FTM 2011 Relationships Issue

[merlinct7]

It seems FTM 2011 has a problem when lines derive from two or more siblings to the same descendant. Here's my example: I have an ancestor, Robert T., who is my 15th great grandfather. His father, Thomas T., is shown as my 14th great grand uncle, apparently because I am also descended from his sister Agnes T, who is shown as my 14th great grandmother (along an entirely different path). The point is that Thomas T should come up as my 16th great grandfather, as his son is my 15th and as a matter of fact, Thomas T's father correctly shows up as my 17th, great grandfather! The Relationship Calculator lists 16th great grandfather in its Relationship drop-down list, so I am stumped as to why the Family View shows Thomas illogically as a great grand uncle, which would be germane if I were following Agnes's path but not within Thomas's path.

I've done the usual compacting and re-merging with no improvement. Is FTM confused by these kinds of multiple paths or is there something else I can do?

[Elaine ..Spain]

My only suggestion is checking the individual relationships between your 15th, 16th and 17th great grandfathers to see if they are correct.
Make sure that each one shows as son/father/grandfather/grandson of the other two.

... and welcome to Family Tree Forum!

[lauranth]

The primary reason I joined this forum is because I have a similar issue with the relationship chart of FTM 2010 and the way it describes relationships too. I thought surely other people have noticed it and asked for a fix? Nothing wrong with my relationships as it worked perfectly in FTM 2006 but I had to upgrade. I am not descended from the one ancestor via two separate lines though as per the original post but it is still puzzling.

I simply want to know what my relationship is to various existing distant relatives I'm in contact with today. For example, instead of describing them as my third cousin twice removed it will say something like great-grandniece of the 2 x great grand uncle (I'm not sure that's the right equivalent, I am just illustrating how the relationships are described). My point is I had learned what a third cousin twice removed was, but can't compute this new description. Also the relationship chart doesn't start with our common ancestor, or with people of the same generation at the same level (siblings on the same line, 1st cousins on the same line etc.), otherwise I would easily be able to work it out for myself. If my memory serves correctly, this more logical chart format existed in FTM 2006. Any suggestions on what to do?

[Elaine ..Spain]

Welcome to Family Tree forum.

I am using FTM 2011, and recently removed FTM2010 from my computer, but I think the basics are the same between the two programs.
I have never had any problem with the relationship charts as you describe, so it's difficult to comment without seeing your actual data file.

With regard to the same generations showing at the same level on the chart, if you select the Extended Family Chart this will give you a very extended family tree (horizontally) but each generation will be shown on the same level. If this is not the case with your tree, then I would suggest you see where it goes wrong and check the relationships of those ancestors to make sure there isn't an error in the data input.

[merlinct7]

Possible solution

Thanks for your response. I now believe that at least part of the problem stems from certain duplications in my tree; that is, where individuals appear more than once. This can occur when lines lead backward in time to a common ancestor, when that ancestor's dates or name vary slightly (Joseph Smith born 1566 is NOT the same as Joseph Lord of Podunk Smith born abt. 1566). I have been able to rectify a number of relationship problems I previously described simply by resolving duplicate names. This is not always straightforward and can require some diligence, beyond simply applying the Edit/Find Duplicate People option, but I think that making certain that each individual appears only once in one's database.