Ancestry's big brother is watching me!

[At home in NZ]

Just received an email congratulating me for adding 50 pictures to a tree.
The message:
The 50 pictures you’ve added so far show that your ancestors were real, living people. Perhaps someone else you know has even more to add. Share your .............. family tree with them and find out.

What Ancestry does not know is that the 50 pics are actually jpg images of parish records and other docs.

Why can't they tell me something I don't know!!

 

[peter]

What Ancestry does not know is that the 50 pics are actually jpg images of parish records and other docs.

I imagine that Ancestry expects the images to be family photos.

Have you checked the copyright situation? If they're only visible to you the problem is largely theoretical, but if they're visible to others you could be infringing the rights of the record holders/owners. You may also be in breach of Ancestry's terms and conditions.

Better safe than sorry.

 

[At home in NZ]

I imagine that Ancestry expects the images to be family photos.

Have you checked the copyright situation? If they're only visible to you the problem is largely theoretical, but if they're visible to others you could be infringing the rights of the record holders/owners. You may also be in breach of Ancestry's terms and conditions.

Better safe than sorry.

In lots of trees in Ancestry you will see pics that are 1939 register, 1911 census, parish records etc. etc. Many of them are in my numerous Hints.
I don't think anybody much cares. However, rest assured my trees are private and cannot be seen by anybody. I have left instructions in my will for my account to be deleted from Ancestry, my trees will then disappear.

 

[peter]

However, rest assured my trees are private and cannot be seen by anybody. I have left instructions in my will for my account to be deleted from Ancestry, my trees will then disappear.

That's so sad.

 

[At home in NZ]

That's so sad.

Why?
I have them all in FTM as well and I have created charts and reports and GEDCOMS which I am putting into USB devices to be distributed to my benefactors.

 

[peter]

That's so sad.

Why?

Because it suggests you don't have anyone who will continue your research.

 

[At home in NZ]

Because it suggests you don't have anyone who will continue your research.

My research was intended for my daughter (only child) not for her to continue with but for her interest. My grandson is currently only 11 (only child) and slightly interested in his ancestry.
I have two nephews who have children. My USB devices contain everything any of them will need if they wish to create their own trees from my GEDs and continue research.

 

[peter]

My research was intended for my daughter (only child) not for her to continue with but for her interest. My grandson is currently only 11 (only child) and slightly interested in his ancestry.
I have two nephews who have children. My USB devices contain everything any of them will need if they wish to create their own trees from my GEDs and continue research.

The younger generations are rarely interested in family history - it's something that usually develops as we realise just how much we don't know when our parents and grandparents are no longer around to answer questions. I would have thought that instructing your executors to close your Ancestry account would make it more difficult for your relatives to make a start, but you know them better than I do.

 

[Bob Spiers]

However, rest assured my trees are private and cannot be seen by anybody.

That's so sad.

I agree with Peter, but for slightly difference reasons and the operative word is PRIVATE which is an anathema for me as many know and why I am -and always have been -a strong advocate of PUBLIC Ancestry Trees. There is a place for privacy and for me that is my Tribal Pages (TP) which I share with family members. At least with those who show an interest, and they are surprisingly few. But the ones who do take advantage make up for those who aren't interested - and yes (also as Peter says) most are younger generation - with luckily one exception.

I make full use of Ancestry Public Trees and but rarely Private ones. Even though I am NOT an advocate of posting personal photo images on my Ancestry Trees - other than the handful from my own collection of my immediate ancestors - I do copy those on offer in other Public Trees when I find them of interest. I save the image to a USB stick, or to my Dropbox. Then when next in Tribal Pages I seek them out and add them to an Ancestors page. Although by far the bulk of my TP images are from my own collection and those offered by family, I find the additional images (perhaps less than 15%) very useful. Of course others who wish to copy the few photos I do post in my own Ancestry Tree(s) are welcome to do so.

It goes without saying that my reservation on adding photos found in other Public Trees does not apply to data images, such as BMD; Census; Parish; 1939 Register entries et al because Ancestry is my main repository for all such as is its equivalent synced FTM Tree. It suits me that TP offers no search facilities but provides the storage space for literally hundreds of photos and for the very many (over a hundred) family history stories I have written over time. That is all the family will ever need and to ensure it lives on I regularly take advantage of professional copies offered by TP copied to a USB stick which they offer a few times a year at discount prices. A few family members already have such some a little out of date but probably enough for most. The latest copies are saved in my filing cabinet in the folder labelled ..."what to do in the event of my death". Now that is sad, but in my eighties also realistic.

 

[At home in NZ]

The younger generations are rarely interested in family history - it's something that usually develops as we realise just how much we don't know when our parents and grandparents are no longer around to answer questions. I would have thought that instructing your executors to close your Ancestry account would make it more difficult for your relatives to make a start, but you know them better than I do.

I certainly don't, we are a widespread family: NZ, various parts of UK, Perth in WA and Melbourne and as years have gone by we have less and less contact.
I haven't seen my daughter since 2015, I haven't met my Melbourne great niece and nephew who are both under 5. I could tell more of what people might think of as a sob story but it is the facts of life of a our family's migration. I accept it.

I took one look at what happens when an account holder in Ancestry dies and my toes curled up!
What I am doing is giving the people who are interested but may not want to take over the research full knowledge of all the people I have researched. I am documenting it all.
There is the ability to recreate my trees if anybody wants to.

The latest copies are saved in my filing cabinet in the folder labelled ..."what to do in the event of my death". Now that is sad, but in my eighties also realistic.

My instructions are in my will.
Your whole dissertation was too long to quote.

When I started using Ancestry I attached a photo of my grandparents with my mother as a baby in 1918. My mother was still alive but both grandparents were long gone.
At the time I had not attached the photo to my mother.
I'm not sure how much later it was when I found the photo had been attached to somebody else's tree. I can't quite find the words to describe how I felt but it was a disturbing experience. I then decided I should make it all Private, more so because:
My trees are not just a collection of people, I populate the Description field so that it tells a story and use family documents to illustrate a Fact or an Occasion. I have no wish to share those documents that are not available in the public domain.

Public versus Private is a matter of personal; choice and I respect people's choices.

 

[PhilGee]

Public versus Private is a matter of personal; choice and I respect people's choices.

As should we all.

I have a mixture: my "DNA" tree is public but only contains basic data with source references - birth, baptism, marriage, death, burial and (somewhat oddly!) probate; when I overcome record duplication I will add census/1939 register data as well. I also have separate private/non-searchable trees for each direct ancestor "family" with more detail. None of my trees have anyone under 21, though my main database, from which the trees are updated, is as complete as I can make it.

 

[Bob Spiers]

I then decided I should make it all Private, more so because:
My trees are not just a collection of people, I populate the Description field so that it tells a story and use family documents to illustrate a Fact or an Occasion

We are not that far apart in the end result because for me Ancestry is merely a search engine and I have Trees to aid the searching. It is also a valuable repository of (in the main) data in media form. All personal stuff goes in Tribal Pages which is a closed shop to all who do not the access code.

To get the most out of Ancestry I keep all Trees Public, although some start out as private/non-searchable to allow experimentation. As I said previous, I do have a few photos posted which hold memories for me and family. Even so, if a photo happens to mean something to someone else, the photo (being in a public domain) is available to all.

In fact although it doesn't happen often, I have received messages telling me that 'so-and-so' was their mother's second cousin - or whatever - and further messaging results. It is the name of the game for me and even better when I realise I am dealing with a bona fide researcher somehow related, to invite them to view my TP and forward an access code. (I also make sure other -perhaps even closer relatives - are aware of their existence and thus square the circle).

 

[peter]

My only public tree is the one attached to my DNA results - it only includes my direct ancestors, and has no attachments - though I only have photos of a handful of ancestors (2 parents, 4 grandparents, and 3 great-grandparents). My other trees are private, but searchable.

Several of my DNA cousins have inherited their Ancestry accounts from their deceased parents - in fact it's their parent's DNA that I matched. Deleting the parent's account would have removed the DNA from Ancestry's database permanently (with no possibility of restoring it to the database).

I manage DNA tests for a few of my deceased cousins - in fact, one of them played a key part in knocking down my oldest 'brick wall' (the one I wrote about in the newsletter a few issues back).

Whilst I can't share the discoveries with them I know that by making good use of their DNA I am honouring their memory - it really is what they would have wanted.