Genealogy Chat

Hope someone who's on Ancestry can advise, I joined A'y in January, and although I've got my fam. tree on here I'm not wanting to put it all on the A'y site because it seems if you want to just put a basic fam tree on A'y , you have to put your details in first, do your details remain private?
Sorry if it sounds a daft question I'm still trying to find my way around the site,
Thanks in advance for any replies.

ShelleyRose

If your own details are on your tree, then they will be public unless you opt to make your tree private.

On Ancestry;

click "Help" at top of page, then "Support Centre".

Then "Managing a Family Tree" from menu on left.

Then scroll down to "Privacy Settings Tab".



If that doesn't answer your question, at the right hand side of that same page it says "Need additional help?" and gives a link to methods of contacting Ancestry support team.

Many thanks for your reply ArgyllGran I'll take a look at what you suggest I've not put anything on A'y yet, I don't want my details on there, but to start a tree it requires me to put in my name etc. Thanks for your help.

Do you mean details of yourself as the root person?

Any entry where you have specified is a living person is hidden from view. That changes when you’ve added a date or year of birth of at least 100 years ago.
Even if an outsider views that persons profile page, they can’t see the names of living relative.

Eg Jane Smith 1945-2012 married Private and had children Private & Private.
Mind you, they could look at the attached marriage index and work out who the spouse & children are from that.

Much better to put a really tight privacy on the tree from Tree Settings.

I have a tree on there that has only 4 people on it! It has been there for about 14 years though, so things might have changed

My great aunt married in 1902, and I couldn't find anything on her husband, so I set up a separate tree for them that I could add to as necessary. I added her parents but gt aunt and her husband are the root people!


Both my trees are at the highest privacy ............. but you do have to realise that someone searching for a name will be shown that the name is in a Private Family Tree.

The difference is that they have to contact the owner of the tree to find out any more, rather than just access all the information.

I have to assume that even living names will show up in such a search.

DetEcTive & SylviainCanada Thanks for your replies, DetEcTive looking on the site where it says 'Start a Tree' it won't let me put in any family until I've put my details in, as long as they're not shown I don't mind.
I must say that having seen some trees on Ancestry that have some of my ancestors on (which are wrong) I've spent a bit of time getting in touch with said tree owners and given them the correct information. (my oh says I'm mad, and I should leave them to it)
so far no-one has taken offence!
If i do put a tree on that site I will certainly make it private, thank you both for your advice.

ShelleyRose, why not just call yourself Easter Bunny? I don't think you should have to put any more than a name, but if so, you were born at the South Pole on February 29, 1900. (Don't worry about the math not working. I found a tree there once that had one of my ancestors born 250 years after his grandson. Seriously.)

You really can cross your fingers when you are making your own family tree. :-)

Frankly, I'd do the same for your parents. I did, when I once had a free tree here, years ago. My parents were called My Mother and My Father. ... Unfortunately, when I found someone here who had my great-grandmother in her tree, who was descended from her sister, I was so thrilled at finding my first unknown cousin (and so much wished that we'd known when both our grandmothers were still living) that I told her all about my family ... and she put all that info in her tree, and passed it on to countless people not even related to me (her other parent's side of her family), and they added it to their own trees ... and I started finding myself and my living parents all over the net.

Do it once, and it's too late. The internet never forgets. Of course, when I spoke sharply to the unrelated people in question, they removed the info from their online trees. But they still have it, and it's none of their business.

If you really don't want details being found by anyone who searches, you could do things like put the whole name on the surname line.

Mary Ann Brown will not show up on a search for that name, if she is shown in your tree as Ms. MaryAnnBrown.

If your tree is not enormous and complicated -- if you don't have to search it by surname for your own use, for instance -- that shouldn't cause problems.

My rule of thumb, for so many reasons: never give Ancestry *any* personal info. Including the name on your account.

btw, one of my favourite Stupid Ancestry Tricks (TM) was some years ago when I decided to mess with a family tree, and I entered myself using my initials, say Jec Jec. Ancestry promptly offered me a Hint that I might be someone with some wacky name born some 200 years ago somewhere in Europe ...

If you don't want your tree found in searches just tick the box
"Also prevent your tree from being found in the search index."
Only problem is that it doesn't take effect immediately.

JoonieCloonie and Kense thank you so much for your replies and advice, I've already given someone info. on my family including my parents names dob and d thinking I was helping them, - it's amazing how their tree has grown!
But I do like your ideas JoonieCloonie - and I did lol at some things on your post.
I was only hoping to put a few branches on Ancestry, not the whole tree!!
Many thanks again to you both.

I have 2 trees on Ancestry.
One is fully documented, private and unsearchable.
This is the tree that I keep fully updated and no one will ever have access to it, except myself

Every few months I export a gedcom containing all my recent updates and upload it as a 2nd tree.
( a gedcom does not retain documents)

I use the same gedcom for GR and upload it at the same time
I still make it private on Ancestry but, I don't mind it being found on a search if anyone wished to contact me.

For it to appear on a search can take anything from 3-8 months.
Once it appears, I delete it's pre decessor

At the beginning of this month, I exported and uploaded as normal but, I must have "forgotten" to click the private box which is something I never forget to do?

I got the shock of my life when I saw it on a search.
My search was matching with MY new tree
The darned thing was on public view after just 3 days!

I immediately made it private and it vanished from public view.
Old trees that were deleted 3-12 months ago are STILL showing up on a search.

I thought I had Ancestry sussed but, perhaps if your tree is not private it can be publicly available almost instantly .
I will not make that mistake again.

I have around 10 trees on Ancestry.

Most are private trees and were started as private trees not to be shown in searches. No-one can see any details on them at all.

You can start a tree with any name at all- it doesn't have to be your own. For example I have a tree for my mother's family, and a tree for my father's family. I have a tree for a friend. I often create trees when I'm not sure of certain information and don't want to add it to my main tree- I delete these once I have confirmed the connection.

If you are wanting to create a public tree for others to see or to make connections with other people, in theory, as you are living none of your details should be appear to other people. However, if you are worried, just call yourself 'daughter', and your parents as 'Mother' & 'Father'.

I have never had any issues using Ancestry for my tree, and like it as I can easily see all the information I have for a person and add notes.

GlasgowLass and AustinQ thank you so much for your replies and your helpful advice.