Common ancestor match at 4xGGP on Ancestry

[peter]

I could, I suppose? Would Ancestry tell me if they changed anything, though? I can't see anything about this in the Ancestry 'help'.

Possibly not, but you could have an exact copy of the tree that only you have access to, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if one of your relatives changed something. You could make their version 'private non-searchable' so there's no risk of confusing other Ancestry users.

 

[Sue_3]

Possibly not, but you could have an exact copy of the tree that only you have access to, so it wouldn't be the end of the world if one of your relatives changed something. You could make their version 'private non-searchable' so there's no risk of confusing other Ancestry users.

It might confuse other users that I wanted to have access to my tree, though? I'd have to have a separate tree for each person I invited. Hmmm. I'll have to have a think about this.
Almost all of my trees are private and non-searchable, by the way, but I do have searchable versions as well.

 

[peter]

It might confuse other users that I wanted to have access to my tree, though? I'd have to have a separate tree for each person I invited.

Surely you only need two trees, one which you allow others to edit, and one which only you have access to?

 

[Sue_3]

Surely you only need two trees, one which you allow others to edit, and one which only you have access to?

You might be right, but I was thinking that if someone edited my tree without my knowledge then they might alter something that was of importance to someone else that I gave access to? In practice my online trees are already in a bit of a muddle, though, because I usually want to show my newly found relative the most up-to-date version, especially if it includes new information that they have helped me to discover. I don't maintain most of my online trees, I just upload a newer version when needed. So, different people have access to different versions of my trees anyway. Fortunately I haven't got many as yet (only six in total) but I now think I need a system for managing them, before they get out of control! The tree my DNA is linked to is extremely difficult for me to maintain, because I have separate offline trees for my maternal and paternal families and have to create a merged version to link the DNA to. So, I generally just tweak the online version of that, to reflect any major changes or updates. The other trees are different versions of either the maternal or paternal lines (and one that's my husband's maternal line, so I could hook his brother to that ... but I'll need to think ahead about what I'm going to do when I test my husband's DNA). Hence, I have a lot of thinking to do! Before you tell me that I ought to have a single tree with all of my relatives on it, that would give me a number of problems, not least because of relatively recent NPE events that I want to keep private from some audiences.

 

[peter]

Before you tell me that I ought to have a single tree with all of my relatives on it, that would give me a number of problems, not least because of relatively recent NPE events that I want to keep private from some audiences.

You were the one who was complaining about having multiple trees, not me. As far as I am concerned you can have as many trees as you want - but you might want to make some of them private and unsearchable to avoid confusing other Ancestry users.

You do, of course, need to have a single tree attached to your DNA results - but it can be a private tree. For DNA purposes there is no need to include anyone other than direct ancestors.

 

[Sue_3]

You were the one who was complaining about having multiple trees, not me. As far as I am concerned you can have as many trees as you want - but you might want to make some of them private and unsearchable to avoid confusing other Ancestry users.

You do, of course, need to have a single tree attached to your DNA results - but it can be a private tree. For DNA purposes there is no need to include anyone other than direct ancestors.

Thanks, I know, I am prone to paranoia! All of my trees are private and most are unsearchable.

 

[AlanB]

Comments are better than Notes because:

Notes can only be viewed by the owner and by those invited to the tree as an “editor”.

This is why, when I want to add some explanation in my tree as to why I have added a particular person, I will write it in comments rather than in notes.

 

[peter]

This is why, when I want to add some explanation in my tree as to why I have added a particular person, I will write it in comments rather than in notes.

But that's something you have to do manually - the advantage of Notes is they are automatically created when you upload your tree.

 

[AlanB]

But that's something you have to do manually - the advantage of Notes is they are automatically created when you upload your tree.

That's fine, but if I want other people to be able to see why I believe something is correct even though other trees come to a different conclusion, I'll write it in comments.

As an example, I have an ancestor Edward Fletcher. According to the 1851 census he was born in Heanor, Derbyshire and he was age 44 which puts his birth at 1806. I found the baptism of an Edward Fletcher in Heanor in 1806 to a single mother. So I have naturally concluded that this is likely to be correct. Several other Ancestry trees, plus the one on Familysearch, have my Edward born to a married couple living in Peak Forest near Macclesfield, nowhere near Heanor. Likely all copied from one original tree. So I have put in comments my reasoning because mine is the only tree to have a different parentage and I wanted anyone looking at my tree to know why.

 

[peter]

That's fine, but if I want other people to be able to see why I believe something is correct even though other trees come to a different conclusion, I'll write it in comments.

As I mentioned previously, if you upload a tree Notes are uploaded automatically. You can then copy-and-paste from Notes to Comments anything in the Notes that you want to share with all Ancestry users. Depending on which family tree program is used this could save having to retype the comments every time the tree is updated.

Several other Ancestry trees, plus the one on Familysearch, have my Edward born to a married couple living in Peak Forest near Macclesfield, nowhere near Heanor. Likely all copied from one original tree. So I have put in comments my reasoning because mine is the only tree to have a different parentage and I wanted anyone looking at my tree to know why.

Presumably you've posted a similar Comment on the other Ancestry trees - that's where it needs to be to make a real difference.