About Our Genealogy Project
This web site began as a small, private concern intended as an extension of our larger genealogical inquiries. It was to be a medium of communication and research among a limited number of family members. In a rather short time, it has taken on a size and presence of its own, which requires a statement of our purpose and intentions for this public face of our work.
Education
Our purpose is educational. We hope to learn as much as possible about all of the many individuals who consider themselves to be members of our family. Beyond names and vital statistics, we wish to understand the changing times and varied places in which all of us have lived and how these factors have shaped the story which we share.
Everyone
Our ambition is inclusive. We are not focused on only one branch of the family tree; we want the whole thing. We aim to know as much about the most distant cousin in the furthest corner of the globe as we do about our own parents. Success may well elude us, but for the time being we are willing to make the effort. We are interested in learning about the innumerable other families of the world who have joined with our family through marriage and adoption and how they have contributed to our heritage.
Sharing
Our intention is to share. We condemn in the strongest terms the rapacious commercialization of genealogy which seems to motivate some. In our labors to learn about our own history, we have been the recipients of extraordinary generosity from family, friends and strangers.
In recognition of that spirit, what you discover on this web site is freely available to anyone who intends to use it for private, educational, non-commercial purposes. We trust that you will in turn honor our many contributors with the same generosity to others.
We ask only that you give proper credit for anything which you borrow. Those who have shared with us still retain full ownership of their contributions.
Questions
We will do our best to respond to questions concerning any of the content of this web site and will gladly share what we may know. Please bear in mind, however, that this genealogical project is a hobby which we pursue in our spare time. The real world often makes more demands of us than we are agreeably willing to accept and you may be asked to pay the price for our involvement elsewhere. There may be some delay in answering your email. We hope you will be patient and forgive us our faults.
Contributions
We welcome all manner of contributions to this genealogical project from any and all persons.
If you notice a typographical error; a name mis-spelled; a wrong birth date; someone with too many siblings, or the wrong parents, we hope you will let us know.
If you wish to collaborate in a more substantial way, your help will be most welcome. You may send information on any part of your life you feel like sharing. We can not guarantee that everything you send will make it into every version of the family history. Because of space constraints on our web site, we are not able to post photos of Uncle Steve's latest fishing trip or your sister Amber's ballet recital, no matter whose relatives they are. Beyond that, we believe we are reasonable and flexible.
You need not limit your contributions to items from your own past. Remember brothers, sisters, parents, spouses, in-laws, aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, grandparents ... all manner, shapes and sizes of relatives. Please, do not send accounts of someone's most embarrassing moments without first receiving permission.
We are interested in more than just old photos. Manuscripts, newspaper accounts, memoirs, anecdotes, oral histories - anything of the people, times and places that only a few in our family can still recall are particularly precious and need to be preserved. They will find a welcome place in our work.
If you do not feel comfortable sending such items to us, but you know someone who possesses such treasures, I encourage you to safeguard them for your own family. Someone in the near future will be most grateful for your foresight.
If you do make a submission to this genealogical project, it must always be with the understanding that your contribution may become part of internet, and thus available to anyone else.
If you specifically inform us that something is to kept private and confidential, we will certainly honor that trust. In the absence of an explicit request of that nature, however, we will assume that you have given permission for us to use your submission on the internet and that you concur with our belief that genealogical information should be freely shared with all.
We would never claim any legal ownership of any submission and you certainly will not lose any rights to the material you share with us. However, the use of material we post on the internet is beyond our control and we can not assume responsibility for what other persons may do.
Referrals
Contributed material invariably invites queries and often the questions which arise demand a greater familiarity with the facts than we possess.
If you have not already given us permission to share your name and email address in connection with any particular lines of inquiry, we generally respond by forwarding the emailed question to you and leave it up to you to answer or not, as you see fit.
If you would prefer not to have contact with other researchers covering the same ground, please let us know.
Privacy
We recognize that not everyone is happy to have his or her genealogical and personal histories made public and we are sensitive to the need for maintaining a certain level of privacy. We encourage you to exercise caution with your own work where it is warranted.
In addition to whatever measures you make with submissions to us, we also undertake to the best of our abilities to limit the amount of information posted at the Fiegenbaum Family Web Site and at our site at the WorldConnect Project at RootsWeb.com about individuals who are, or might be, living.
We can not guarantee absolute privacy but we do assure you that should you share research with us that you feel should not be passed along, we will make every effort to protect that information and maintain the commitments which you have also made to others.
If you discover any information we have which you feel is not proper for public display, we urge you to inform us immediately. We will give serious consideration to all requests for privacy and will take appropriate measures at the earliest possible time. You may reach us via the email link which appears on each page of this web site or through the information on the Contact Us page.