Happy New Year everyone. I am fuming. Some years ago I submitted thirty years research to ‘Ancestry’. I thought that would be a safe place to store it in case my computer crashed at any time. I forgot about it for some years because of ill health and poor eyesight. This Christmas our daughter gave me a book and DVD published by ‘Who Do You Think You Are’. When I used the DVD I found I could have membership of ‘Ancestry’ free for three months. Too good to pass up on. I was recognised and I clicked onto MY family tree only to find that someone had hijacked it. It was no longer my tree. My ancestors were all listed to this other person. My parent’s and sisters names had been deleted and my husband’s name and all his ancestors gone goodness knows where. It took me all afternoon to replace my parents and family and then realised that all Dad’s ancestors had gone too. I have bronchitis at the moment and this has certainly sent my temperature up. What do I do now? Regards Pat.

Pat, I'm so sorry to hear this has happened to you. I shared mine once with someone who said it would be kept private at her website with limited access by other surname researchers. I soon found it published, and worse yet, with errors added in and attributed to me. I was offered a chance to correct errors, but decided it was a better commentary on this person's work to leave their errors on their site, hoping honest researchers will notice and see it as a red flag. If a tree on Ancestry is public, the entire tree, or parts of it, can be downloaded to any member's computer, then uploaded to their site. They can also directly import small sections of your tree. If an Ancestry tree is private it cannot be downloaded by others. If someone is researching a person you have in a private tree on Ancestry, they will be given a "hint" that you have a probable match, and contact information. They can then write to you through Ancestry (they are not given your email), and ask if you are willing to share. I must say there is a person who has copied my tree from that original private submission, has been asked to take it down, and refuses to do so, claiming the records are public. I feel that although perhaps there are public records of my grandparents, they do not show the things displayed on the tree, such as names of children, town of birth, siblings, parentage, etc. That came only by stealing from me, and that is what I object to. I've lost all respect for such people, and just feel sad that some are so unscrupulous. I don't understand what their goal is. As to your own putting a tree online, I do like having mine on Ancestry for the reasons you state. My computer has crashed, and I was not at all worried about my tree. I also do the research though the site, so attach it easily, and keep that site as my updated tree. I do periodic downloads just in case (of I don't know what). Just keep your tree private. You have my sympathies, and I hope they agree to remove your information. I do recommend a private tree on Ancestry. To a Happy and Better New Year! Lois in Michigan -----Original Message----- From: Pat Hayward <hayward325@btinternet.com> To: eng-black-country <eng-black-country@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sun, Jan 1, 2012 7:50 am Subject: [Black Country] Ancestry tree hijacked Happy New Year everyone. I am fuming. Some years ago I submitted thirty years research to ‘Ancestry’. I thought that would be a safe place to store it in case my computer crashed at any time. I forgot about it for some years because of ill health and poor eyesight. This Christmas our daughter gave me a book and DVD published by ‘Who Do You Think You Are’. When I used the DVD I found I could have membership of ‘Ancestry’ free for three months. Too good to pass up on. I was recognised and I clicked onto MY family tree only to find that someone had hijacked it. It was no longer my tree. My ancestors were all listed to this other person. My parent’s and sisters names had been deleted and my husband’s name and all his ancestors gone goodness knows where. It took me all afternoon to replace my parents and family and then realised that all Dad’s ancestors had gone too. I have bronchitis at the moment and this has certainly sent my temperature up. What do I do now? Regards Pat.

Happy New Year, Pat and everyone on here :) Pat - do you know WHO this 'other person is' - have you tried to send them a message (copying in a 'help' email to Ancestry)? I don't see how it could have happened - how odd. They could have taken some of your 'tree' by copying it or incorporating it in to theirs, if it was a public tree but not if it was a private one. Really bizarre and a bit concerning too. Hope you get it sorted. Best Wishes Louise (been a while - we corresponded some years ago re: Frank and Nora Smith/ Bob Smith the music man/ Bilston shop owner). ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pat Hayward" <hayward325@btinternet.com> To: <eng-black-country@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2012 5:49 PM Subject: [Black Country] Ancestry tree hijacked > Happy New Year everyone. > > I am fuming. Some years ago I submitted thirty years research to ‘Ancestry’. > I thought that would be a safe place to store it in case my computer > crashed at any time. I forgot about it for some years because of ill > health and poor eyesight. > This Christmas our daughter gave me a book and DVD published by ‘Who Do > You Think You Are’. When I used the DVD I found I could have membership of > ‘Ancestry’ free for three months. Too good to pass up on. > > I was recognised and I clicked onto MY family tree only to find that > someone had hijacked it. It was no longer my tree. My ancestors were all > listed to this other person. My parent’s and sisters names had been > deleted and my husband’s name and all his ancestors gone goodness knows > where. > > It took me all afternoon to replace my parents and family and then > realised that all Dad’s ancestors had gone too. I have bronchitis at the > moment and this has certainly sent my temperature up. What do I do now? > Regards > Pat. > ------------------------------------- > The only List that specifically covers the whole of the Black Country. Run > by Black Country folk who were born and still live in the area. > ****************************** > ATTENTION TO ALL:- When replying please remove the details that do not > apply to your mail and change the SUBJECT LINE for best useage of ARCHIVED > MATERIALS. > ------------------------------- > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ENG-BLACK-COUNTRY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Pat, I'm not sure what action you can take as I don't use Ancestry, but I am very wary about putting much of my tree anywhere. Genes Reunited has a few bare bones, FindMyPast has nothing, and even my own website only contains my basic direct line ancestry. Export it as a GEDCOM and save the file on a none public place - there are plenty of them. Regards, Maurice Sheppard at The LONGMORE Pages http://www.msheppard.com ----- Original Message ----- From: "Pat Hayward" <hayward325@btinternet.com> To: <eng-black-country@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, January 01, 2012 7:49 PM Subject: [Black Country] Ancestry tree hijacked > Happy New Year everyone. > > I am fuming. Some years ago I submitted thirty years research to ‘Ancestry’. > I thought that would be a safe place to store it in case my computer > crashed at any time. I forgot about it for some years because of ill > health and poor eyesight. > This Christmas our daughter gave me a book and DVD published by ‘Who Do > You Think You Are’. When I used the DVD I found I could have membership of > ‘Ancestry’ free for three months. Too good to pass up on. > > I was recognised and I clicked onto MY family tree only to find that > someone had hijacked it. It was no longer my tree. My ancestors were all > listed to this other person. My parent’s and sisters names had been > deleted and my husband’s name and all his ancestors gone goodness knows > where. > > It took me all afternoon to replace my parents and family and then > realised that all Dad’s ancestors had gone too. I have bronchitis at the > moment and this has certainly sent my temperature up. What do I do now? > Regards > Pat. > ------------------------------------- > The only List that specifically covers the whole of the Black Country. Run > by Black Country folk who were born and still live in the area. > ****************************** > ATTENTION TO ALL:- When replying please remove the details that do not > apply to your mail and change the SUBJECT LINE for best useage of ARCHIVED > MATERIALS. > ------------------------------- > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ENG-BLACK-COUNTRY-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without > the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Pat, I'm so sorry to hear this and really sympathise, as I know this will not have made it a good start to your year. I'm not sure that I've fully understood what you're seeing when you try to look at your own tree on Ancestry. If Ancestry is still recognising you as a former subscriber, I think I'm right in saying your original tree should still be there, as this is what I found with my own tree after missing a few months subscription. That may however not be the case for anyone who hasn't subscribed for a longer period. In terms of what may actually have happened, I can only really reiterate what others have already said in their replies. I made the mistake of making my tree on Ancestry public to start with, and soon started to find instances of others taking chunks wholesale (including photos) and importing the information to their own tree - sometimes with "corrections" (actually errors) of their own, which they'd obviously taken from alternative versions posted by others who evidently haven't had the benefit of access to original documentary sources. I then made my tree private, but the damage had already been done. I have also since made it available to a very few individuals whom I've thought were genuine, but it is just so difficult to be sure, and there is nothing to stop them from then incorporating your information in their own public trees. My Hancox, Jeavons, Darby research has fallen victim to one person in particular in the USA who I have since found is constantly in the habit of taking whatever she pleases with no regard whatsoever for where or with whom it originates, so that her own tree is now a completely scrambled mess of dual inclusions with conflicting dates, etc. It would take a lifetime to unscramble it. She has also taken and incorporated some of my Hall family information, which is actually of no real connection to her! In your own case, what Louise De-Hayes has said makes sense, in that when inviting people to view private trees on Ancestry, it is possible to restrict their activity to either contributing or just viewing, rather than editing, so I do wonder if the latter has happened to your tree? As far as correcting what others have shown on their trees, besides contacting the member directly (who may choose to ignore your correspondence) it is also possible to leave comments on individual pages for people in their trees. I have done this in a couple of cases where I knew they'd got incorrect information and in one case where they'd attached my Higgs ancestor to a completely erroneous tree in a different part of the country. These comments remain there for all to see, so it is then up to the tree owners to respond and for others to check their information and sources carefully. But I think this is all we can realistically expect when we put our family trees online. As it happens, I have since found the evidence for my own early 19th Jeavons connections to be suspect (due to finding a hitherto unknown infant burial for a child of Abraham Jeavons at Sedgley - Jeavons researchers take note!). I'm now not going to tell anybody any more than that about it, other than to look at Sedgley parish registers and form their own judgement. I apologise if that makes me sound a bit mean. I'm all for sharing information but there are too many people with no integrity out there (mostly on Ancestry it seems) who have no way or perhaps interest in backing up the information they find online. Hoping your bronchitis clears up soon and that in other respects you have a good New Year. Best wishes Carl