I’ve stopped sending immediate requests for “tree access” from those whose trees are private. There are reasons a person might want to make their tree private. I’m not certain this approach will garner any more success than I have currently had, but it’s worth a shot. What ideas have you tried?
Hello.
You and I are a DNA match and Ancestry.com suggests that we are connected through James and Elizabeth (Chaney) Rampley who were married in Ohio in 1830 and came to Illinois where they died in the 1880s. My connection is through their son Riley who died in 1893 and served in the Civil War. I’m trying to sort out my matches and wondered if the connection was correct and which child of James and Elizabeth you are from.Thanks!
Michael
4 Responses
If I received this message, I would answer you! Some people are so demanding on their requests for info OR they don’t answer at all.
Thanks! I tried to be as “laid back” as possible. 🙂
I tend to keep my trees private because I do not want my mistakes and theories re-populated, many of which are still being circulated from when my trees were public. Your message would be one I would answer as soon as possible because it provides information where to look for a possible connection. Many requests vaguely ask for everything and seem to expect a ‘book’ that will save them the pursuit that many amateurs have grown to love. Your message also suggests that you have also done reasonable research of the match before reaching out – something which can be appreciated before diving in to take a look.
I understand your reasons for keeping the tree private. There are many times when I’m not able to get close to how the person is related and, if they have no tree and have not logged in ages, I usually don’t message them. The exception to that would be someone relatively close who appears to be connected through a “brick wall” relative. I usually try and give “non-overwhelming” details of how we are related and see if they’d like to discuss further and leave it at that.