Burval Genealogy

 

 

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Policies and Practices

  1. Most Genealogical Data is in the Public Record

  2. Our "Privacy Policy"

  3. Removal Policy

  4. Genealogical Information You Send Us

  5. Policy On Who To Include In Our Genealogies

  6. Policy on "You write it we will publish it"

 

  1. Most Genealogical Data is in the Public Record

Many people do not realize that all basic genealogical data such as a persons name, birth, marriage, death and burial information is public information that is easily obtained from records available to anyone.   All births and deaths are recorded with the local and state registrars and often are announced in newspapers as birth announcements or obituaries.   Marriages are recorded at courthouses and often announced in newspapers.  These records and announcements contain much genealogical data and are part of the public record.  Anyone can go to the courthouse, vital records depositories, newspaper offices and libraries and look at these records.   Such information is not private, copyright protected  or owned by anyone, including the person the data is about, even if that person is still living.  As a result an individuals permission is not needed to published basic genealogical data that is a matter of public record on the internet or in books.  None the less, this information could be used by someone for illegal purposes so we do not wish to make this information too easily available.  We thus practice the "Privacy Policy" described below.   

  1. Our "Privacy Policy" 

To limit the dissemination of genealogical information on living individuals we have two policies regarding their privacy.   One is a policy that we use for web page publications and the other is a policy that we use for book publications.  These policies only apply to individuals that are living at the time of publication.  

Web Page Policy 

Our policy on web page publications is to publish only the name and relationship of living persons to other family members on our web pages.    We do not publish other data like dates and places of birth or marriages nor any biographical information about living persons on our web pages.   

Book Publication Policy

Our policy on book publications is to include all genealogical information including dates, places, biographical information, etc. that we have available on living persons.   

  1. Removal Policy

We honor all requests of individuals to have their name or any other data about them removed from our web pages.     Just let us know what you want removed and we will be happy to remove it.   

  1. Genealogical Information You Send Us

We consider information on your family that you send us to be information that we can freely use for non- profit genealogical purposes.   We may post that information on our web pages per the "Privacy Policy" described above and we may publish that information in book form to provide a history of our family.  We may also provide that information to other genealogy researchers or family members for their use.   In most cases, we will list you as the source of that information.  If there is any information you do not want us to have it is best to not send it to us. 

  1. Policy On Who To Include In Our Genealogies

Very early in our genealogical work we recognized that we had to restrict our work to families and individuals that were directly (by blood, marriage or adoption) related to us.   This was to best utilize our limited time on our direct family.  Even following this practice our database has grown to nearly 25,000 individuals, all of whom are directly related to us.   Although we would like to include in-laws, step- relatives, friends and their ancestors, we do not due to the above restriction.   

  1. Policy on "You write it we will publish it"

Preparing a brief biographical sketch of an individual requires some time and we attempt to write sketches on all of our direct line ancestors.   However, if anyone wants to include biographical information or family stories on individuals in collateral families lines we would be more than pleased to publish that information in our genealogies.   Our policy is thus, "You write it we will publish it."