Are you refering to those items on Ancestor.Com and LDS World Family trees etc. that are marked private? I have seen those as well as posted trees on various lists that have still living descendents names marked as private. I do not understand why the trees are even mentioned on Ancestry.com and LDS etc., if no one can have access to them. I understand the concern about stalkers and identity thefts. I would be very disappointed if I found out about the existence of a living cousin and was blocked from contacting them. I have tried to imagine the reasons behind all the other privatized road blocks. From past experience I would surmise that #1 Some people have had their ancestry traced as far as they care to go with the project, are satisfied with the results and do not care to communicate with any currently unknown cousins. (hard to beleive but there are people like this). #2 There are celebrities,wealthy people,or people descended from infamous heritage that do not want the world to see their family ties. My own mother was very interested in and helping me with tracing various branches of our tree. She lost all interest when I discovered a wanted poster,circa 1870, for a g g uncle. That was enough to know about that branch,in her opinion. She would probably not communicate with anyone who said that they were a descendent of this man. I suppose in her mind the whole family must be misfits and scoundrels. #3 I have a relative in my Killabrew line that has produced erroneous information. In particular the ancestrat files that he had on line showed that my gg grandmother only had 2 children. She had 9. When I contacted him about this big error,her was not interested in correcting it. The entire file has been labeled private and I doubt that he ever changed it. #4 On the other hand I have met some distant cousins who have spent a lot of time and/or money on family research. They do not really want to let go of it any longer, because of some bad experiences, where they feel someone stole their research and called it their own. #5 I have also wondered(purely speculation) if some of the private files were created by professional genealogists that would prefer to be paid for the dispensation of the information that they had gathered? At any rate labeling ancestral files as private and then posting them on the net is cruel. It is not unlike setting out a candy dish and then telling guest not to touch it, because it is a private stash of delicacies. A great portion of my knowledge about our family's trees came from third cousins that I have never met. Thank God they were willing to share. Karen Kerr Searching for: KERR WORTHINGTION LITTLETON MCCULLOUGH BELL BLUE STOKES THRAWL MOORE MILLER FITCH HINSON HUDSON CAMPBELL PARKER PATRICK AINSWORTH DONOVAN KILLEBREW CRENSHAW WILSON LEWIS SWITZLER STEWART ZARAZUA ELROD