it is MY family tree!!!!!

[Fitty]

We should form our own Dead Rellies Club   

I think Dead Rellies Society sounds posher!  lol

[Jenny Elizabeth]

I've had an odd situation where someone related to my cousin's partner (stay with me on this one!) has copied all my family off another site and put them on another as his.  He has absolutely no connection with our family except via my cousin's partner.  She has been very diligently looking into the family and we have shared loads of information - very happily I might add.  She was really mad about this wholesale nicking of our family history and for my part I am just bemused as to why someone would want to do this.  I can only think that he has some sort of competitive thing about having loads of people in his tree.  What was really annoying was that when I went on the site I thought I had found a new relative to share info with only to discover it was our info duplicated by him! 

That said I think family history should be about sharing, learning from the experiences of others and allowing others to learn from your experience. I am quite happy to put up with strange relative nickers for the joy of sharing info and finding out new things about my family.

Jenny Elizabeth

[geniedi]

I'm the same.

None of my family are interested so I have no outlet with them.

I'm lucky I started a family history course at the local college almost 4 years ago. After three courses the group decided to meet up once a month to keep on touch and for me that's brilliant. I'm the youngest one by at least 20 years!! But we all get on really well.

Diane

[Hackstaple]

Perhaps the cousin discovered something in her line that she doesn't want to reveal. Many of us are enlightened or have become so - we are used to illegitimate ancestors or some who were a bit short of a full deck. Not every researcher is so relaxed. They set off to find a relationship to Boadicea and find only farm labourers. That is disappointing enough but then to find an ancestor who lived off charity half the year! Too much!
Tell her you had an ancestor with a wooden leg - she'll try to top that.

[Pollynation]

my relative now seems to be ignoring me ( she walked down the street past me and snibbed me).
They seem to be strange on that side of the family. Oh well it's her loss.

Through roots chat i have been contacted by someone who is related, our great grandparents are brother and sister!  I'm over the moon 

Have sent him all my family tree details and he has added to mine. I am jumping for joy at the moment. 

Pauline

[CarolBurns]

This family member has had her side traced by a cousin.  I asked her for a copy of her tree about 12 years ago and I am still waiting.  It's a case of she want to know everything but is not willing to share or maybe she just doesn't like me.


Regards Jacquie.

Are you related to my sister in law Jacquie? LOL

When I first started I had no details of Pete's parents as they died when he was little and at 10 years old you tend to have more important things on your mind when losing your parents than their dates of birth. Anyway, I eventually got bits together from an older brother in law who gave me an idea of when his Mum and dad were born and I went from there.

Then three years ago she shows up with photocopies of her Mum and Dad's marriage cert (which I already had got) and her dad's birth cert (again which I had got). I asked for other bits of info and got nothing from her.

I usually send all details to each of Pete's siblings as the tree grows and you can bet your life, she shows up with the certificates AFTER I have bought my own copy. She then tells me that all I had to do was ask - How many times though?

The greatest surprise was last year when she told me that if I ever got bored with it that she would be happy to take it off my hands - Excuse Me? I don't think so!

Why does she want to do that? Because there are things that she does not have such as medals of her dad's that I have replaced after the originals were sold, birth certs for Dad's siblings, photos some very old which she does have copies of as do the rest of the family while I have the originals etc.

If I have my own way I am either going to be buried with it or put it in my will that she isn't allowed it. I know that sounds cruel but she has no other interest in the family so why should she want to do the tree all of a sudden?

I love sharing my info with new rellies regardless of how distant but they usually have some kind of info for me be it photos or certs or just names and dates. All before I have bought them myself as well

So I understand how you feel Jacquie as I have one like that as well

Carol

[PaulaToo]

The bit that gets me jumpin' up and down hoppin' mad is when you find someone has a chunk of your tree in theirs and you think 'Great, long lost relation time. Let's get in touch.' THEN you see they have a wonky bit which you are longing to put them right on. You've seen it in the registers, you know you are right. What do they do, cold shoulder you. 'Oy, you've got MY ancestor married to the wrong woman. That Mary was not his wife...ever...she married another one of the John Ds.'
I had someone email me and tell me I had missed out a generation. Wasn't important, what I had was right, both ends, just went from Grandfather to Grandson. That hurt, I had put a lot of work into that. But I went back, had another look in the records, blushed a bit, put it right, and emailed a 'Thank you,' back.
Yes, I know what you mean. IT'S MY TREE!

[Jayson]

Hi everybody

I was really interested to read what other rootscahatters have experienced during the course of their research, and at the same time very disappointed by the reactions that they have received from other researchers. 

Thankfully, during the course of my research, I haven't come across anybody who has not been more than helpful.  For myself, I'm not in the least bit possessive about any part of my research.  It's always better to share otherwise what's the point.

I'd like to know how many other rootschatters there are of my age - I'm 34 - or younger that have an interest in their ancestry?

Jayson

[GordonD]

Have only had a couple of experiences of getting in touch with others with common ancestors and so far they have been really positive. Suppose I do feel a bit territorial about the tree as its my work but not in a very possessive way -well I've not had the bad experiences that others have had when sharing.

Jayson there is a topic in the Even Lighter about the ages of Rootschatters if you're interested (youngest age bracket is 0-30 which I'll be in for another 6 and a bit years!). Last post in that topic was this afternoon.

Gordon