Admittedly, my online family trees sprawl a bit. I include not just my direct line but also siblings/spouses of my direct line and their descendants. And often I go generations back for in-laws, too. After a couple of generations, this makes for a large and rather horizontal tree.
But without those siblings and in-laws, how would cousins know that we belong to the same family tree?
When cousins come across my public trees, they're looking for familiar names. Names in their direct line will be familiar, whereas names in my direct line might not be as familiar.
So by including the siblings of my great-grandparents, plus spouses/descendants, I'm inviting my cousins to see their ancestors on my tree and get in touch. It's happened more than once!
#CousinBait is this week's #52Ancestors prompt from Amy Johnson Crow.
My tree is the same, very wide. More than a few times I have to explain to someone that I am not their cousin, but they are a cousin to my husband/mother-in-law/uncle by marriage/etc. Thanks for sharing!
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