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how do you list a child of parents who were never married on a family tree?

I'm trying to construct a family tree. My parents were never married and I have all kinds of half-siblings. What is the best way to do this? I am using Ancestry.com, thinking it would be easy, but I'm running into problems. Is there an easy way to do this or another program I can download (free)?

Public Comments

1. I listed my self, then my children. Then pulled up the children and added their father. I didn't think it was hard at all.
2. There are three programs you can download for free, and a number of them you can buy for less than the cost of dinner for two at Denny's. If you have your data on your PC, 1) No one can hack into it. 2) You'll always have it, even if Ancestry.com starts charging for what used to be free. The Mormons will give you PAF for free because that's what they do; they are to genealogy what Zen Buddhists are to simple-seeming rock gardens of infinite complexity. http://www.familysearch.org/eng/default.asp Roots Magic and Legacy will both let you download "Lite" versions of their programs for free, in hopes that you like them so much you'll pay $29 to get the full strength version: http://www.rootsmagic.com/ (Look for "Essentials". I've tried FTM, PAF and RM; I like RM the best.) http://www.legacyfamilytree.com/ (Look for "Standard" and overlook the graphics; they look like the world is ending with a volley of pedigree-shaped lightning bolts. The people in the farmhouse are either in the root cellar, burrowing beneath the turnips for protection, or on their knees, trying to confess 30 years worth of sins in 30 seconds.) As to how you do it - pick a child and add the parents or pick the parents and add the child. When you add a parent or a child they will all ask you if you want to enter a new person or link to an existing one. So, after you add yourself and your two parents, you are ready to add your half-siblings. Click on your dad, click on "Add Child", it will ask you if he had the child with your mom or someone else, you click on "Someone else", and either pick her out of the people you've already added or enter her details. They all ask if you'd like to add a marriage date and place; tell it no. Continue with all the children and women your father has had, then repeat with your mother.
3. Most programs have an "add spouse" capability, allowing the specification of more than one "spouse". Spouse in this case means "other parent of a child", not just husband or wife. In most programs (I'm only intimately familiar with Family Tree Maker), you specify the nature of the "spousal" relationship -- typically defaults to "married", but may also be divorced, partner, etc. Then you just pick one parent, make sure the proper "spouse" is selected and then specify the children. (You can do it backwards, specifying the child first, then the parents but the otherway is usually quicker especially if there is more than one child of the couple). So 1) Establish Parent #1 2) Establish Parent #2 as "spouse" of Parent #1 and if you want, identify the relationship as "partner" 3) Establish any other "spouses" of Parent #1 (can even be "unknown" if need be) 4) Select Parent #1 and then the proper spouse for the children you will be specifying and finally 5) Establish the children.