Setting a Home Person in Your Family Tree
Setting a Home Person unlocks relationship labels, prioritised research suggestions, and personalised analysis across every tool in GEDminer.
What is a Home Person?
The Home Person is the individual in your tree from whose perspective all relationships are calculated. Usually this is yourself, but it can be any individual in your GEDCOM file.
When a Home Person is set, GEDminer calculates how every other person relates to them - showing labels like "2nd great-grandmother", "3rd cousin", or "uncle by marriage" throughout the interface.
Why it matters
Setting a Home Person affects multiple tools:
- People Directory: Shows relationship labels next to every name
- Research Suggestions: Prioritises direct ancestors over distant relatives
- Plan Generator: Weights tasks by relationship distance
- Migration Analysis: Shows relationship labels in movement patterns
- Census Toolbox: Can filter by relationship scope (Direct Ancestors, Blood Relatives, etc.)
- DNA Planner: Calculates testing priority relative to you
- Kinship Explorer**: Pre-fills one side of relationship calculations
How to set your Home Person
There are several ways to set a Home Person:
- GEDCOM default: Many genealogy programs mark a "default person" in the export - GEDminer detects this automatically
- Manual selection: Click the Home Person selector in the navigation area and search for yourself
- From People Directory: Find your record and set it from the person detail card
Once set, the Home Person persists for your session (or permanently if you have an account).
Choosing the right Home Person
Usually the Home Person should be:
- Yourself: The most natural starting point for relationship calculations
- A central figure: If analysing someone else's tree, choose the tree owner
- A research focus: If investigating a specific branch, set the focal person
You can change the Home Person at any time - all relationship calculations update instantly.
Relationship scope filtering
With a Home Person set, many tools offer scope filtering:
- All Individuals: No filtering, shows everyone
- Direct Ancestors: Only your direct line (parents, grandparents, etc.)
- Blood Relatives: Direct ancestors plus all their descendants
- Extended Family: Blood relatives plus spouses and in-laws
This is especially useful in large trees where you want to focus research on your closest connections.