The FFANs method expands your family history research beyond direct ancestors through a broader search that includes extended family, friends, associates and neighbours. This approach uncovers valuable information, but it also creates a documentation challenge. How do you organise research on people who aren’t your direct ancestors? Here’s how to create systems that keep your broader search accessible and useful.
This post was originally published in June 2022 and last updated on 15 July 2025
If you are not familiar with the FFANs method, you should read my article, Broaden Your Genealogy Research: How to Use the FFANs Method.
What Information Needs to be Documented?
First you must consider the type of information that needs to be documented. You research FFANs because that research may provide information which contributes to the history of someone in your family.
The key information to be documented is:
- name of the FFAN
- vital dates and locations (birth, marriage death)
- name of the person in your family that they are connected to
- nature of the connection
- information obtained from researching the FFAN that is relevant to the person in your family, such as shared events
- source citations for that information.
Focus Your Documentation Efforts
When researching FFANs, focus on documenting information that’s potentially relevant to your ancestors. You don’t need to research every detail about a FFAN’s life. Concentrate on the periods, locations, and events that may connect to your family.
You can always return to gather more detailed information about a FFAN later if your research questions change or if new evidence suggests other connections. Start with the basics that establish the relationship and any information that directly relates to your research needs.
Where Should You Document This Information?
Research Plans
Include FFANs in research plans. This helps you focus your research on specific research questions that are necessary to progress your research and identify which FFAN is most likely to provide the best information.
One option is to include FFANs in the research plan of the ancestor that they are connected to. For example, I create research plans in Excel and add extra worksheets for FFANs. I have one worksheet that lists all potentially relevant FFANs, then I add worksheets for more detailed research about those who have the potential to yield useful information.
Another option is to create separate research plans for each FFAN or group of FFANs. This option may work best when a FFAN has the potential to provide information about more than one of your ancestors.
Family Trees and Associated Documentation
Include extended family in your family tree, as this identifies their relationship to you.
Friends, associates and neighbours may not be related to you, but you can still add them to your family tree as unlinked individuals. You can also add their families, if that information may be relevant to your research.
Another option is to create separate family trees for FFANs, but this is often not the best approach. Family history software and online family trees have tools to help you with your research and these tools work better if the people are all in the same tree.
Having them all in the one tree also keeps all the information together, which minimises the risk that you will lose information or forget about some of the people that you were planning to research.
You should also extend your organising system for associated documentation to include FFANs. For example, I organise all my files by paternal and maternal sides, then by surname. I store documentation about FFANs under the surname that they are connected to.
How do You Link FFANs to Your Ancestors?
Regardless of which approach you take to research planning and family trees, you need a system to document who each FFAN belongs to. This helps you to use information about them to progress your research.
Using unique identifier numbers greatly assists this process. Family history software automatically adds a unique identifier number to each person. The numbers are used to distinguish between people of the same name and as a short reference to a person. If you do not use software, you can set up your own manual system.
You could create a table to provide cross-referencing between ancestors and their FFANs, as demonstrated below.
Another option is to attach custom tags to all of the FFANs of a particular ancestor. I find this a useful tool for active research, as you can search by the tag to compile a list.
Recording Connections
Shared events:
If your ancestor and a FFAN had an event in common, sources about that FFAN may contain useful information about your ancestor.
- Add the event to both profiles with a note that it was a shared event and include the unique identifier number of the other person.
Example:
I added each of the men who were executors of John Townson’s will to my family tree as unlinked individuals, and then I added their names and unique identifier numbers to the fact about the will on John’s profile. I can use this information to search my tree by their names or their identifier numbers. I also added information about their connection to John on the profiles of each FFAN, so that the link can be traced backwards. Read more on John Townson’s FFANs.
Same locations or similar experiences:
Your ancestor and a FFAN may have lived in the same location or had similar experiences, without necessarily participating in the same event. Sources about that FFAN may also contain useful information about your ancestor.
- Add a ‘fact’ to both profiles with a note about the connection and include the unique identifier number of the other person.
DNA Matches
DNA matches can be treated as FFANs, because the DNA results suggest that they are probably part of your extended family. DNA matches should be added to your family tree, if you have sufficient information and they are relevant to your research.
If you know, or think you know, the most recent common ancestor between yourself and your DNA match, you could include that DNA match in the research plan of that common ancestor. You could also list the DNA matches on the profile of that ancestor.
If you have not yet identified the most recent common ancestor, you might find it useful to have a research plan for a group of DNA matches who appear to be related to you in the same way or have a DNA research plan for each of your four grandparent lines. A single DNA research plan would also be feasible.
Make Your Broader Search Work for You
You need to take a systematic approach to document FFANs effectively, or all that effort will be wasted. Create clear systems for recording connections, use unique identifier numbers, and integrate them into your research plans. Then you’ll spend less time searching for the information and you’ll be able to put it to good use.
More tips
For more tips and discussion of the FFANs principle, you might like my book, The Good Genealogist.
For more of my articles on documenting your family history, go to the Document page.
About the Author
Danielle Lautrec is a genealogy educator, researcher, and author of The Good Genealogist. With qualifications in history, family history, and historical archaeology, she teaches for the Society of Australian Genealogists.