After reaching this inevitable dead end, you can now go sideways: add your aunts, uncles, and cousins to the tree.
After reaching this inevitable dead end, you can now go sideways: add your aunts, uncles, and cousins to the tree. You may think: “But I’m only interested in my direct ancestors! Not the whole bunch of my extended family.” However, you will soon realize why adding your other relatives to your family tree is helpful — simply put, you and your cousins share most of your ancestors. (i.e. 1st cousins share one pair of grandparents and all ancestors up the tree, 2nd cousins share a pair of great-grandparents and up, 3rd cousins share a pair of great-great-grandparents and up, and so on)