Genealogy Chat

I have noted online tree info in my own tree, but I always make sure I thank them for the info - and I credit the source for three reasons: 1 It's likely to be someone at least vaguely related to our family, so it's useful to keep the contact info 2 To acknowledge someone else's work 3 In case their work proves unreliable, so I know what else not to rely on. I don't regard this as a substitute for my own research (although it certainly looks that way at the moment), but simply to narrow down where to look. It is my intention, eventually, to follow up the info for myself. For example, Su (of the Tingewick History site) had the info about the baptism of my gtx2-grandfather; it was much more interesting to have a copy of the baptism register page, after a visit to Aylesbury County Records Office, than simply to know about the baptism by copying the info from her site. In the meantime, I may spot something which is of help to them, in which case I try to let them know what I've found: info, URLs, contacts, or whatever. If I haven't copied the info from their site, it's harder to track down which people would be interested. Of course, if their response to my thanks is to require me not to have copied the info, then I should just have to remove it all. Christine

I think as it's an open access site then it's game for people to use!! You have tried, maybe try once more for permission and if no reply, just presume that if they objected they would have contacted you!! good luck! Diana

Hi JB - this exact same thing happened to me only a few weeks ago. I emailed the website and got no reply, so after a fortnight emailed them again. It turned out that they had never received my first email, and the lady running the site was my auntie who I never knew existed and who had been given up for adoption! Anyway, to get back to the subject! They were more than happy for me to use their very detailed and accurate information; information published on websites and not covered by any sort of copyright etc, is in the public domain. Mandy :)

I would see if you can contact them again before going ahead as you don't want to cause upset>>> see other threads on this board about info on trees..... It's your decision but I would be cautious. Kim

I have found a tree published as an open access web page which contains an ancestor of mine (circa 1825). They have thorough research going backwards which I have not got to yet. I exchanged emails in the early days about how thought I might be related to a particular member. Anyway, having spent a little time checking that my own sources were correct, I concluded that my ancestor was this person. So I emailed them 2 weeks ago to make sure it was OK for me to use info from their webpage but they haven’t responded, despite reminders. The question for you guys is, should I use this seemingly public info or not? JB

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