Genealogy Chat

We've all spent long hours and lots of money on this "hobby" (obsession?)

What happens we we pop our clogs?

Who gets all our hard work?

I don't have children, my nieces & nephews aren't very interested. I've threatened to leave it all to the one who annoys me. :-D

I also told them I'll leave any money to the one who looks after us (OH and me) when we get old and dribbly............. there won't BE any money, as we have plans for growing old disgracefully.........if we have the energy. :-D

Whoever you leave it to, if he/she isn't interested, it will all get 'binned'

Offer it to the local FHS and let them decide rather than throw away. -jl

When I mentioned this to my daughter and son-in-law he said they would have a Find My Past bonfire! Cheeky pup!

However, my daughter said that, after all my hard work, she would keep it but she then assured me that it would be a very long time before she looked at it!

No-one bothered with Family Trees when I was a youngster and I certainly didnt take the opportunity when I had the chance and now too late.
The culture continues to-day in my grandchildren; they display a readiness to look at the whole picture but not individuals.
I suspect the 'The Big File' will gather dust in a garage somewhere.

If you can reduce your collection to a disc plus certificates, someone in the family might be willing to keep it. There's often someone in the family who takes a bit of interest.

If you have no close family, is there anyone at all with whom you share ancestry who would take it?

In my early days of searching, I made a paper family tree and pressed a copy on everyone, just to keep for their children, sometimes school projects crop up requiring family history.

Catherine,

I note from one of your posts on another thread that you have almost 19,000 names in your family tree on GR. Presumably by now you must have accumulated at least one cartload, possibly more, of BMD certificates that you have had to purchase to confirm that those individuals actually belong in your tree.

In your particular instance I think that if you hope that the result of all your hard work will not just be discarded when you and your OH pop your clogs then you should begin negotiating now with whoever amongst your relatives is the one the most available storage space. ;-)

I keep my tree of ancestors as a public tree on Ancestry. That way the information should be available for ages as a guide should my relatives take up the hobby. I don't mind if people copy it although I would hope they do some checking first.

I also make my GR tree available to anyone who wants it. I can't see the point of being secretive about information that is publicly available.

However I only have a few living members on my internet trees.

All my research and family tree is going to SoG (Society of Genealogists) with copies going to my three children. If my children want to bin it then it is up to them. A least a copy will be preserved by SoG.

hhhhmmmm, perhaps the FHS of SOG is the answer.

disc is a good idea - then put the disc in a time capsule, with instructions it has to go to somebody in the family in 100 years

only good if discs are being used in 100 years :-)

dont forget discs have a shelf life and so need to be replaced every few years as they go brittle.,

Copy to acid free paper and folders are the way to preserve all the hard work....paper will be still be around in 100 years ,,,,,gadets used now will not be I should imagne ,they will be condensed down to a pin head size, :-)

I don't think a small town in New South Wales would be interested in keeping my records of Scottish, Irish, English, French, Danish, German, Standinavian, American, Canadian, New Zealand etc etc... plus a few Aussies :-D

Surley we are doing this for our own benefit /amusement

As long as we get satisfaction from it, does it matter what happens to it when we have passed on?

No, of course not, in the grand scheme of things. However, a sister of my gggrandfather kept a written family history in the 1870's, I suppose.

In 1898 a later family member, related but not closely, wrote a book about our family, mentioned this 'auntie', saying,

'to this good and kind lady the compiler is indebted for a great part of this genealogy. She inherited the memory of her descent from the (named) family and placed it on record for the information of those interested. She was also fully informed concerning the (other named) family and descent and her MS notes were found remarkably correct on the more critical investigation which produced these pages'.

So some distant rellie in the future might be glad of your work, and might write the same about you.

Yep I am going to make a few copies, and then one for the local historical society and library. My concern is not the family tree all written as a book, but the little treasures I have from both side of the family some going back to mygreat great grandparents and all the old old photos

I guess my attitude to this is coloured by the fact that I have no siblings - and no grandchildren.

And I certainly wouldn't consider my research likely to be of any interest to outsiders.

D'you not have any good contacts on here, reggie? One of those might be happy to 'inherit' your stuff.

Info from SOG site http://www.sog.org.uk/library/surnames_intro.shtml

Additions to the document collection

Any new material for the Society's Document Collection such as birth, marriage and death certificates, copies of wills (especially un-probated ones), family trees etc are always welcome. Please give any items to the staff in the Middle Library or send it to the Society care of the Librarian. Donations are noted in the Genealogist's Magazine and any "new" surnames are added to the index.

You don't know who might be interested in some members of your tree in the future Reggie. I'm in the same position and asked our Records Office and they were very keen to have mine and the photos when I have gone so that is where they will go!