MISS MANNERS by Judith Martin, Nicholas Ivor Martin and Jacobina Martin

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My husband’s third cousin, whom we’ve never met and with whom we have no personal relationship, has been compiling a family tree. Apparently she heard through another relative that one of our sons got married.

Now she is asking us via email to provide information about his wife (including her birth date and location), our other son’s wife, the date of our marriage, and other details.

What is the mannerly way to respond? We would never provide information about our immediate family members without their permission, but we also have absolutely no interest in this family tree project and do not want to spend any time on it.

Ignoring the cousin feels wrong, and telling her we don’t care about her ho

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