First and foremost, my data is here to be shared, and to benefit everyone who is interested. However, there are a few ground rules. Consider my pages to be no different from any book found in a library. The same copyright rules apply to my site as they would to a printed book. In other words, if you use this material, give credit where credit is due, and don't copy large amounts of my work for republication. Small amounts are okay under the "Fair Use" rule. For example, you can quote a sentence or paragraph from my site on your own, but mention who wrote it. Of course, you can paraphrase me all you want, but again, giving credit to the originator is always nice. Of course names and dates and other facts can't be copyrighted, so I'm not referring to that. That is explained in more detail further down this page.
Linking, Downloading, Printing
Anyone who has their own website who wishes to link to my home page or to any pages on my site, please feel free to do so, you don't have to ask permission. I appreciate all the links I can get. If you have a site devoted to a surname I am researching, let me know, and I'll set a link up to your page as well. You can link to the home page or to any page within my site. "Deep Linking" is not a problem, go for it.
Feel free to download or print any of my pages for your own personal use. However, if you wish to re-publish small portions of this data on your own web pages or in any other form, please give me proper credit, including (preferably) a link to my pages. Please do not republish entire pages, or huge sections of any of my pages (this is a violation of copyright laws, and is plagiarism if you don't give proper citation.) Instead of quoting large portions of any of my pages, provide a link to my page instead. You would be surprised how many times I've found large portions of my own work listed verbatim on someone else's pages without any mention of my name or of my website. This is outright theft and plagiarism, please don't do it! Just link to the original, it is easy to do!
Libraries, Archives, Societies, etc.
If you wish to print some of my pages to put in your vertical files or to bind in a 3 ring binder or something like that, you have my permission to do so, but please include a reference to my website so that any interested person can go to the source and see the original pages, for they do change quite often, and a printed version will be out of date rather quickly.
Disclaimer.
As with all genealogy data found on the Internet, use the data listed on this site "at your own risk." While I strive for the highest accuracy possible, it is likely that there are mistakes in the information that I am presenting. Most of the data included is my own research, so if mistakes are present, they are my fault. However, I have received some info from other researchers over the years. I attempt to verify everything that is sent to me, but mistakes are bound to slip by, especially in the data I received when I was a "newbie" (many years ago) and didn't know better than to just believe whatever someone sent was accurate. Let me know if you spot any such mistakes. Don't assume that everything listed on these pages is completely accurate. Some information is based on conjecture or circumstantial evidence and can be interpreted several different ways. If you have data that contradicts what I have listed, please let me know. It won't offend me if you say I'm wrong about something, just be ready to show evidence to support your point of view.
Copyright.
This website and all the pages are copyrighted. To avoid confusion, let me briefly explain this. First of all, the "copyright" means that the data as presented is my legal property, under my copyright, and I own all rights to it. However, that does not mean that I have a copyright on the names, birth dates, birth places, etc. of our ancestors. Similarly, I can't claim copyright to public records. The copyright refers to the textual and graphical way in which I present the data. All notes, commentaries, etc., are entirely my own work (unless otherwise noted) and are protected by copyright. This is the same way a genealogy book is copyrighted, no difference at all. Any quoted material, such as verbatim comments shared by other researchers, etc., remain the property of the originator.
Useful Links about Copyrights.