Dear all,

I wanted to share something personal about the family tree many of you have visited over the years, and to explain why I’m reaching out now.

When I first began building our family tree back in 2009, it started with a simple realisation: most of us can name our parents, our grandparents, and perhaps—if we’re lucky—our great‑grandparents. Beyond that, the line usually fades into a kind of fog. Entire generations disappear from memory, as though they had never lived at all.

That thought stayed with me. I didn’t want our own family’s story to vanish in that way.

So I began gathering everything I could find: old albums, loose photographs, letters, documents, stories passed down in fragments. I scanned thousands of photos, titled them, dated them, and tagged each face so that no one would remain anonymous. I spent countless evenings digging through U.S. and U.K. census records, parish registers, immigration lists, and archives stretching back to the early 18th century. Piece by piece, name by name, the tree grew—until it reached more than 8,000 individuals, spanning Britain, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, and the United States, going back as far as the 1400s.

One of the most moving parts of this work has been looking into the eyes of ancestors in photographs taken 100 or 150 years ago. People who had families, jobs, hopes, worries, joys—just like we do. People who lived full lives and then slipped quietly into the past, remembered by no one alive today. Preserving their names and stories has given me a deep sense of continuity, and a renewed appreciation for that biblical line: “For what is your life? It is merely a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.”

This project has always been a labour of love, and I’m glad to have carried it for so many years. The annual cost of hosting the site has risen to about $350, and I’ve covered it myself (with some exceptions when my sister Maggie paid it). I’m very happy to continue doing the work—researching, organising, scanning, and maintaining the archive—but I’d like to invite those who value the tree to contribute a small amount each year, perhaps $5–10, to help cover the subscription cost.

This is entirely voluntary. But even a small contribution from each of you would help ensure that the archive remains available for everyone, including your children and grandchildren. It’s a resource they can use for school projects, for understanding their heritage, or simply for discovering the long line of people whose lives eventually led to theirs.

I’ve set up a GiveSendGo page for anyone who would like to help support the project. Every contribution, no matter how small, is appreciated.

Thank you for being part of this extended family, and for helping preserve the story we all share. If any of you are having trouble accessing the site, please send me your preferred email address, and I will invite you. You will receive an email from the site with access to the website so you and your family can continue to explore our joint heritage.

Warm regards,

John