Our family tree website is based upon two basic displays; the family tree made up of members of the family and the member page which shows details of each member.  Following is a more detailed explanation of each.

1. Family Tree – When you click on the link for a family tree, you will be shown a family tree starting with the oldest member of that family with their spouse directly next to them. As the tree expands from the oldest member, each descendant is shown underneath their parents (separated with a small gap between their pictures) along with each descendant’s spouse (pictures are not separated with a gap).  The family tree display can be made larger or smaller by clicking inside the tree and using the scroll button on your mouse to make larger or smaller.  You can also move it side to side by clicking and holding your left mouse button and moving the tree around.
2. Member Pages
   1. Basic Member Page - Each family member has an individual member page which contains details of the member. Some of the information on this page includes:
      1. Significant dates (birth, death, etc.)
      2. Spouse
      3. Siblings
      4. And more if available
   2. Expanded Member Page – Some members will have an expanded member page which will include the following:
      1. All the information from the Basic member page
      2. Photo Gallery containing all available photos pertaining to member.
      3. Video Gallery containing any videos that pertain to the member.
      4. Forum which allows visitors to leave personal memories of the member.
      5. Contact Us form to allow visitors to send us questions or messages.

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Following are basic navigational instructions to be able to move around the website based on where you are located, either the family tree page, a member's page, or the entire family member list.

From the family tree

1. When on the family tree page you can adjust the view of the tree by shrinking or enlarging the tree by clicking inside the tree, then using the scroll button to either shrink or enlarge.
2. When on the family tree page,  you can move around the tree by clicking and holding the left mouse button down and moving the display around.
3. To display a member's page, hover over the member's picture and look for an icon that looks like an open book.  Click on this icon to display the member's page.

From the member's page

1. When viewing a member's page, you will see detail information regarding the member (spouse, siblings, mother, father, and children).  If you click on any of these names, you will be taken directly to that member's page.
2. Any data shown on this page in blue can be clicked on  to give you that member's information.
3. At the top of each member's page (expanded pages only) are quick links to either go back to this home page, go to the family tree, go to a listing of all of the members of the family, or jump to separate sections of the member's page.

From the family member list

1. When viewing the family member list, each member of the family will be listed in chronological order starting with the oldest to youngest member.  The list will show the member details as outlined in the basic member page.
2. As described above, any member information shown in blue can be clicked on to show the details for that information (i.e. mother, father, spouse, siblings, and children).
3. In the lower right corner of the member list is an icon (caret shape pointing upward) that if clicked will take you back to the top of the list.
4. In the upper right corner of the list (from the start of the list) is a search box that can be used to search our entire member database.  All search results are shown in a listing of which member details can be seen by clicking on the "Read More" links. 

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One of the basic functions of a family tree is it will always by default focus only on the actual family name as it cascades down through the descendants.  Because of this, as the family tree "blossoms" with the inclusion of spouses and their descendants, you will not see the ancestors of the spouse, only the descendants.  Therefore to see the full ancestor tree (all the ancestors for a specific member), you need to do some advanced navigation.  Below are two ways to accomplish this:

From the family tree display

This method does not actually show the entire family heritage for a member, however it does provide some quick actions to show additional information about a member's spouse (who is also called a member).

1. From the basic family display, locate a spouse of a family member.
2. Hover over the picture of this spouse and locate the icon NEXT to the icon of an open book.  When you hover over this icon, a popup will show that reads "View the family of" and show the name of the member you are hovering over.
3. When you click this icon, the tree will be changed to show the spouse's ancestry along with their spouse and descendants.
4. When you do this the original family tree name is abandoned and it shows that spouse's ancestry, but not a complete display of all ancestors, only those in the spouse's male family.

From the youngest member's page

This is my preferred method to show a complete ancestor lineage for any member.  It can be done with just a few clicks.  Below are the steps to accomplish this:

1. From any display of a family tree, locate the family member you wish to see a complete ancestry lineage. Example - looking for lineage for Steve Oberhelman.  Opened Oberhelman tree and located Steve Oberhelman.
2. Follow the descendants path for this family member to the very bottom of the tree.  This will be the youngest descendant showing in the tree.
3. Click on the "open book" icon for this youngest member.
4. This will show the youngest member's expanded page (described in the Overview).  If you scroll down under the basic information, there will be displayed a "Pedigree Chart" for this member showing ALL of the ancestors for this member.
5. From this display, you can see any of the member's "pedigree" information (ancestry lineage).
6. If you would like to see a display of only one of the member's in the chart, locate that member, hover over their picture, and click the icon NEXT to the open book icon.  When you hover over this icon, a popup will show "View the family of."
7. The display will change to show only that member's pedigree chart.

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Overview

Advanced Family Tree Navigation

Pedigree Ancestry Charts

Member Lists