How Digital Genealogy Helps Relatives Confirm Relationships Together

Verify People and Relationships Separately

Establishing that a person existed and establishing that two people had a particular family relationship are two different questions. First record each person’s name and aliases, then specify the source and evidence for relationships such as parentage and marriage. If you have only a group photograph, you can confirm which people appear together, but you cannot infer a parent-child or sibling relationship solely from where they are standing.

Assign a Verification Contact to Each Branch

Have one knowledgeable person first consolidate information for each family branch, then ask the relatives involved to confirm it. Specify who may collect information, who is responsible for verification, and who will enter it centrally. Even when collaborating in a standard spreadsheet, retain three statuses—“Pending confirmation,” “Confirmed,” and “Disputed”—to prevent unverified information from being transferred directly into the entire genealogy.

Check Four Items Before Merging People with the Same Name

Compare birth periods, spouses, children, and places of residence or migration; identical names and identical generational characters can serve only as clues. Example: two sources both mention “So-and-so,” with one placing the person in Village A and the other in Village B. First look for evidence of migration or family connections. Do not delete either record simply because the names match.

Preserve Revision History for Conflicting Information

Before changing a relationship, save the previous value, the reason for the change, the evidence reference number, and the verification date. If a relative’s account conflicts with an old genealogy, present both records side by side until additional materials are found. The public edition may show only confirmed information, while the working archive should retain the reasoning process.

Create an Independent Backup After Collaboration

After each round of verification, save the person list, relationship table, image directory, and issue list. Select one person and ask a family member who did not participate in data entry to locate that person’s parents and the sources for the information. If they cannot, improve the ID system or add an explanation. Records within the platform and independent copies complement each other, making future migration or handover easier.

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