My Generations Book
Privacy Policy
Effective November 2, 2026
The short version
- We use your family tree to make your book, and for nothing else. We never sell it.
- Your book's life sketches are written with AI (Anthropic's Claude). The details from your tree that a sketch needs are sent to Anthropic to write it.
- If you sign in with FamilySearch, we only read your tree. We change nothing on FamilySearch unless you choose to share your book's stories or photos back.
- The free Tree Readiness check needs no email. An uploaded file is deleted as soon as it's scored, and we keep only the score numbers.
- You can ask us to see, correct or delete your information at any time: hello@mygenerationsbook.com.
1. Who we are
My Generations Book is operated by 2534150 Alberta Inc., doing business as Know Your Ancestors ("we", "us", "our"), in Alberta, Canada. This policy covers mygenerationsbook.com, the book app at app.mygenerationsbook.com (including the free Tree Readiness check), our emails, and the books we make and print for you.
For anything about your privacy, email hello@mygenerationsbook.com.
2. What we collect
Information you give us
- Your details: your name, email address and the name you choose for your book's cover.
- Your family tree: from a GEDCOM file you upload, from FamilySearch if you sign in, or from people you type in yourself. A tree holds names, dates, places and relationships, and often includes living relatives (see section 5).
- What you add to your book: photos, captions, family notes, corrections, added ancestors and the choices you make while editing.
- Order and shipping details: what you bought, and the name, address and phone number for delivery. The phone number is required by our printer and carrier.
- Gifts: the purchaser's name and email, the recipient's name, the message for the gift announcement, and the recipient's email if you choose to email the gift to them.
- Waitlist and email list: your email and name if you join, and a record of what you agreed to and when.
- Messages and feedback you send us.
We never see or store your card details. Payments are handled by our checkout and payment providers (ThriveCart and Stripe), who tell us that you paid, what for, and the name, email and address on the order.
Information from FamilySearch
If you sign in with FamilySearch, FamilySearch gives us permission to read your family tree: your ancestors, their families and their portraits. If you ask for a fuller life sketch or choose photos from Memories, we also read that ancestor's Life Sketch, stories, documents and photos in FamilySearch Memories.
- We keep your FamilySearch sign-in only as long as the task needs it. The access used to read your tree is deleted once your tree has been read. Access for Memories ends when FamilySearch's sign-in expires. For the Tree Readiness check, it is never saved at all.
- We change nothing on FamilySearch unless you choose to share stories or photos from your book back to your ancestors' Memories, and agree to FamilySearch's Submission Agreement. We share only what you pick.
- FamilySearch's own use of your information is covered by FamilySearch's privacy notice.
The free Tree Readiness check
- No email or account is needed.
- An uploaded file is used only to calculate your score. It's deleted as soon as your score is ready, or within a day if you stop partway.
- We keep only the score numbers (counts and percentages), never names or family details. The list of ancestors to review is shown to you for an hour and never saved.
- If you ask us to email your results, we use your email address to send them. We add you to our email list only if you tick the box to join it.
- We note how you found the check (for example the link's campaign tag or the referring website), not who you are.
Information collected automatically
- Like most websites, our hosting and security providers keep standard logs (IP address, browser, pages requested, time) to keep the service running and secure.
- We use the country your connection comes from to show prices in Canadian or US dollars.
- Your browser remembers your progress while you order (in session storage, cleared when you close the tab). We don't use advertising cookies or third-party analytics on our pages.
- How-to videos are embedded from YouTube in its privacy-enhanced mode. YouTube's own policies apply when they load or play.
3. How we use it
- To make your book: reading your tree, writing life sketches and chapter text, mapping places, building charts, and laying out your pages.
- To print and deliver it, and any copies you order.
- To email you about your book and order: receipts, your book's private edit link, print and shipping updates, and reminders to send your book to print before your 12 months end (each reminder has a link to stop them).
- To help you when you contact us, and to fix problems.
- To improve My Generations Book, for example from feedback and from score numbers that carry no names.
- For marketing emails, only if you've agreed to them. You can unsubscribe from any of them.
- To meet legal obligations, such as tax and accounting records.
How AI is used
Life sketches and some chapter text are written by Anthropic's Claude AI. To write about an ancestor, we send Anthropic the details it needs from your tree: names, dates, places, family relationships, and any family notes you've added. Claude also reads place names so we can find them on a map. Under Anthropic's commercial terms, information sent through its API isn't used to train its models. You review and can edit every sketch before your book is printed.
4. Who we share it with
We don't sell or rent your information, or share it for advertising. We share it only with the providers that run parts of the service for us, and only what each one needs:
| Railway | Hosts the book app and its database and files (United States). |
|---|---|
| Cloudflare | Delivers our websites and protects them from attacks. |
| Anthropic | Writes life sketches and reads place names (section 3). |
| OpenStreetMap (Nominatim) | Finds places on a map. It receives place names only. |
| FamilySearch | Only if you sign in with FamilySearch, or choose to share stories or photos back. |
| ThriveCart and Stripe | Checkout and payments. |
| Lulu | Prints and ships your book. Receives your book's files and the delivery name, address and phone number. |
| Resend | Sends our emails about your book and order. |
| Google Workspace | Our email inbox, when you write to us. |
| Flodesk | Our email list, only if you join it. |
We may also disclose information if the law requires it, or to protect someone's safety or our legal rights. If our business were ever sold or merged, your information would go with it under this policy.
Your book itself is shared only as you choose: anyone with your private edit link can see and edit it, and copies you order for family members contain your book's content.
5. Living relatives in your tree
Family trees often include living people. We use their information only to make your book and its PDF; it isn't published, shared or sent to FamilySearch. Please only add information you have the right to share, and remove anything a living relative wouldn't want in the book before it's printed.
6. Where it's stored
We're based in Canada. The book app, its database and your book's files are hosted in the United States, and our providers may process information in other countries. Wherever it's processed, we protect it as this policy describes.
7. How long we keep it
- Your book: you can edit it and order prints for 12 months from purchase (for a gift, from when it's redeemed). We keep your book and its files after that so we can answer questions and help with reprints, unless you ask us to delete them.
- Order records are kept as long as tax and accounting rules require.
- Tree Readiness uploads are deleted as described in section 2. Score numbers have no names and may be kept.
- Email list: until you unsubscribe or ask us to remove you.
8. Keeping it safe
Our sites use encrypted connections, and access to your book is protected by a private link. Treat that link like a password: anyone who has it can view and edit your book. No method of storing or sending information online is completely secure, but we take reasonable steps to protect yours.
9. Your choices and rights
You can ask us to:
- show you the information we hold about you;
- correct it;
- delete your book and your information (we'll keep only what the law requires);
- stop marketing emails, or withdraw a consent you gave.
Email hello@mygenerationsbook.com and we'll respond within 30 days. Depending on where you live, you may have further rights under local law (for example, in Canada, the UK or the European Union), including the right to complain to your privacy regulator. In Alberta, that's the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Alberta.
10. Children
Ordering and the Tree Readiness check are for adults. A book may include information about children in the family, added by a parent or other family member. We don't knowingly collect information from children under 13 who use our services themselves. If you believe a child has given us information, contact us and we'll delete it.
11. Changes to this policy
If we change this policy, we'll post the new version here with a new effective date. If a change is significant, we'll tell customers by email.
12. Contact us
2534150 Alberta Inc. (Know Your Ancestors), Alberta, Canada
Email: hello@mygenerationsbook.com
See also our Terms of Service.