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I have kept a pretty extensive tree on here because it's free and I started on here before going to Ancestry.
So a few months ago, someone changed all my Eatons to Eson, a name not familiar to me at all. It brought on a whole bunch of strange names, none of which were my family. This also wiped out all the branches of the extended family too.
I changed it all back but yesterday I saw the same Eson family segments on my tree again. And the name of the person doing this, was also on line right then. I emailed the person several times, asking them to stop. There were no resources listed for this Eson. I then complained to Familysearch and got a response that this is a public website and ANYONE can visit, change or add to it. I asked if I could block people from making changes to my tree, and did not get an answer. Apparently the mysterious poster is a Family search rep and he told me to put it back the way I wanted it, adding resources. I was furious since this is alot of work, and I did not appreciate his interference.
Just so you know, this can happen so be on the look out for strangers on your tree !
And that's why my sole/working tree would never be on FamilySearch or Wikitree. It's not "my tree" on there - it's one universal tree. I'm happy to contribute stuff on those kinds of trees, but I'd never consider it "my" tree, it's just a public space to share what I've found. I would strongly recommend keeping your main/working tree somewhere that you and only you can control it.
You should move your tree to a site where no one can touch it. You could still keep it up on the public domain and then if anyone messes with it, you still have your original. I can imagine how frustrating it is.
I have a nephew that got interested in family history. I copied everything I had on the line with his surname. He shared what he researched and of course he had information wrong. He read the census wrong. . . . Such a little thing can lead to disastrous results.
I'm willing to share but after all the work I've put into my genealogy, I don't want anyone to touch it! !!
Yes and in the conversation (email) I had with the guy who did it, he said he had resources and did I have them ? Yes, I do, and they are on there. In the end, he put it all back (somehow) the way it was, with a comment "Do what you want."
I was totally unaware that strangers would tamper with someone else's family tree without contacting the home person first. To me it's like a personal violation, when they think they know more about my family than I do. I am trying to get the tree up to date on Ancestry, which, I hope will not allow this.
its amazing how in the old census, you can have for different spelling in the same family, it like the guy who taking the notes decide how to spell your name
Yes and in the conversation (email) I had with the guy who did it, he said he had resources and did I have them ? Yes, I do, and they are on there. In the end, he put it all back (somehow) the way it was, with a comment "Do what you want."
I was totally unaware that strangers would tamper with someone else's family tree without contacting the home person first. To me it's like a personal violation, when they think they know more about my family than I do. I am trying to get the tree up to date on Ancestry, which, I hope will not allow this.
If you make a tree on Ancestry no one can change it. You can also set privacy to public or private.
Yes, unfortunately anyone can change a tree on family search. It's not hard to undo what was done. On each person that was changed you will see a change log on the lower right side of the page. Click show all. You're able to undo/ restore it; you may have to click reference.
In the change log it shows someone from family search changed your tree?
Yes and in the conversation (email) I had with the guy who did it, he said he had resources and did I have them ? Yes, I do, and they are on there. In the end, he put it all back (somehow) the way it was, with a comment "Do what you want."
I was totally unaware that strangers would tamper with someone else's family tree without contacting the home person first. To me it's like a personal violation, when they think they know more about my family than I do. I am trying to get the tree up to date on Ancestry, which, I hope will not allow this.
Try not to think of it as "your tree". Like I say, at sites like FamilySearch and Wikitree, you don't have a tree of your own and there is no "home person" or tree owner. It may list the people who have made changes or originally added that ancestor, but that doesn't mean you have any ownership or control of the data or that people should ask you for permission before editing it (by ownership, I don't mean in the legal sense, obviously). All the data there is open for anyone to edit/add/remove and if someone shares an ancestry with you, then it's their ancestry too, and so on sites like this, they will edit/add/remove to it. In this particular case, the person may have been mistaken about a shared ancestry with you and wrongly mixing his ancestors up with yours, but those are the kinds of mistakes you open the data up to when you use a universal tree like FamilySearch or Wikitree.
Ancestry does not use a universal tree (they used to have something called One World Tree which attempted to build one big tree from public member trees - but it merely copied the data, members still had control over their own trees and in any case, they discontinued it). When you create a tree at Ancestry, you can make it private (no one but you and those you give permission to can view it) or public (any paying subscriber can view it), but even public trees can only be viewed by others, not edited, unless you give someone contributor/editor status.
its amazing how in the old census, you can have for different spelling in the same family, it like the guy who taking the notes decide how to spell your name
It does not sound like this is a case of mere alternate spellings.
Try not to think of it as "your tree". Like I say, at sites like FamilySearch and Wikitree, you don't have a tree of your own and there is no "home person" or tree owner. It may list the people who have made changes or originally added that ancestor, but that doesn't mean you have any ownership or control of the data or that people should ask you for permission before editing it (by ownership, I don't mean in the legal sense, obviously). All the data there is open for anyone to edit/add/remove and if someone shares an ancestry with you, then it's their ancestry too, and so on sites like this, they will edit/add/remove to it. In this particular case, the person may have been mistaken about a shared ancestry with you and wrongly mixing his ancestors up with yours, but those are the kinds of mistakes you open the data up to when you use a universal tree like FamilySearch or Wikitree.
Ancestry does not use a universal tree (they used to have something called One World Tree which attempted to build one big tree from public member trees - but it merely copied the data, members still had control over their own trees and in any case, they discontinued it). When you create a tree at Ancestry, you can make it private (no one but you and those you give permission to can view it) or public (any paying subscriber can view it), but even public trees can only be viewed by others, not edited, unless you give someone contributor/editor status.
Spellings of a surname can change over time, especially going back hundreds of years, e.g., Old English. That being said, some people putting up a tree clearly have not done their own research.
First and foremost, talk to your oldest relative you can find. Start there. I found a tree put up on Ancestry by my cousin through marriage. She absolutely destroyed my Grandma's maiden name. Not even close. She couldn't be bothered to get her "Dad's" Birth Certificate? Grandma's correct name would be on there. I have seen different spellings of both sides of the Italian surnames, but that is simply changing the ending letter to a more American sounding spelling.
Family Search? I have found records with wrong spellings on there also. Not from a tree, but their records. Did somebody copy the surname wrong from the original record? I have my Grandparents original Marriage Certificate. The spelling of Great-Grandma's surname is nothing like what Family Search put on there. I will go with what is on that certificate, and how my Mom decades ago told me how to spell her Grandma's name.
BTW, when I did my own tree I have used the different spellings going back in time when it came from a reliable source.
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