Privacy & ethics

Handling our family's story with care

A family history touches real, living people. This page explains how we protect privacy, respect permissions, and put things right when we get them wrong. These principles guide every part of the site.

Living people come first

Our default is caution for anyone who may still be living. On this site:

  • People marked as living have their personal details automatically hidden — the tree shows only a protected placeholder.
  • We do not publish birth dates, addresses, contact details, or other identifying information about living people without their clear consent.
  • We avoid publishing information about children entirely, except where a parent or guardian has asked us to and it is plainly appropriate.
  • If you are unsure whether someone is living, we treat them as living until it's confirmed.

Sensitive information

Some facts, even about people long deceased, deserve extra thought — matters of health, causes of death, adoptions, births outside marriage, estrangements, legal troubles, religion, or anything that could hurt or embarrass living relatives. We handle these with discretion: we include them only when they are well-documented and genuinely part of the family record, we present them factually and without judgement, and we will hold back or soften detail at a family member's reasonable request.

Photos, stories & permissions

When you share a photograph or story, you keep ownership of it. By submitting, you're giving the project permission to display it here as part of the family history, with credit as you prefer. A few ground rules keep this fair to everyone:

  • Only submit material you have the right to share — your own, or something you have the owner's permission to share.
  • Tell us how you'd like to be credited (by name, initials, or anonymously).
  • Let us know if there are people in a photo who should be asked before it goes public.
  • You can ask us to remove or change your contribution later.

Correction & takedown requests

If something here is wrong, or you'd like information about you or a close relative changed or removed, please tell us. We take these requests seriously and respond promptly.

  1. Contact the curator at the curator address, or use the correction form.
  2. Tell us what to look at and what you'd like changed or removed.
  3. For privacy-based removals about a living person, we act first and discuss after — the information comes down while we review.
  4. For factual corrections, we'll review the evidence and update the record and its label.

Community respect

This is a shared family space. We ask everyone who contributes or corresponds to be kind, patient, and honest — to assume good faith, to disagree gently, and to remember that behind every name is a person someone loved. Contributions that are disrespectful, that expose living people's private details, or that copy paywalled or copyrighted material will not be published.

What we do with your details

If you include your name or email with a contribution, we use them only to credit you (as you've asked) and to follow up on your submission. We don't sell or share contributor contact details, and this site sets no tracking cookies. Contributions arrive by ordinary email or as files you choose to send.

Questions about privacy?

We'd rather you ask than worry. Reach the curator any time.

This policy is written in plain language for a family audience. It reflects the project's commitments and good genealogical practice; it is not legal advice. Where local data-protection laws apply to any relative's information, those laws take precedence and we will comply with them.