How we work

Our policies

Two things we would rather say before you book than after: what happens if the research finds something difficult, and exactly where technology sits in the work. Both are part of our Terms and Conditions.

When research finds something difficult

Family history is not always comfortable. Records disclose things families did not know: a child born before a marriage, a father who is not the father, a stay in an institution, a cause of death that was never spoken about, a sibling nobody mentioned.

We have found these things. We expect to find them again. Here is exactly what we do.

We tell you first, and privately. If research turns up something of this kind, we stop, and we contact you alone, before it is written down anywhere. You hear it from us in a conversation, not on page nine of a finished book.

You decide whether it goes in the book. Some families want the full record. Some want it known but not printed. Some want it left alone. All three are legitimate and we will not argue with your choice.

Nothing about a living person is written down without their consent. If a finding concerns someone still living, that person decides, and they decide for themselves — not through a relative.

The person whose story it is has the final say. Where we are recording someone's life, they approve their own book. Not the person who commissioned it. If they want something out, it comes out, and we do not tell the person who paid what was removed, or that anything was.

We will not speculate. If the record does not support a conclusion, we say so and we say which document would settle it. We would rather hand you an honest gap than a comfortable guess. That is the whole method, and it does not get suspended because an answer would be more satisfying.

If we cannot agree, we stop and refund. If we reach a point where what you want written and what we are willing to write cannot be reconciled, we will say so plainly, end the work, and refund you for anything not yet done. No argument, no hard feelings.

If you would rather set limits before we start — a branch not to research, a subject not to raise — tell us at the outset. It is a completely normal request and we will follow it exactly.

How we work, and where the technology sits

We use AI tools in this work, and we would rather tell you exactly how than leave you guessing.

What the technology does. It helps with first readings of difficult handwriting, pulls names and dates out of documents into working tables, organises hours of recorded conversation into themed chapters, and drafts historical background. It does the labour around the judgement.

What it never does. It never decides what is true. Every genealogical fact in anything we deliver has been checked by a person against the original record and given a grade. Nothing goes to you on the strength of a machine's say-so.

Why we are this specific. AI transcription fails hardest on exactly the words that matter most in family history — surnames, townland names, place names. A confident, fluent, wrong surname printed in an heirloom is the worst thing this business could produce. Our grading system exists precisely so that the difference between proven and probable survives all the way onto the page.

Your family's words stay your family's. Recordings and transcripts are used to make your book and for nothing else. They are not used to train anything.

We work to the Guiding Principles for Responsible AI in Genealogy published by the Coalition for Responsible AI in Genealogy (CRAIGEN): accuracy, disclosure, privacy, education and compliance.