Site Help

 

Some Common Questions

The Hall Families of New England Genealogy pages contain information about our study families and families allied with. We provide this web site to share the results of thousands of hours of research with people interested in our study. Please do not abuse this generosity by simply copying information from our site and putting it on Ancestry.com or other web sites without providing a reference to this site. Thank you. (See our Terms and Conditions.)

Please, be our guest

It is not necessary to log in to our site to search for people in our Family File. However, you can get more from the site if you are logged into a personal account. You can log in by clicking on the Login link:

Login Link
You will be presented with a window similar to this; however, this site does not have guest accounts:

If you have already registered for a personal account, enter your Username and Password. Be sure to use upper and lower case letters just when you created the account. If you have forgotten your Username or Password, use the appropriate form below to have the site email you your information.

Do you want a Personal Account?

If you are interested in any family covered by our study, we welcome you to register for a Personal Account at our site. Doing so will give you special privileges at the site, including more effective and easier ways to submit updates to the site. You can register by clicking on the Family Member Registration link found on our home page or go straight to the New Account Form page to sign up.

To reduce spam, before you can register for a new account, you will be presented with a challenge question. You will see a similar challenge whenever you try to submit data when you have not logged in.

Back to top

What if I forget my Username and/or password?

If you can’t remember your Username then, via the ‘Log In’ page, enter the email address you supplied when you registered, and we will send you your Username.

However, for security purposes, we don’t have access to your password. So, if you forget it, you can ask the system, again via the ‘Log In’ page, to issue you with a temporary one. Just enter the email address you supplied when you registered and your Username.

Back to top

Why can’t I see information about a certain person?

We take great pains to protect the privacy of all individuals in our Family Files. (See Privacy Policy) We do not currently offer details of living people in our on-line records. Such records may be shared with recognized family members through private email conversations.

Please Note: Details of all living people are not necessarily available in our Family File. Sometimes, all we know is the name for many living people who are subjects of this study. Often, we have not yet studied nor been informed of the details of all living people; please feel free to submit details to keep the families up to date.

Back to top

How do I find who I am looking for?

There are several ways to find out if your family members are included in our family tree, but the most straightforward way is to use the Search box at the top right of every page.

Simply enter a surname and/or given name, then press the enter key or click on the spyglass icon.  A list of possible matches will be presented to you. You can then simply check on one of the entries listed to see information about the person. (If only one person matches your criteria you will be presented with that person’s information page.)   To view of list of surnames contained in our tree click on the [Surnames link].  Click on the [Advanced Search] link to bring up a screen that will allow you a great many choices for finding people in our database.

Back to top

How do I find an individual’s ancestors?

Once you locate an individual and have displayed the person’s details on their personal data page, the easiest method is to click on the Ancestors tab.   This will show you a graphical display of both the paternal and maternal ancestors. Once you have the ancestor chart displayed, you can click on the arrows located at the far right ancestor if you need to see additional ancestors. There are a number of formats for you to choose from (Standard, Compact, Box, Text, Ahnentafel, and Media) to display ancestors. Try clicking on the various options and see which one works best for you. You can also create a PDF file that you can save to your own computer.

Back to top

What if I want to see an individual’s descendants?

The tab marked Descendants can be used to display the descendants of an individual. There are four different formats in which descendants can be displayed. The default is normally “Standard” but you can switch between these to display the information the way that works best for you, or even create a PDF file that you can save to your own computer.

Back to top

Can I select a different descendant’s tree when I’m in Text mode?

Yes, Once the Descendants chart is displayed in Text mode, you can show a specific branch of descendants from the selected ancestor by pressing the descendant icon () next to the descendant you wish to display.

Back to top

Is there a way to tell how two individuals are related?

Yes, the Relationship tab will show a graphic display of all the people between two relatives. To use this function, locate the first individual and then press the Relationship tab. Then use the find button to locate the second person to be displayed.

Once you have the two people selected click the Calculate button to display their relationship.

Back to top

What is the Timeline function?

A timeline is displayed for an individual when the Timeline tab is clicked.   The time line shows important events in history that occurred during the life of an individual or a group of individuals. It gives you a unique perspective into what was going on in the world during the lives of our ancestors.

Back to top

If I see a mistake in the information presented can I correct it?

The Suggest tab allows you to send corrections, updates, comments or any other information to the database administrator.  Information on which individual you are referencing is automatically attached to the message when you make a suggestion using the Suggest tab. The database administrator will evaluate your suggestion and add it to the database in the next web update cycle if appropriate.

Back to top

What are the drop-down boxes for on the upper right of the page?

These are site menus designed to provide direct access to many of the functions of the site.   You can hover your mouse pointer over each to see the options available. Click on the one you want.   These options open new screens to:

  • Browse the thousands of media files available.
  • Find people, families, cemeteries, places, etc.
  • Get information about the site.

Back to top

How do I use the Google Map displayed on the Individual Page?

  • If you dont see a map, toggle the Event Map on by clicking on “Click to Display”.
  • Click on the Event Number pin to open the map in a new window.   In that new window you can get driving directions to or from this location.
  • Click on the Google Earth icon to view using the Google Earth desktop application once you have downloaded and installed the application on your desktop.
  • Use the + (plus) to zoom in on the map and the – (minus) to zoom out, or you can use the slider to control the zoom. Click and hold your left mouse button on the map to move the map.
  • You can also click the Satelite button to view the map as a satellite picture with names.
  • Click the pin number on the map to get the description, date, and location of the event.

Back to top