We live in an age when private information is sought out by society's bottom feeders for the purposes of identity theft, money theft, and possibly physical harm. In contrast, genealogists/historians need this information for good purposes -- to record family histories.
Because of the potential harm that can come from the wrong persons getting personal information, we genealogists/historians have no choice but to protect the privacy of living individuals. We are committed to do so.
In order to protect the identity of living individuals, while still facilitating the research of genuine genealogists, this website is divided into two parts -- the part that the general public can access, which contains no personal information about living individuals, and a "members-only" part that can only be accessed by genealogical researchers within the Fretwell "clan" and other family members.
If you are in the latter category and can prove it, drop the webmaster an email, and you may (or may not) receive a password for the members-only part. webmaster@thefretwells.com
The publishers of this website understand the issue of privacy related to living individuals who do not want any information whatsoever published about themselves or others in their family. For the open-to-the-public portion of the website, we respect this desire by not listing living persons by name.
For the private parts of the website, which are accessible only to Fretwells who are personally known by the publishers, and are protected by strong security, we have a more liberal policy. The personal information about living individuals in the private parts of the website is public information from public record or other open sources. This information can be accessed and obtained elsewhere by anyone.
There are those who seek to protect their individual sense of privacy by demanding denial of access to public information by others. They advocate a position of privacy which cannot be supported or defended under current law. (If you doubt this, simply google your name.) If you have a telephone (unless you have an unlisted number), your names and addresses are available to anyone with a pencil and a piece of paper. In most states, if you own a house, car, boat, or land, your name and address are available from public records. So are such publically recorded events as marriages, births, deaths, and divorces. All are available to anyone who wants to take the time to find them.
If you have concerns about the degree to which the law allows public information to be gathered and published, address your concerns to legislators. Government, not individuals, determines what is private information and what is public information.
Although we reserve the right to publish private information that is in the public domain, and in the Fretwell-family interest, we will usually accomodate individuals who really do not wish to have their public information published, even in the private portion of the website. If you request to be anonymous, we will probably agree to list you as "Anonymous" under the proper family line. (We will think you overly paranoid, because your public data is better protected on this website than it is by your government and those commercial interests with which you do business; but we will respect your wishes.)