OK fellow genealogy enthusiast. I went to a local public Cemetery District today to find out who I would talk to regarding transcribing their grave site information to the California Genealogy website http://cagenweb.com/. Well, I now know why the Cemetery District has not been transcribed before. The woman in their office got in my face, shook her ink pen in my face, and told me "the District will not allow any transcription to the internet!" She spent the next 10 minutes scolding me while I tried to explain it was NOT something I was getting paid for or something I wanted to increase her work load. I was very glad to make as graceful an exit from her office as possible.

She also told me only "family members" are allowed to take pictures of the grave sites otherwise I could be sued since the stones belong to the families! Wow, ask a simple question ("Who should I talk to about this") & get chewed out & threatened.

My question is; can I really get sued for taking a picture of a grave site & posting it to the internet? It’s not like I’m getting paid to do this project it’s volunteer work for an all volunteer website. Many cemeteries around the country have already been transcribed, with & without photos, and are listed on the internet.

I have been doing genealogy for years and have often been helped by people who live geographically closer to my ancestors than I do. As many of you know there are websites dedicated to genealogist who volunteer to do research in their area for people who live to far away to do it their self. I wanted to give something back by providing greater access to the information in my county. Now I’m worried about being sued for taking a picture of a grave site.