Exploring Ancestry’s New “Networks” Feature: A Powerful Tool for Connections Beyond the Family Tree

Visualizing connections beyond the family tree with Ancestry’s Networks feature

Ancestry recently unveiled a new tool that has the potential to reshape how we document, visualize, and analyze the relationships surrounding our ancestors. Simply called Networks, this new Pro Tools feature allows researchers to build out dynamic relationship webs that go far beyond traditional family lines. Announced at RootsTech and currently in BETA, Networks is already proving to be a valuable resource for exploring the people who interacted with, lived near, or were otherwise involved in our ancestors’ lives—even if they weren’t blood relatives.

In genealogy, we often say that it takes a village—not only to raise a child but also to build out a meaningful, contextual family history. Networks offers a new way to capture that village.

What Is the Networks Feature?

Networks is designed to:

• Document relationships and connections beyond immediate family
• Group people by community, shared experiences, places, or times using tags and categories
• Fill in the blanks to help break through brick walls
• Evolve with your research, allowing you to edit your network as discoveries unfold

In simpler terms, Networks allows you to create a visual and organized “web” of people who were part of an ancestor’s life but may not be related by blood or marriage. These could include boarders, neighbors, work colleagues, military units, traveling companions, or even mystery individuals who appear in records but don’t yet have a clear place in the family tree.

A Real-World Example: Using Networks for Census Boarders

I first encountered the Networks feature while working on a client case, and I decided to give it a try right then and there. In the 1910 census, I found a family living together—husband, wife, children—and several other individuals listed in the household. Among them were three men marked as the husband’s “brothers,” and two boarders. Oddly, I had found no additional records linking the three supposed brothers to the family.

Ancestry Networks Example 1- Boarders and Possible Brothers

That’s where Networks came in.

Ancestry Networks Example 2- Creating a Network

Using the new tool, I added all of these individuals to a network linked to the head of household. I treated it like a research workspace: I tagged each person, added census data as media, and even began building out mini-profiles for the three “brothers” and the boarders. Whether the census taker made an error or the relationships are genuine but obscured, this feature gave me the freedom to explore those possibilities without needing to force these individuals directly into the family tree structure.

Ancestry Networks Example 3- Adding People, Media, Sources, Tags, and Stickies to Your Network

Ancestry Networks Example 4- Creating Stickies (Notes) for Your Network

Key Features That Make Networks Useful

• Floating People: Think of Networks as allowing you to create “floaters”—individuals who aren’t directly in your tree’s family line but are still relevant to your research. This provides a sandbox of sorts to explore potential connections without prematurely attaching someone as a parent, sibling, or spouse.
• Tags, Categories, and Stickies: Each person in a network can be labeled using custom tags and categories such as “boarder,” “possible relative,” “military connection,” or “same workplace.” You can also attach Stickies—virtual sticky notes—to organize clues, highlight sources, and document theories.
• Media, Notes, and Sources: You can add documents, photos, and sources to any individual in the network, just like with people in your regular family tree. This allows you to maintain your same documentation standards while exploring new hypotheses.
• Ongoing Flexibility: The network is not static. You can add or remove people as your research evolves, and Ancestry will even suggest possible additions to help expand your network intelligently.

How to Access the Networks Feature

As of now, Networks is available only to those with an active Pro Tools membership on Ancestry and can only be accessed through the Ancestry website—not the mobile app. There are multiple ways to get to it:

• From an ancestor’s profile page: Look to the right of their listed family members, just below “Add Family,” and click “Create Network.”
• From the Home page: Locate (it in) the “Pro Tools shortcuts” on the right-hand side.
• From the “Find in Tree” feature: At the top right of your tree view, click “List of all people” and explore from there.

Why This Matters

Genealogy is as much about social context as it is about names, dates, and places. Networks fills an important gap in our research process by giving us a structured, visual way to explore the people who encircled our ancestors’ lives—those who may have had deep personal, social, or economic significance but don't appear in a traditional family tree structure.

The tool may especially prove useful for:

• Urban research, where many people lived in tenements, boarding houses, or multi-family dwellings
• Immigrant research, where traveling groups, chain migration, or cultural communities form rich networks of association
• Brick wall cases, where the only clues are found in who lived nearby or who appeared together in hard-to-interpret records

Final Thoughts

While still in BETA, Ancestry’s Networks feature is a useful addition for genealogists at every level. It encourages critical thinking, offers flexibility, and considers the complexity of human relationships—something every family historian grapples with at some point.

Whether you’re piecing together a mystery in the census, mapping out an immigrant cluster, or just trying to figure out who that “mystery boarder” might have been, Networks gives you a new lens to view your research through. And sometimes, that fresh perspective is just what we need to break through a long-standing brick wall.

Have you tried the Networks feature yet? Share your experiences—I’d love to hear how others are using it in their research!

​More Ancestry and Genealogy Resources

Learn about more Ancestry updates, tips, tools, and features and other family history and genealogy resources under the Ancestry.com and the Genealogy Resources categories of my blog and on my dedicated Genealogy Resources page.