing something here but....
It seems to me that nobody has to be removed. Just break the link (delete the link)
between 5th Great grand parent and 6th Great grand parent. Leave the people where they are. Add new folks as parents of 5th great Grand father if you'd like.
Then if further research shows that was incorrect you can go back and fix on another day.

Deleting a link may mean some folks become a separate island, but the software now has a way of tracking that and reporting on such islands.

Yes, that's what I meant. Perhaps I wasn't explaining it very well. I suppose calling "breaking the link" "removing from the family" was a misstep.

[Jennie]

Re: Move three generations

I have today plucked up the courage to remove the 'wrong' 6 x g grandfather to the clipboard and created an island, as was suggested on this forum. What is disappointing is I have now effectively lost 920 people over 14 generations from the main line of my tree. I have been researching these people for almost 14 years and feel so sad to lose them. I hope I can fit them in somewhere eventually as my surname is quite distinctive in Lincolnshire. I also lost my oldest ancestor. I did make a backup copy before doing this, as advised, and found this very easy.

A very sad Jennie