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Old 12-01-2016, 07:25 AM
 
Location: North Idaho
32,658 posts, read 48,067,543 times
Reputation: 78471

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I understand why some people do it, and of course, it is entirely your option. But this is my story about private trees.

I found my mother's sister. She was quite active on Ancestry. But she has not been to the site for over a year. I've left her a private message, but of course she won't see it if she is no longer visiting the site.

There were 2 different email addresses for her given in her bulletin board messages. Both email address are no longer good.

She would be 80 years old this year. I hope she is well and fine but just tired of the genealogy. But I can't discount the possibly that she has died.

Her family tree is private, so I can not access it. I'm sure that there is information there that I want. If I can not find her and reach her, all that information is lost to me.
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Old 12-01-2016, 02:58 PM
 
Location: Somewhere, out there in Zone7B
5,015 posts, read 8,186,541 times
Reputation: 4663
Have you found an obit on her? Have you Googled the 2 email addresses that you found? Or her screen name, possibly? Have you tried to find other people who are in her tree and ask them? There are a lot of avenues to try, just have to be creative about it.


You can P/M me if you'd like, will see if I can help you crack the info, but I bet you'd be able to find the same info as I could.


I don't have a tree on Ancestry, but I've climbed upon many of its branches!
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Old 12-01-2016, 08:52 PM
 
Location: North Idaho
32,658 posts, read 48,067,543 times
Reputation: 78471
Thank you for the suggestions. I will try that.

I did just find her date of death today. I haven't found an obituary. I found her name, too, which I didn't have, so got more information, at least about her.
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Old 12-01-2016, 08:56 PM
 
Location: Canada
7,681 posts, read 5,532,541 times
Reputation: 8817
If she has died, the information is not necessarily lost to you. She may have invited other relatives to her tree and they would still have access to it and be able to pass on information to you.
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Old 12-01-2016, 08:58 PM
 
Location: Georgia, USA
37,111 posts, read 41,284,508 times
Reputation: 45173
Quote:
Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke View Post
Thank you for the suggestions. I will try that.

I did just find her date of death today. I haven't found an obituary. I found her name, too, which I didn't have, so got more information, at least about her.
That is sad. If you find an obit you can consider contacting relatives mentioned in it. Perhaps someone else in the family is also into genealogy and conceivably has access to her online tree.
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Old 12-02-2016, 09:41 AM
 
4,040 posts, read 2,558,126 times
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So this brings up an interesting question.

If a person dies, at what point could Ancestry make the tree public? Seems like it shouldn't be private forever and ever, and the person who wanted it private is now gone.
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Old 12-02-2016, 11:33 AM
 
Location: Canada
7,681 posts, read 5,532,541 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chadgates View Post
So this brings up an interesting question.

If a person dies, at what point could Ancestry make the tree public? Seems like it shouldn't be private forever and ever, and the person who wanted it private is now gone.
I think it would be wrong to make it public. For example, I have created mini trees when I was speculating about dates and family links. This allowed me to receive record hints. Only when I could verify the information would I add it to my public tree. Also, people may add photos or stories they have received from others to their private tree and do not have permission of the copyright holders to make those stories or photos public.
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Old 12-02-2016, 12:57 PM
 
Location: North Carolina
10,214 posts, read 17,885,184 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chadgates View Post
So this brings up an interesting question.

If a person dies, at what point could Ancestry make the tree public? Seems like it shouldn't be private forever and ever, and the person who wanted it private is now gone.
They won't make it public, that would violate the wishes of the tree owner - doesn't matter if the tree owner died, they obviously wanted it to be private so it will remain private. Ancestry always puts privacy first.

Quote:
Originally Posted by oregonwoodsmoke View Post
Her family tree is private, so I can not access it. I'm sure that there is information there that I want. If I can not find her and reach her, all that information is lost to me.
By law, there's two types of information, private and public. Public information is not lost because it's public and you or anyone else can find it. And if it is private information then she has the right to keep it private. I know that's frustrating but such is life, people have a right to certain privacy.
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Old 12-02-2016, 03:53 PM
 
4,993 posts, read 5,294,120 times
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Is there a next of kin? They might be able to request access and release it to you?
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Old 12-02-2016, 08:38 PM
 
1,519 posts, read 1,337,025 times
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I think I made my tree private and don't know how to undo it,can anyone access the tree or do they need a subscription.
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