How did you decide who to have as your Root Person

barbarahead · Post by **barbarahead** » 11 Sep 2009 12:35

How did you decide who to have as your Root person? Do you vary it according to what you are currently working on ?
Do you choose the male line ?

Just curious....

ID:3993

YouTube · Post by **Jane** » 11 Sep 2009 12:36

Most of the time it's me.

If I am working on my husbands family it might be him, or if I am doing something (say a report) for a cousin I might change to them.

RalfofAmber · Post by **RalfofAmber** » 11 Sep 2009 12:49

Normally me (I am the centre of my univers after all!), though obviously when sending bits to relatives that moves to them.

I also moved the root when working out relationships in a small village most of whome married cousins over three generations, just to track what was going on!

jmurphy · Post by **jmurphy** » 12 Sep 2009 06:16

I sometimes change the root person depending on what I am working on.

For instance, if I am reading a historical newspaper and I see an article about someone from Town 1 visiting relatives in Town 2, I might change the root to the visitor to see if the relationship as described by Family Historian agrees with what the newspaper says.

I tend to work in smaller files rather than one big one, so often the root person in the small tree is the person who connects the smaller tree to my main tree. (e.g. if I start a tree focused on my aunt's surname, my aunt is the root person)

Jan

bgriffiths · Post by **bgriffiths** » 12 Sep 2009 14:11

Me, of course[grin]
Brian

miffywebb · Post by **miffywebb** » 13 Sep 2009 06:43

It really depends what I am working on. Recently I have been showing the tree to a young niece and its great to be able to make her the root so it makes more sense to her. However usually its me!!

afl2 · Post by **afl2** » 14 Sep 2009 12:10

I usually have myself. If i am adding information to someones record i make either that person the root or a person who is a ancestor or descendent to this person as i am able to move around via the focus window. If i show a family member i make them the root so as to show how other are related if i dont produce a tree.

Merenwen · Post by **Merenwen** » 16 Sep 2009 12:55

I tend to have my other half as the root as it is his tree after all [smile]

I move the root about if I am doing a report for relatives, so they are the focus of the report and it is all very relevant to them.

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