How to Find Relatives on Facebook with Descendancy Groups

Guest Post by Heidi Campbell

Everybody seems to be on Facebook and our ancestors can be too! They have so much to teach us and using social media can help us share their lives with others. What is even better is we can use Facebook to discover and connect with new family members!    

My third great-grandfather, Pehr Hansson Borg (born in 1805) has a group of 83 members. I found this group because I had typed a copy of his son’s personal history and created a supplement with historical context and other annotations. His son, Ole Peter Borg, had twenty children from two wives and I wanted to share his story with as many living descendants as were interested.   

We all can learn so much from our ancestors. If you pick a set of great-grandparents a few generations back and trace their descendants down the line, you could potentially find many cousins who also claim them as an ancestor. Imagine all of the stories, heirlooms, and traits you can learn about that got passed down the various lines. As you dive deeper into your ancestors’ history, you will discover that each family presents its own novelties that exponentiate with each generation. Depending on how far back you go, you can end up with quite a large set of puzzle pieces to put together. Just thinking about it makes my family historian heart go aflutter!

How to create a Descendancy Facebook Group:

1. Pick a common ancestor

If you are not close with your extended family, consider finding and getting to know your first and second cousins. Create a group about your mutual grandparent or great grandparent.  If you were fortunate enough to grow up close to cousins and grandparents, consider researching about your ancestors from a few generations back. Pick an ancestor that you already have information on, or one that you are hoping to learn more about. Before you create a group, do a quick search to make sure that there isn’t one in existence already—no need to reinvent the wheel!

2. Define the purpose

Decide what your leading intention is. Are you interested in sharing information, creating relationships, solving a mystery, etc? Be transparent in the “About” section of the group and in the invitations that you send to cousins that you may or may not know.

3. Create the group and add members

One of the easiest ways to start is by creating a Facebook group titled something along the lines of “Descendants of …” or “Family and Friends of ...” etc.

Here is a list of examples: 

• Descendants of Asa Jr and Maud Lou Pease

• Descendants of Charlotte Turley Bushman (1840-1899)

• Descendants of Mam & Pap Simons

• Descendants of Poul Christian Christiensen

• Descendants of Samuel and Sarah Bingeman, Berks County, Pennsylvania

• Descendants of T. Edgar and L. Hermana Lyon

• Descendants of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence

• Descendants of Valley Forge

• Ezekiel Johnson Descendants

• The Family & Descendants of Mormon Pioneer Thomas Grover

• Galizien German Descendants

• James Bowyer Shelley Descendants

• Joseph Henson Reeder-Descendants, Etc.

• Mayflower Pilgrim Descendants

• The M. Lora and Allen H. Walker Family

• Wenz - Irving descendants

• The Winward Family

Add the cousins you do know and encourage them to add siblings and other relatives not on your personal friend’s list. If you are hoping for more people to join by discovering the group, you’ll want to make your group “visible”. If you plan on making it by invitation only, you have the option of making it unlisted by setting it to “hidden.” No matter what you choose on searchability, it’s best to set the group as “private.”

After you’ve started adding cousins to the group take a moment to create a post introducing yourself so group members can get to know you better.

4. Share! 

Create a post sharing what you know about your common ancestor. The more you share, the more others will share in return. You can then ask all of the members to share stories, pictures, recipes, etc, that they received from your shared grandparents or ancestors. 

Do you want to take your family facebook group to the next level? Watch for an upcoming post on how to get the most out of your descendancy group.