How to find out if I am related to this person?

[Ted Pack]

The seven basic facts we genealogists use to identify people (by "identify" I mean tell which man named William Miller is which) are birth date and place, marriage date and place, death date and place, and spouse's name - which will be maiden name for women. Banks use birth date and place for security questions. They also use mother's or grandmother's maiden name. So, to prevent identity theft, we genealogists don't put details of living people on the Internet. Some of us crafty ones tell Facebook we were born April 1, too, and change our birth year every year so that we are forever 39, just like Jack Benny.

So, if a site like you wanted existed - where you enter your name and it shows you your family tree - it would be a disaster for normal people and a treasure trove for identity thieves. If it also had famous people, their cousins would lose lawn ornaments to fans on a regular basis.

Since it would have to have birth and marriage dates, it would show who was having sex before marriage, too, which some people don't want to broadcast. (If someone is married in June and has a child that November, chances are they were having sex in February.)

The biggest obstacle to the site of your dreams is the time it takes to do genealogical research. My standard estimate, for white people whose ancestors have been in the USA for a long time, is 100 - 300 hours to get back to 1850 on 75% of the lines. (only 1870 for black people, sadly.)