ATTENTION Curators, please assist

@Captain John Kincaid - my 5th great-grandfather.
Capt. John Kincaid, Sr.

In his profile, under "Father of", the name of his son John Kincaid, Jr. is shown twice. I believe this happened when my tree, showing JOHN (1760) KINCAID, JR., who is my 4th grand-grandfather, was merged with a tree managed by N. Seth Nelson, that shows the second John 1760 Kincaid, Jr. to be my 5th great uncle. I wrote to Mr. Nelson, but he has not responded.

The following is the link to the profile that is not only a duplicate, but the information referencing the date and place of death is incorrect for John Kincaid, Jr. Also, which is incorrect, it shows he has no descendants:
Unknown Profile

Below, links to the correct profile for my ancestor, John Kincaid, Jr.:
John KINCAID, Jr.

Note: Death date: February 3, 1834
Place: Marion Co, KY

...and in the "Overview" of his profile, I wrote the following:

Follow link below to see land purchases by the sons of John Kincaid, Jr.; most purchases followed his death in 1834.

Kincaid land purchases in Marion Co, MO: http://www.rootsweb.com/~momarion/landpatent.txt

I would appreciate the help of a curator. thank you.

Loretta Alexandra, M268111

Merge completed of my 9th cousin, 9 times removed; Geni says that common ancestor is James Dunbar, 4th Earl of Moray

Loretta BTW if I'm reading this tree correctly it's very interesting. Great work.

@Erica Isabel Howton, ©
Thanks so much, Erica, for cleaning this up; I couldn't have done it on my own.
Best regards,
Loretta

Private User -- before being quick to wish for separate trees, have you explored the various means of "control" you have over how the 'tree' is displayed?

In the Tree View Preferences (blue tab at the bottom) there are a variety of options, including a check-box to just show direct ancestors. That Preferences is also where you can limit the number of generations to be shown around the current 'focus profile'. (I most often use 3-up, 1-down)

You can also use the "5-generation horizontal view"; that is the first icon to the right of that blue Preferences tab.

@Eli Guttormsdotter Kirkeberg
Unna Vebjørnsdatter Gulsvik

Hei Etter en Sammenslåing ser jeg at Eli Guttormsdotter Kirkeberg er blitt mor til Torgund Sigurdsdatter Roppe-Erland Sigurdsson Trommald og Nub Sigurdson Gulsvik (Vold , Det riktige skal vel vere Guttorm Bonde Sigurdson Gulsvik- Mvh Sven

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who's been merging my tree without my permission? I had 3,000 people I was connected to and now I have 73 million! Can somebody please undo this? I never asked for this. And somehow, my tree has been merged with my uncle's... WHAT IS HAPPENING? I want them separate and maybe someone can help me. Thank you!

@Dan Cornett - That's not what I meant, though... I just want me and my uncle's trees to be separate. Somehow, my profile (Dylan Brennan Mehlenbacher) was merged with the separate one he made on his tree (Dylan Mehlenbacher). Now all of his Polish relatives I am unrelated to are on my tree! We just want to have our trees separate. Sometimes I look at his to see what he's done and vice versa. It's annoying having it like this. Hopefully, one of you amazing curators can undo this. My tree is supposed to be private and personal and I do not like this.

Thanks,

Dylan :)

My tree has been merged so many times , it's not funny,

Hi Dylan (and Judy)

There's no such thing really as "my tree" on Geni. It's all one connected tree of over 73 million profiles.

- You can control what you view through the dislay settings Dan described
- You can work with your family group as described here http://www.geni.com/company/privacy. This does not apply to your uncle obviously - he is in your family group, that's a close relationship - but some of the relatives on "his side" will fall outside your family group

The world family tree is described a bit here
http://www.geni.com/worldfamilytree

It's amazing, there's nothing else like it.

But Geni is not the platform for a private tree that is never merged for our common ancestors & cousins, I'm afraid I need to say. Other on line venues - that probably cost more money - are better fit for that purpose.

Another option is to export "my tree" to desktop software. Of course you won't have all the advantages of discovering new branches and getting a better and better sourced tree. But it's good to have your own database too.

I know that but first joining I didn't realize that. i can understand Dylan's annoyance. It annoys me too but it is what is and once merged you are stuck with it. Unfortunately mergers sometimes are totally wrong and it can get rough sometimes. It doesn'r bother me when Historical ones are merge because everybody connected have seen them , at one time or another. It does bother me when it gets into my more recent family lines.

We can work with "merges gone wrong.". Uncles who are really your uncle though -... That's a matter of being overwhelmed by the "view." "Who are all these people!"

Flipping over to the horizontal pedigree view helps that quite a bit.

Dylan...run links to some of those people...they are most likely your cousins.

If you do not want to 'work' them, that is fine...that they existed is something that you can not undo...and they are connected to your family....

It often gives you a better undestanding of the movements, and associations that your own close family had with others....and their movements within the county...

@People trying to help me

Yeah, but can't I just have my own tree? Why do people have to hunt mine down and merge everything? I should have to give permission for that. What's the point of even making my family tree if everything else is done for me? Now everything is organized by other people and looks bad.

Thank you for trying to help, everybody, but seriously... I just want a separate tree from the REST of the whole world.

Thanks.

It's a two-way street really....YOUR family are evidently a part of other people's family...whether you wish it so or not....and they have a valid right to connect to them...

Private User Because you're on Geni, not on MyHeritage.
If you want your own tree, MyHeritage provides that option. Geni's target is one world tree for everyone - embodying the belief that we can get more work done together than if we work separately.
You're listed as my 20th cousin five times removed. There's no way a tree I made myself would have reached that far. Geni's created to facilitate those linkages.
If that's not what you want - Geni's not the right place for you.

@Fay Baldwin

Yeah, but to completely overhaul my tree? I can't even see my tree with all generations because it lags and times out 'cause it's so darn big now!

I spoke to my family who I invited to my tree and they think it's a privacy issue. Sure, distant distant distant family are modding my tree, but they're so distant, they're hardly family. Evolutionary theorists would say we're all family, so what difference does it make? They hardly are family, you know? This was supposed to be a fun, private project that I would work on when I got home from school and was bored at life and stuff. There's nothing else to research 'cause everything's already done now!

Could I just have my old tree back with the profiles I added and have it PRIVATE?

Please, 'kay, thanks.

Harald Tveit Alvestrand

How come there can't be like two trees? Like, one for me personally and then the world tree for everybody to see? MyHeritage isn't as good and I like Geni way better. Why not have a personal tree on here?

By the way, I'm not mad if I sound it. Just concerned.

Thanks.

Dylan just about all your concerns can be addressed if you work with your Geni settings as described. If you're not clear on how to do this, step by step, I think a really good option for you is to open a ticket with Geni Customer Support for more hands on assistance with these settings; your PRO subscription entitles you to this service. Exactly because of some of the privacy concerns you've mentioned curators have taken this about as far as we can.

But please believe us when we say "you CAN be connected to your uncle's tree & you don't have to have it overwhelm what you're working on."

To open a ticket press the "help" link at the bottom of every Geni page & follow the prompts.

Private User No, you can not have your "old tree" back, Geni is not the place for private trees. From the moment you started a tree on Geni and invited relatives to join, your tree ceased to be private. People have acted on merges that Geni suggested. I was working on suggested merges this morning and as I recall at least three were concerning profiles where you were the manager of one of the profiles to be merged and there will probably be more
If as you continue to research, you find new information, you can add any information you find (hopefully with sources) to profiles
BTW, you are my 13th cousin twice removed.

Why do you guys care so much about my tree, anyway? What do I possibly have that you don't and how is personal information about my infant cousin not private? So basically, anyone can see his birthdate, picture and residence? Like legit guys, sort of private. And how did you find my tree, what the heck??

How do I make a private tree?

Thank you.

Dylan - we're explaining.

1. Your private details ARE private. Please read the link on PRIVACY - it's taken very seriously http://www.geni.com/company/privacy

2. However there is "no such thing" as a private tree on Geni. Outside the privacy zone you are connected. They cannot see your details "unless" within your "family group" so that includes your uncle. But your uncle's cousins are not in your family group so cannot see anything more than a white box - what any other of the 73 members of Geni sees.

Please, open a ticket. Customer service can help you better at this point.

Customer Service

Would you be kind enough to review the past few posts and perhaps reach out to Private User and alleviate his privacy concerns?

I appreciate it and thanks in advance.

In other words....we may be able to see that there are people there, but cannot access them....they only appear to us as a first initial and last name....so that we know they exist.

Beyond your privacy range we can interact....and so others who are related can link though your more distant relatives to others of their own family.

Not that you are really interested but...you are related to Hannah Dustin and Gov John Webster.

But you really didn't want to know that, did you.?

At some point we will merge also but not yet and so far you are the first cousin I have came across on my father's mother's line that I have worked hard to get anywhere on...
Dylan Brennan Mehlenbacher is your 12th cousin once removed.
You
→ James Hudson Clark
your father → Loeda Elmore Downing
his mother → Elmer Hudson Downing
her father → Maria Jane Downing
his mother → William Michael Hart
her father → Hugh Hart
his father → Daniel Hart
his father → Deborah Hart
his mother → Richard Betts Scudder, Jr.
her father → Richard Betts Scudder, Lieutenant
his father → Joanna Betts
his mother → Joanna Betts
her mother → Elizabeth Chamberlain
her mother → Elizabeth Lathrop
her daughter → Deborah Buell Newcomb
her daughter → John Deacon Newcomb, Deacon
her son → Katherine Webster
his daughter → Abraham Webster, Sr
her son → Abraham Webster
his son → Isaac Webster
his son → Amos Kinsman Webster
his son → J. Webster
his son → L. Jollimore
his daughter → C. Masters
her daughter → P. Chalkley
her daughter → M. Mehlenbacher
her daughter → D. Mehlenbacher
her son

Dylan....you are my 11th cousin twice removed....but just so you know....I canNOT see or access anyone beyond Amos Webster...tho I know that there are people closer to you after him....

Just because you can SEE everyone close to you....does not mean that ordinary collaborators or Pros/Curators can see them.....ONLY your 'family members' that YOU allow can see those profiles..

Webster is a very well-known name....and is most probably, because of the connections, the reason that others have linked to your branch of the family....

So, they are there IF you wish to look at them....

Dylan - you are my 8th cousin thrice removed. We are both descendants of Samuel Fuller, Mayflower Passenger (the son, not the physician brother).

We DON:T care about your close relatives and we cannot see them. What excites people on Geni is discovering how related we all are, going back 6, 7, 8, 9 generations. Considering how enormous North America is, it's quite remarkable how one can usually find a cousin relationship to someone on Geni if some of their family came to America early.

For private trees one needs to purchase something along the line of Family Tree, sites such as Geni, Ancestry and Family Search are all offering a way to try connect as many as possible.

Correction - 10th cousin thrice removed :)