Not long ago, I shared in a blog my journey to becoming a “Family History Enthusiast” and asked if you were one, also.
I started in my early marriage, pre-kids, getting stories and family history from my husband’s grandmother – she even gave me a journal of her father’s in which he noted how much a suit cost ($5.00) and the allowance given the children ($.10 monthly).
She shared her story of being born during the Johnstown, PA flood in 1889 – and she gave me the newspaper clippings of the catastrophic Great Flood. Even better, she shared the story of the family having fled to the attic rooms during the flood and having nothing to drink except the brine of the jars of pickles that were stored up there. She was born on the 3rd day of the flood.
She inspired my joining a local genealogical society and starting to learn about researching family information. Off and on through the years of raising a family, getting a law degree during my 10-year single mom period and then re-marriage and profession work – OK, I was so busy that I only got to dabble a bit here and there in family history matters. I bet you have much the same experience.
Doing the family history work was so fun that when I got a little more spare time, I took genealogy classes and got into researching online and at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. Plus I did collect family photos and became the “family” history magnet. Now that my parents have passed, much more has come into my world (and storage boxes). My sister and I have talked through family stories we remember – yep, different ones from each of us.
Can you relate? Even partially?
So, I will confess the hard part, which I suspect if you have any level of parallel experience, you also recognize. Family ancestor photos have been saved – some in albums, most not. They are in different boxes accompanied by funeral books, obituary clippings, various and sundry papers related to different parts of that family. Other boxes hold unique items like a large pedigree album passed down from my father’s family – pages with names, dates and info but no documents, evidentiary support or even the name of who created the book.
There is no cohesive organization to so much of the legacy items – and some that are only going to be identified by me (like my great grandfather’s suspenders). But it is such a mish-mash! The question that screams out begging for an answer is – What do I DO with all of this?
I have a genealogy software program where I have entered lots of the factual family information and can print out charts and family group sheets. But it is not complete and is not a good place to put photos nor is it easy to add documents and manage it all. And I don’t have time to enter everything I find nor can my kids navigate (or even find) the software on my computer.
I have boxes of research documents and information that I have ‘sort of’ organized – but my kids won’t be able to make sense (or find a place) for all of these. Nor are the stories of the lives of those ancestors woven into any comprehensible format. (Do you hear that scream forming again?)
And new “finds” come up for me on a regular basis as I help others with their family history work – like what I shared with you in my previous blog Family History Enthusiast – Candy McCune. If you followed my directions there, you may have discovered, as I did, a full family tree that had folks on it beyond what I had known or found. I want to save and work on that, as well as all the rest I have shared above.
Is there help? Is there a system? Is there a permanent (owned, not rented) place where I can pull all this together? I have good news – there is such a place!!
I have shared bits and pieces with you as I have blogged on this work and I can happily share that I have found the best tools for pulling together a permanent online home for all these legacy materials and a system that makes media, documents, photos, stories and all those history items easily viewed, shared with others, organized and navigated. It is a well-organized container for the online legacy (yes, you save the original ‘treasure’ items in a safe place, also, but the key preservation is online).
And it provides peace of mind that the family legacy is safe from weather disasters, or loss due to lack of management by descendants, and is guaranteed to be preserved and available to family for over 100 years with formats changed automatically as needed. Plus there is assistance in digitizing and inputting the materials which are then easily organized and managed using systems and tools within the online home.
My Family History Bootcamp is coming soon – but I really would like to hear from you what is your greatest challenge given the status of your “family items” and situation. I want to make sure the Bootcamp fits your needs as best it can. Please hit reply and share your family history questions and challenges! I will be so grateful.
