About Us

Canopy is not just another genealogy website – it's a growing community built to help you discover new branches of your family tree and bring your heritage to life. We believe family history should be personal, inclusive, and downright fascinating – for you and every generation of your family. Our mission is simple: connect you with distant relatives and lost stories by combining traditional genealogy with cutting-edge technology. The result? A richer, more connected family experience that spans all ages, all skill levels, and all devices.

What Makes Us Different

Family First, Always

We start with your story and what you want to achieve. Whether you're mapping out a basic family tree or diving into centuries-old records, Canopy focuses on how we can help you. For example, we make it easy to build and share detailed family trees, so you can collaborate with relatives and link ancestors in one place. From the moment you join, everything is about what you gain – new connections, meaningful insights, and an accessible way to preserve your heritage.

Beyond the Basics – DNA & Discovery

Unlike ego-driven genealogy sites that brag about numbers, we’d rather show how we help you uncover hidden connections. With Canopy, you can optionally add your DNA data to unlock powerful genetic genealogy features – think finding distant cousins and identifying common ancestors through DNA matches. (No worries if you’re not ready for DNA; you can still build an amazing tree!) We even include advanced tools like DNA segment triangulation to help solve family puzzles that other sites might miss. It’s not about fancy tech for its own sake – it’s about giving you concrete facts and matches, not vague “we’re the best” fluff.

Preserving Real Family Stories

Dates and documents are only half the story. Canopy helps you capture the voices, memories, and personalities behind those facts. Our unique Voice Storytelling feature lets your family record oral histories over a simple phone call – perfect for grandparents who aren’t tech-savvy. No smartphones, no apps needed: just Grandma on a phone call, sharing her childhood memory, which gets recorded and saved to your family tree. Those stories add color to your family history (and research even shows storytelling can help sharpen seniors’ memories!) We built this because we hate the idea of precious family anecdotes fading away. With Canopy, your family tree becomes a living, breathing archive of stories, voices, and wisdom – not just names on a chart.

Connecting Living Family (Without the Awkwardness)

Family history isn’t all in the past – it’s also about the people around you right now. Canopy is designed to help you connect with living relatives in a safe, respectful way. Every living person you add can choose to “claim” their profile on the tree, giving them control over their own story and allowing you to reconnect with cousins, aunts, and distant kin who share your heritage. We even have features for organizing family reunions and events, so you can take those online connections into real life gatherings. Consider us a friendly bridge between generations – helping tech-shy family members participate easily and turning genealogy into a family team effort, not a solo project.

Privacy & Trust at Our Core

We know entrusting your family data (and DNA) is a big deal, so we built Canopy from the ground up with privacy in mind. Your family tree is your space. You control who sees sensitive details, and no one can snoop on living individuals’ info without permission. DNA features are opt-in and securely handled – only those who contribute their data (or are invited) get access to genetic insights. We comply with regulations like GDPR and treat your data as we would our own family's heirlooms – with care, respect, and the right to be forgotten whenever you choose. Bottom line: You can explore connections confidently, knowing we’ve got your back on privacy and consent every step of the way.

Who We Are (Our Story & Team)

Canopy began as a passion project in a living room, sparked by one genealogist’s frustration with the gaps in existing family history tools. Hi, I’m Jeremy, the founder of Canopy. For years I juggled multiple apps and sites to trace my roots – one for building the tree, another for DNA matches, and none that truly helped me share stories with my family. In 2023, I decided it was time to create one place that brings all of that together. With a background in tech and a heart in family history, I quit my day job and got to work on Canopy. But I didn’t do it alone. In true 21st-century fashion, my early “team” included some unconventional members – namely, a couple of super-smart AI coding assistants. Late nights were spent with me debugging code alongside an AI partner making suggestions. As Canopy grew, I pulled in a real human partner (my better half) who shares my love for ancestry and will be helping once real users like you come on board. We may be a tiny team, but we’re fueled by outsized passion, family anecdotes, and a fair amount of coffee. We built Canopy for ourselves as much as for you – because we knew there had to be a friendlier, more inclusive way to do genealogy.

Join Us – Your Family Story Awaits

Your website’s About page shouldn’t just be a dead end, and neither should this one. We’d love for you to be part of Canopy’s story! Ready to discover your extended family, preserve memories, and maybe spark a reunion? Join Canopy today. Sign up (it’s free to start) and begin building your tree. Upload an old photo or two, invite a cousin to collaborate, or simply poke around and see what’s possible. Every big family story starts with a first step – take yours now. We’re currently in early access, so you’ll be among the first to try these features out. Go ahead and create your account, or if you’re not quite ready, subscribe to our newsletter for updates. Either way, we’re excited to have you here. Let’s make some family history together!