All materials contained on these pages are furnished for the free use of those engaged in researching their family origins. Any commercial use, without the consent of the author of these pages is prohibited. All images used on these pages were obtained from sources permitting free distribution, or generated by the author, and are subject to the same restrictions/permissions. All persons contributing material for posting on these pages do so in recognition of their free, non-commercial distribution, and further, is responsible to assure that no copyright is violated by their submission.

We attribute copyright of contributed materials to the contributor with the NCGenWeb as the publisher for as long as the materials remain on our website.

It is vital for genealogists/family historians to understand copyright laws, not only for the protection of others' rights, but to ensure that they retain the rights to their own work. However, it is also important for us to remember that our work consists in large part of the discovery and reporting of preexisting material. We can only copyright the material we create. We can not copyright the material we discover.

Regardless of the legalities, the USGenWeb Project does not want to offend our many friends, whether professional or volunteer, who work tirelessly for little profit to publish reference sources. Let us not make these people our enemies -- we want them as our partners. Because the rights of authors and the purpose of the USGenWeb Project to freely share genealogical information online may sometimes conflict, The USGenWeb Project has established these guidelines and policies which we believe reflect the general state of U.S. Copyright Law (Title 17, U.S.Code).

As of January 1, 2021, works published in the U.S. before 1926 are absolutely safe.
In the U.S., facts (data) are always public domain and may be copied without permission.
Inclusion of preexisting material in a new work does not change the copyright status of the preexisting material. If the use of original material created by someone else diminishes the market value of that work, then their copyright may have been violated.
Protect against claims of copyright infringement. Getting written (not email) permission from the author/publisher of a copyrighted work is the surest way to protect yourself and the USGenWeb.

Read our full current Copyright rules for the USGenWeb and NCGenWeb

You can also read more about Copyright Questions and Answers