Is there more to discover about William Lalonde?

[canadianbeth]

William John Lalonde was the father-in-law of my paternal aunt. I really have no interest in him, apart from his name and that of his wife. Yet, every day for at least a week I have had this in my e-mail inbox, asking me if there is more to discover. I then get this

The following insights, based on stats from our collections, could add context to William’s life and may help guide your search in a new direction. revisit your tree.

I do not know how to tell Ancestry to stop sending this message; I have checked all the leaves, etc., and the only relevant item is his baptism in 1880, which I have saved, and which lists his parents' names. There are no links at all to England; the family was French-Canadian. I am at a loss to understand why Ancestry thought I need to learn more about this person.

 

[At home in NZ]

William John Lalonde was the father-in-law of my paternal aunt. I really have no interest in him, apart from his name and that of his wife. Yet, every day for at least a week I have had this in my e-mail inbox, asking me if there is more to discover. I then get this

The following insights, based on stats from our collections, could add context to William’s life and may help guide your search in a new direction. revisit your tree.

I do not know how to tell Ancestry to stop sending this message; I have checked all the leaves, etc., and the only relevant item is his baptism in 1880, which I have saved, and which lists his parents' names. There are no links at all to England; the family was French-Canadian. I am at a loss to understand why Ancestry thought I need to learn more about this person.

I have never had an email asking me this sort of question.
I see you have the bare minimum of details for William, personally I wouldn't even capture any details other than a name for an in-law.
It seems the only way you can ask Ancestry to stop the messages is by phone, the numbers for Canada are on this page.

 

[jorghes]

I've had basically the exact same email sent to me three times this week each entitled "Is there more to discover about Samuel Wotherspoon". The email consists of references to places that the name "Samuel" occurs, English counties where there are high concentrations of "Wotherspoons" and a comment about the age of death when compared to the average age of death in the year he died.

The only Samuel Wotherspoon I have in my tree is the husband of my 2nd cousin, 3x removed.

I have no idea why they would think that I would be interested in this particular random individual from my tree.

 

[At home in NZ]

I've had basically the exact same email sent to me three times this week each entitled "Is there more to discover about Samuel Wotherspoon". The email consists of references to places that the name "Samuel" occurs, English counties where there are high concentrations of "Wotherspoons" and a comment about the age of death when compared to the average age of death in the year he died.

The only Samuel Wotherspoon I have in my tree is the husband of my 2nd cousin, 3x removed.

I have no idea why they would think that I would be interested in this particular random individual from my tree.

Just wondering, is this one of the 'enhancements' that are appearing all over the place in Ancestry. The proliferation of Hints is bad enough but being 'pestered' is a bit much. I think I will be rather vocal to Ancestry if I get those emails.

 

[Bryman]

personally I wouldn't even capture any details other than a name for an in-law.

Even if the in-law's family are all reported in the 1881 E&W Census and then perhaps one of them later marries a blood relative of yours? No wonder there are so few census references recorded at LostCousins!

 

[At home in NZ]

Even if the in-law's family are all reported in the 1881 E&W Census and then perhaps one of them later marries a blood relative of yours? No wonder there are so few census references recorded at LostCousins!

If one of them did marry a relative of mine I would then include more detail. I see little point in adding people to my trees if they are not blood related to me.

 

[canadianbeth]

Well, I do not know what the obsession is with William John; Ancestry has now sent me an e-mail telling me I have hints for him. One with a picture, one with the 1901 census of Canada, and another with information about his WW1 service. Of course, I cannot access that because I canceled my subscription after they charged me for another year without any notification. I will be renewing eventually, at the half-price offer.

 

[Bryman]

If one of them did marry a relative of mine I would then include more detail. I see little point in adding people to my trees if they are not blood related to me.

I have learned a lot about some of my blood relatives from other LC members that are only related by marriage. I suspect that there are many LC members that are missing out and do not realise. I am not suggesting that everyone should be included in your tree but by adding families of in-laws where they are recorded in a census where matches are found at LC does enable one to be put in touch with other members who may have useful information about your family. There is potentially much to be learned from 'unrelated' near neighbours, especially in rural areas (where we all came from originally).

As far as an in-law subsequently marrying one of your blood relatives, how would you know the connection if you don't record details of the original instance? There may be several generations between occurrences and we all know how often names get duplicated (just to confuse us).

 

[At home in NZ]

As far as an in-law subsequently marrying one of your blood relatives, how would you know the connection if you don't record details of the original instance?

Please explain how YOU would know the connection.

 

[peter]

Please explain how YOU would know the connection.

I often find that the same surnames appear in multiple branches. Sometimes I can find a connection, but I'm sure there are connections that I don't find because I don't go far enough back.

it's worth bearing in mind that we wouldn't recognise many cousin marriages if we didn't do some research into the spouse's family.

 

[canadianbeth]

I have a surname - Gunning - in both sides of my tree. One is on my mother's maternal side and the other on my father's maternal side. One is from Gloucestershire and the other Wiltshire. They are about a hundred years apart and I have so far been unable to determine if there is any connection.

 

[At home in NZ]

I often find that the same surnames appear in multiple branches. Sometimes I can find a connection, but I'm sure there are connections that I don't find because I don't go far enough back.

it's worth bearing in mind that we wouldn't recognise many cousin marriages if we didn't do some research into the spouse's family.

I use Charting Companion and that recognised a cousin marriage that I haven't picked up on.
However, taking name recognition to the extreme I have a total of 78 Smith and 112 Clark(e) across three of my ancestral lines.
If I looked into every one of their marriages and added their relatives I would simply be 'collecting names' which I am sneerfully accused of by somebody else who has only ever used pen and paper for his family history. What's more, he is always banging on about putting flesh on the bones.

 

[jorghes]

Just wondering, is this one of the 'enhancements' that are appearing all over the place in Ancestry. The proliferation of Hints is bad enough but being 'pestered' is a bit much. I think I will be rather vocal to Ancestry if I get those emails.

I just delete them each time they appear.

 

[canadianbeth]

I am deleting them as well; have had two or three more since I first posted.

 

[At home in NZ]

I just delete them each time they appear.

I am deleting them as well; have had two or three more since I first posted.

So would I but we shouldn't be getting them if we don't want them. (It's akin to spam). We can turn off the emails for Hints so I think we should have a mechanism to stop these sorts of messages.
That's a thought, is your Hint email on or off? If they it is on then maybe this is a new way of providing a Hint?

 

[canadianbeth]

I do not think so, since I received an e-mail yesterday with actual hints. Unless he lied about his age, the one regarding WW1 service is not for my William Lalonde. Since he was just my aunt's father-in law, I am thinking of deleting him from my tree; that may stop the obsession that Ancestry seems to have with him.

 

[At home in NZ]

I do not think so, since I received an e-mail yesterday with actual hints. Unless he lied about his age, the one regarding WW1 service is not for my William Lalonde. Since he was just my aunt's father-in law, I am thinking of deleting him from my tree; that may stop the obsession that Ancestry seems to have with him.

That means your Hints are turned on. Maybe if they were turned off you wouldn't get those additional emails?
I have my Hint email turned off because I don't want those emails, I can see I have Hints in various other ways.

 

[jorghes]

So would I but we shouldn't be getting them if we don't want them. (It's akin to spam). We can turn off the emails for Hints so I think we should have a mechanism to stop these sorts of messages.
That's a thought, is your Hint email on or off? If they it is on then maybe this is a new way of providing a Hint?

I don't think those particular emails were attached to hints. I just went in to have a look at the notifications menu, and there are a number of different types of notifications you can get - they are:

• Ancestry tree hints (specifically related to your trees, including those you're a guest on), which includes hints, stories and "other insights"
• DNA result emails which takes in updates, ThruLines etc.
• Education and personalised offers - i.e. expert tips etc, apparently based on personalised usage
• Your feedback emails
• Collaboration emails - others adding information to a tree that you manage or are a guest
• and Message board notifications.

Right at the bottom there is a "unsubscribe from all" button. Otherwise you can turn these off for as many or as little trees etc as you like.

 

[At home in NZ]

I don't think those particular emails were attached to hints.

I didn't mean to imply they were.
I think they are a separate 'service' and as such we should be able to turn off such notifications in the same way we can turn off the Hint emails.

Incidentally, one of the notifications that is switched on in my settings is
Your feedback
We’re always working to make Ancestry® and AncestryDNA® more enriching, more intuitive, and more fun. Occasionally, we’ll send you invites to try new products and features under development and participate in product and marketing research by sharing your thoughts.

I've had that switched on since I joined Ancestry in 2008, never heard a peep.

 

[canadianbeth]

I deleted him from my tree and did a sync to Ancestry. They are still sending me the e-mails, almost every day. I do not understand this obsession with him.