Hi everyone: I have been working on my family tree for over thirty years now, and have had a marvelous experience along the way, exploring many primary and secondary sources of information about relatives on both sides of my family tree. I have benefitted from the help of close, distant and shirt-tail relatives, and, in the process of sharing information, many of these people have become friends as well as relatives. I joined Ancestry a few years ago and stand in awe of the tremendous job they have done and are still doing in providing access to a multitude of genealogical resources worldwide. I have, however, never submitted my own family tree on Ancestry -- not from a desire to be reclusive but rather because I no longer have the time or energy to maintain it on line. It is all I can do to keep my Family Tree Maker file uptodate, and to edit, improve, arrange and store the vast supply of our family photographs beginning about 1850 and collected over many years. A few years ago one of my cousins, with whom I share info, asked if I minded if he "went on" Ancestry with his Family Tree, which included all the data I had given him as well as a goodly selection of photographs of our grandparents, Gr. Grandparents, and even some Gr. Gr.s. I agreed, seeing no harm in it at the time. Well, can you imagine what has happened? Recently I had occasion to look at the data my cousin had posted on my own grandmother, who I knew very well during the first 30 years of my life. Gran had married her childhood sweetheart, my grandfather, and together they had two children - my mother and my aunt - and no others, and they had remained married to each other for 60 years dying in their 80s within five weeks of each other. However, an "Anonymous Person" had picked up my grandmother, added to her life by giving her a second husband and several more children, and adding my grandmother's ancestral history to that of "Anonymous Person's." If that were not enough, several more "Anonymous Persons" have jumped on the bandwagon and have added my grandmother's rather unique ancestry to that of their own, and in addition have absconded with all the family portraits that my cousin had posted, and claiming them for their own families. And this is only one occasion - I have since found several more instances of genealogical piracy of data that originated with me. Well, I know - I can hear you laughing - and it is sort of funny. In the long run, it doesn't hurt my own record of our family which I am preparing for my kids - but it does cast doubt on the veracity of any info that I or any of the rest of you find on Ancestry today. In my own Family Tree Maker files I meticulously record all sources I have found, and if no verification can be found I make a note of that, also, as being merely "family speculation," or some such. So BE WARNED !!! (and STOP LAUGHING, Okay?)

I understand fully what you are saying. I just found a new cousin and gave him some family group sheets. Even though I only gave him my parents names and dates, both my parents have died, he was able to get the whole line to my 6th great grandparents. He put them on his tree, on Ancestry, just like they were his family. I ask him to remove from his and tree and he did. Sally Smith -----Original Message----- From: roots-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:roots-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Liz Engle Sent: Friday, April 13, 2012 5:20 PM To: ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com Subject: [ROOTS-L] Ancestry, piracy, and so forth Hi everyone: I have been working on my family tree for over thirty years now, and have had a marvelous experience along the way, exploring many primary and secondary sources of information about relatives on both sides of my family tree. I have benefitted from the help of close, distant and shirt-tail relatives, and, in the process of sharing information, many of these people have become friends as well as relatives. I joined Ancestry a few years ago and stand in awe of the tremendous job they have done and are still doing in providing access to a multitude of genealogical resources worldwide. I have, however, never submitted my own family tree on Ancestry -- not from a desire to be reclusive but rather because I no longer have the time or energy to maintain it on line. It is all I can do to keep my Family Tree Maker file uptodate, and to edit, improve, arrange and store the vast supply of our family photographs beginning about 1850 and collected over many years. A few years ago one of my cousins, with whom I share info, asked if I minded if he "went on" Ancestry with his Family Tree, which included all the data I had given him as well as a goodly selection of photographs of our grandparents, Gr. Grandparents, and even some Gr. Gr.s. I agreed, seeing no harm in it at the time. Well, can you imagine what has happened? Recently I had occasion to look at the data my cousin had posted on my own grandmother, who I knew very well during the first 30 years of my life. Gran had married her childhood sweetheart, my grandfather, and together they had two children - my mother and my aunt - and no others, and they had remained married to each other for 60 years dying in their 80s within five weeks of each other. However, an "Anonymous Person" had picked up my grandmother, added to her life by giving her a second husband and several more children, and adding my grandmother's ancestral history to that of "Anonymous Person's." If that were not enough, several more "Anonymous Persons" have jumped on the bandwagon and have added my grandmother's rather unique ancestry to that of their own, and in addition have absconded with all the family portraits that my cousin had posted, and claiming them for their own families. And this is only one occasion - I have since found several more instances of genealogical piracy of data that originated with me. Well, I know - I can hear you laughing - and it is sort of funny. In the long run, it doesn't hurt my own record of our family which I am preparing for my kids - but it does cast doubt on the veracity of any info that I or any of the rest of you find on Ancestry today. In my own Family Tree Maker files I meticulously record all sources I have found, and if no verification can be found I make a note of that, also, as being merely "family speculation," or some such. So BE WARNED !!! (and STOP LAUGHING, Okay?) ===== If you would prefer digest mode to mail mode, drop a note to roots-admin@rootsweb.com and ask for the digest... ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I did same, but no such luck.... one put on ancestry and gave me some credit.. The other gave no credit, added some faux info, but worse, wrote a book! So now I totally hesitate to give any info much less post on any website . Ancestry, personal website, genealogical list etc. gloria On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 10:27 PM, Sally Smith <sallys@citlink.net> wrote: > I understand fully what you are saying. I just found a new cousin and gave > him some family group sheets. Even though I only gave him my parents names > and dates, both my parents have died, he was able to get the whole line to > my 6th great grandparents. He put them on his tree, on Ancestry, just like > they were his family. I ask him to remove from his and tree and he did. > > Sally Smith > > -----Original Message----- > From: roots-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:roots-bounces@rootsweb.com] On > Behalf Of Liz Engle > Sent: Friday, April 13, 2012 5:20 PM > To: ROOTS-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [ROOTS-L] Ancestry, piracy, and so forth > > Hi everyone: > > I have been working on my family tree for over thirty years now, and have > had a marvelous experience along the way, exploring many primary and > secondary sources of information about relatives on both sides of my family > tree. I have benefitted from the help of close, distant and shirt-tail > relatives, and, in the process of sharing information, many of these people > have become friends as well as relatives. I joined Ancestry a few years ago > and stand in awe of the tremendous job they have done and are still doing > in > providing access to a multitude of genealogical resources worldwide. I > have, > however, never submitted my own family tree on Ancestry -- not from a > desire > to be reclusive but rather because I no longer have the time or energy to > maintain it on line. It is all I can do to keep my Family Tree Maker file > uptodate, and to edit, improve, arrange and store the vast supply of our > family photographs beginning about 1850 and collected over many years. > > A few years ago one of my cousins, with whom I share info, asked if I > minded > if he "went on" Ancestry with his Family Tree, which included all the data > I > had given him as well as a goodly selection of photographs of our > grandparents, Gr. Grandparents, and even some Gr. Gr.s. I agreed, seeing no > harm in it at the time. > > Well, can you imagine what has happened? Recently I had occasion to look > at the data my cousin had posted on my own grandmother, who I knew very > well > during the first 30 years of my life. Gran had married her childhood > sweetheart, my grandfather, and together they had two children - my mother > and my aunt - and no others, and they had remained married to each other > for > 60 years dying in their 80s within five weeks of each other. However, an > "Anonymous Person" had picked up my grandmother, added to her life by > giving > her a second husband and several more children, and adding my grandmother's > ancestral history to that of "Anonymous Person's." > > If that were not enough, several more "Anonymous Persons" have jumped on > the bandwagon and have added my grandmother's rather unique ancestry to > that > of their own, and in addition have absconded with all the family portraits > that my cousin had posted, and claiming them for their own families. And > this is only one occasion - I have since found several more instances of > genealogical piracy of data that originated with me. > > Well, I know - I can hear you laughing - and it is sort of funny. In the > long run, it doesn't hurt my own record of our family which I am preparing > for my kids - but it does cast doubt on the veracity of any info that I or > any of the rest of you find on Ancestry today. In my own Family Tree Maker > files I meticulously record all sources I have found, and if no > verification > can be found I make a note of that, also, as being merely "family > speculation," or some such. > > So BE WARNED !!! (and STOP LAUGHING, Okay?) > > > > ===== > If you would prefer digest mode to mail mode, drop a note to > roots-admin@rootsweb.com and ask for the digest... > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in > the subject and the body of the message > > > ===== > If you would prefer digest mode to mail mode, drop a note to > roots-admin@rootsweb.com and ask for the digest... > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > ROOTS-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes > in the subject and the body of the message >

Liz: I always cringe when I hear stories such as yours. Many of us have had similar bad experiences with piracy. The only thing we have that the pirates don't is the documentation. A second marriage that someone added to your dear relative would have no documentation. No one is laughing here. Suzanne From: "Liz Engle" <lizengle@comcast.net> Subject: [ROOTS-L] Ancestry, piracy, and so forth >> Well, can you imagine what has happened? Recently I had occasion to >> look > at the data my cousin had posted on my own grandmother, who I knew very > well > during the first 30 years of my life. Gran had married her childhood > sweetheart, my grandfather, and together they had two children - my mother > and my aunt - and no others, and they had remained married to each other > for > 60 years dying in their 80s within five weeks of each other. However, an > "Anonymous Person" had picked up my grandmother, added to her life by > giving > her a second husband and several more children, and adding my > grandmother's > ancestral history to that of "Anonymous Person's."

This is a very common complaint, and more often than not if you try to correct some of worse errors you get no reply or a nasty reply. There's not much you can do about it either. I rarely look at other trees and there are only two trees on ancestry that concern my family, and yeah they have incorrect information. Mine has the correct, documented information that's the best that I can do. Joan Asche On Fri, Apr 13, 2012 at 8:20 PM, Liz Engle <lizengle@comcast.net> wrote: > Hi everyone: > > I have been working on my family tree for over thirty years now, and have > had a marvelous experience along the way, exploring many primary and > secondary sources of information about relatives on both sides of my family > tree. I have benefitted from the help of close, distant and shirt-tail > relatives, and, in the process of sharing information, many of these people > have become friends as well as relatives. I joined Ancestry a few years ago > and stand in awe of the tremendous job they have done and are still doing in > providing access to a multitude of genealogical resources worldwide. I have, > however, never submitted my own family tree on Ancestry -- not from a desire > to be reclusive but rather because I no longer have the time or energy to > maintain it on line.  It is all I can do to keep my Family Tree Maker file > uptodate, and to edit, improve, arrange and store the vast supply of our > family photographs beginning about 1850 and collected over many years. > > A few years ago one of my cousins, with whom I share info, asked if I minded > if he "went on" Ancestry with his Family Tree, which included all the data I > had given him as well as a goodly selection of photographs of our > grandparents, Gr. Grandparents, and even some Gr. Gr.s. I agreed, seeing no > harm in it at the time. > > Well, can you imagine what has happened?   Recently I had occasion to look > at the data my cousin had posted on my own grandmother, who I knew very well > during the first 30 years of my life.  Gran had married her childhood > sweetheart, my grandfather, and together they had two children - my mother > and my aunt - and no others, and they had remained married to each other for > 60 years dying in their 80s within five weeks of each other.  However, an > "Anonymous Person" had picked up my grandmother, added to her life by giving > her a second husband and several more children, and adding my grandmother's > ancestral history to that of "Anonymous Person's." > > If that were not enough, several more "Anonymous Persons"  have jumped on > the bandwagon and have added my grandmother's rather unique ancestry to that > of their own, and in addition have absconded with  all the family portraits > that my cousin had posted, and claiming them for their own families. And > this is only one occasion - I have since found several more instances of > genealogical piracy of data that originated with me. > > Well, I know - I can hear you laughing - and it is sort of funny.  In the > long run, it doesn't hurt my own record of our family which I am preparing > for my kids - but it does cast doubt on the veracity of any info that I or > any of the rest of you find on Ancestry today. In my own Family Tree Maker > files I meticulously record all sources I have found, and if no verification > can be found I make a note of that, also, as being merely "family > speculation," or some such. > > So BE WARNED !!!  (and STOP LAUGHING, Okay?) > > >