"I do not know you, but I knew your father and he was a friend of mine. So are you now."
A simple suggestion;
Allow us to inherit the dead character's kinlist as well when creating a new character. Have all of them indescriptible until we meet them in person - but at least added.
Would save a lot of annoying work but - most importantly - would allow us to keep ties with people we've met more randomly.
Memorized only characters should be wiped, since they're only in the memory of the dead and were not their kinsmen.