My pedigree reported by Ancestry to the MRCA with Brad Paisley, William Ballard (1603-1689), my 9th great grandfather, was accurate with the exception of the need to mark his daughter, my 8th great grandmother, Esther Ballard (1632-1717) Jenckes as PRIVATE.  Again, I am not sure what has gotten into Ancestry.  There is also a PRIVATE step in Cousin Brad’s line in the mid-1600s — also no idea why this should be PRIVATE.   Interesting enough, at the end of Brad’s pedigree:

Ancestry has him designated as the DAUGHTER of PRIVATE.    This is really not wanting me to put in a supply of birthday cards at the ready for Cousin Brad thinking there might still be some wiggle room in our connection.