General Chat

There is are at least two morals to this question ............ which crops up at least every couple of weeks.

GR almost never removes a tree from the site ........... the only time they do so is when a member has been banned form the site for whatever reason, and that has occurred only rarely.

The trees remain on GR for ever and a day regardless of whether the owner is dead, incapacitated, disinterested, or changed their emails


The two morals are ...........

1. If you change your email address, be sure to also notify GR of the new address, as well as ALL other sites where you might be a member

2. Make sure that a member of your family or a close trusted friend is given a list of ALL the sites that you go on, with the password and site name for each site. Give that relation or friend your permission to use that information to remove you from all sites if you are incapacitated or dead.

You can also ask them to download any information that they might be interested in ..... but get the trees off the sites!

i still have access to at least 2 and possibly 3 trees that belong to deceased people, so if you message them about their relations then you will never get an answer..

Some similar information can be misleading - I started with an inherited family tree - a lot of it very good and eventually confirmable but a lot without original sources - so when |I saw some identical names from 15th & 16th century I was thrilled, wrote and asked him for his sources - it was ME! from my (public) ancestry tree

Even more frustrating, I sent a message to someone who read my email and never bothered to reply. The shared ancestor had been a brickwall for me for years and I hoped that this other Genes member was going to help me. In return I have loads of info and a couple of certificates for close relations that I could have given him.

I have 50 sent, unopened messages,

Thanks Graham - hope yet, then! LOL!

I recently received a reply to a message that I sent somebody shortly after I joined this site 4 years ago. :-)

I cannot send anyone on his tree a message as the tree is private and I haven't been able to contact him for access.

don't know if this might work,
how about selecting possible near related names from his tree, if they are on here try sending THEM a message.......???

Many thanks, my sent messages do indeed have envelope icons next to them... he must never have received my emails!

Thanks for the other suggestions.... he has a rather common name unfortunately and I don't know where he lives.

You could be right, Rider.

If he hasn't changed his email address, he might have become infirm or even died.
Have you checked if the messages have been read? Unopened ones in your Sent Message box have an envelope icon next to them.

People do start trees then abandon them/loose interest.

You could start a thread on find living relatives, or if his name is relatively uncommon, you could look for his address on the electoral rolls.

If you've worked out if he had siblings or children, you could also look for them as a point of contact.

Faceboom or other social media sites are another resource you could consider.

Hi, I have been trying to contact someone who has a very relevant name in his family tree - I have sent a message three times over the last 9 months but do not get a reply. It is so frustrating because I really think we are related. Anyone any other ideas as to how to get in touch with him? I am wondering if he has changed his email address and not updated it here on the site.