Today I made my Ancestry-dot-com main family tree public. I did this because:
(1) I have been working on my family history for years and I don't
want my research to have been in vain.
(2) None of my immediate family (one daughter and three brothers)
are interested in genealogy. What would become of my research
if it could not be accessed?
(3) I have had dna cousins reach out to me. I hope to make their
research road a little easier.
I selfishly made my tree private years ago because I was annoyed at people "taking my family" and incorrectly adding them to their trees. Yes, it was selfish -- my family members were part of a community. I have come to realize that my family members should be honored and recognized as part of the communities where they were born, lived, grew, loved, and had families.
Sources and proof have always been important to me, so I have very carefully evaluated and added family members and their records to my tree. I can only hope that those look at the "hints" generated from my Williams / Brown / Washington tree also take steps to evaluate the information.
Welcome Family!
