Genealogy Chat

I have discovered that someone has copied MOST of my family tree from both maternal and paternal sides(I have no siblings).Can anyone suggest what I can do about this?. Needless to say I am now wary about opening my tree. Eileen

Hi Eileen. If it was me i would message hem and confront them and just say where do you come into the tree. If i had no luck there then i would report them to Genesreunited and ask them what to do. Sorry i can't be of much help but this is what i would do. I understand that researching the tree is hard, but it is hard to understand why someone would do that when it has nothing to do with them, it's pointless. Jen

Don't open your tree to just anyone . If you get them enquiring just give them a few brief details, and/or keep mostof your tree on your own personal family tree program not here. Some people just seem to want to collect names and don't really seem to want to put the effort in themselves . Kim

Some things are so mysterious, aren't they? Two years ago I went to a family reunion where no one showed a particular interest in family history. In the last four weeks my first cousin has added his tree to this site - I know this because our matching B names have turned up on my Hot Matches in the last month - 25 matches so far just on one B surname. I have messaged him, but not received any response as yet. As he didn't reply I have been doing some searching around looking to see who he has on his tree. Shock 1) He has more people on his tree than I do, despite me having been researching well over 10 years and he was not even remotely interested two years ago. Shock 2) How odd.....some of the entries on his tree have EXACT match for birth place details with my tree, even including two spelling errors which I corrected on my tree about five years ago. Shock 3) Though I can find a match for everyone I have on my tree on my direct line on his tree....all with exact match dates and places (inc suburb names which might not always be correct)....he doesn't have our mutual grandmother on his tree!!! How odd. Does he know something I don't??!!! Where did he get his info?? Not directly from me, that's for sure!! Why won't he respond to my messages?? It's sooo frustrating! Merry

OOOhhhh so symphasise with this, I had someone contact me a while ago, I knew she was a close relation as she said her mum used to share a flat with my uncle and his first wife many years ago, all this checked out, and I discovered that we shared a g grandmother. I have only been doing this since March this year, but having spent sometimes upwards of ten hours a day on the computer I had been very successful in tracing this branch of the tree, mainly due to an unusual surname. I sent her all the family record groups complete with birth dates and marriages etc. she said she would be in touch and despite me sending her loads of messages she hasn't been in touch!!! Once bitten though am very cautious about parting with hard earned work now!! Fuzzy x

Having been congratulated by my FTM programme that I have 100 names I feel very proud it is 'all my own work'. Taking other peoples names is like finishing off a large jigsaw someone else started! Jennie

LOL!!!! Hand me the last piece, then! Merry

I have no objection to anyone copying my Tree IF WE HAVE A BLOOD LINK! Also please remember that some relationships can go back hundreds of years before there is a link. I regularly receive emails from previously unknown descendants of umpteenth great uncles and I see no wrong in adding their Tree to mine. It does pee me off when someone adopts my Tree and can't show a proper relationship. When people do that I want to slap them.

Haven't even got the corner pieces yet let alone any straight edges. Jennie

I had someone copy a large trunk of my tree which I didn't mind as she had a link and she had hundreds of other names as well however when I was hotmatched for my mother I wrote and said mum had been born in Hertfordshire not Bath I got the reply that she was not interested in that branch of the family - sob, sob.

Eileen If any names in your tree are living people you can ask for them to be removed from GR - GR will remove them if the member doesn't. All other names - nothing at all you can do, annoying though it may be. The information is all in the public domain and there is no copyright issue (unless you have added notes of your own over which you do have copyright, which have also been copied to this other tree) Moral - don't include living people; and don't give access to others if you don't want your tree to be copied.

Some, slightly connected, people have much of my tree too. I'm not really that bothered now (although I was annoyed at first). My take is that all the hard work, expense and ENJOYMENT are mine, all mine, and nobody can take that away!! I can't see that there's much enjoyment in just making a list of names. You would have no idea of how those names came to be connected and surely that is the point of this hobby? I never put living names (except me!) on my tree, so no problem there. Also I don't put any other details or notes on here except dates and places as required. Anne

Laura.....I suppose I mast have given someone in the family my tree before i corrected the spelling errors and my cousin must have got the tree from them......goodness knows who it was and would have been a long time before I was a member here, so not through this site. The other odd thing is that my cousin.....well......he's not exactly computer literate.....yes, maybe he has learned recently, but I find that almost impossible to imagine........And also I cannot imagine him being interested in his tree.......he would be the sort to say, ''What do you want to go looking for all those dead people for? let's have a pint''!!! lol (of course, I would agree with him on the last point!) Merry