How to Puzzilla

How To Puzzilla Descendant Viewer: Research Patterns in FamilyTree Collateral Lines.

The Puzzilla Descendants Viewer lets researchers see descendants in FamilyTree using compact symbols that reveal patterns in collateral-line research. Names and details appear as you move the pointer over the symbols.

Clicking on a person symbol in the pedigree view leads to that person's descendants. Clicking on a person symbol in the descendants view leads to viewing that person in FamilyTree. Shift-clicking on a person symbol in the pedigree view leads to viewing that person in FamilyTree. Shift-clicking on a person symbol in the descendants view leads to a new descendants view with that person at the root.

Videos

Puzzilla How To: Seeing Patterns Of Incomplete Research (go to puzzilla.org) Finding Herman, The Research Process: Collateral Lines In FamilySearch (go to puzzilla.org)

Detailed Instructions


 * Go to the Puzzilla.org home page
 * Click on the grey box labelled "Ready? Click here to connect to your FamilyTree account". This takes you to a FamilySearch login page.
 * On the FamilySearch login page, enter your FamilySearch credentials. FamilySearch will give Puzzilla a single-use token to access your FamilyTree data without compromising your FamilySearch user Id and password. Successful login takes you back to the Puzzilla home page.
 * On the Puzzilla home page again, your pedigree will appear on the right side of the page with yourself shown at the root of the pedigree
 * Click on one of the colored glyphs to select an ancestor. This takes you to a Puzzilla descendant tree with the selected ancestor inside a small circle at the center with successive generations surrounding in concentric circles. Search for patterns showing multiple children without descendants. These often indicate areas where research is incomplete. Now in FamilyTree, look on the right side for 'Research Help' and click 'Search Records'. This searches for historic records for that descendant and takes you to the Search Results page. Tune your searches by varying the search parameters. Compare the descendant's details in FamilyTree to the records in the Search Results. If they match, you have found historic record information about the descendant. Add the new record to your sources, and add spouse, children, and parents to the descendant in FamilyTree. You may need more information to determine whether they match. Puzzles require multiple pieces to complete the picture. Find multiple historic records to complete and confirm the details about your relatives.

Records are retrieved from FamilyTree one family at a time, a time-consuming process. The Pending count in the upper left corner shows how many family requests are still waiting for response from FamilyTree.

New descendant views wait until prior requests have finished retrieval.

You can stop requesting more descendant families by clicking the red stop icon in the upper left corner. This will let you request a different view sooner. Pending requests continue downloading but the tree will not be redrawn.

Ancestors View Controls

ID: You can show an ancestor tree for anyone using their FamilyTree ID number. Enter this in the ID field in the upper left corner, then click the Reload icon. Descendants View Controls

ID: You can show a descendant tree for anyone using their FamilyTree ID number. Enter this in the ID field in the upper left corner, then click the Reload icon.

Include Recent: You can include recent descendants born in the last 110 years. Click the Include Recent in the upper left corner, then click the Reload icon.

Generations: The number of individuals retrieved in each added generation is many times larger than the preceeding generation. You can adjust the number in the Generations field in the upper left corner, then click the Reload icon.