As my family tree has slowly expanded and branched out over the years, I have had to make decisions about how far I let those branches go and how much time and energy I devote to the increasingly remote outer branches. Should I focus solely on my direct ancestors? To I also research all their siblings? Do I research their siblings' children, their grandchildren, and so on? How far do I want my tree's branches to spread, and what is manageable for me?
There is really no hard answer to these questions. For my own research, I have concentrated on my direct ancestors and their siblings - my aunts and uncles, great aunts and great uncles, and so on. Rarely have I bothered branching out further to investigate cousins twice or more removed. When I tried, I found my tree spread its branches too widely and become unweildy to record, and I would find myself spending hours going down the rabbit hole of researching a second cousin twice removed.
For the same reasons I rarely branch out to research the families of those who marry into my family - the parents and siblings and wider family of those who married a great-great aunt for example. I generally prefer to keep my branches trimmed and spend my valuable research time on the more direct lines, especially when those branches are spindly and difficult to extend.
Ultimately it is up to each family history researcher to decide just how far they want their tree to branch out, and then to keep the tree trimmed accordingly. Happy researching to you all.
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