Recap of "Apres Vous" #Genchat Discussion Q4

#Genchat discussion question #4 - "Apres Vous"

"Apres Vous" - What Happens to Your Family History Materials?

If you missed the #Genchat discussions on Twitter (February 28-29), you can read brief summaries of the answers in my series this week.

Below are the summarized answers to Q4, not presented in any particular order. They are good starting points to inform your thinking as you make plans for your family history collection "apres vous."

Q4: Who will have your family history materials after you join your ancestors? Participants tweeted:

• Some potential heirs say "not me" for either the entire collection or specific items/heirlooms. 
• Some potential heirs really want the collection or a specific item, and now the decision is what to give to each one.
• Some potential heirs may be more interested as older relatives pass and they recognize how the family is changing over time.
• Some potential heirs express no interest in learning genealogy software.
• One or two heirs might be interested, then the rest of collection will be donated to appropriate institutions (archives, library, museum, historical society, local genealogy society, etc.)
• FamilyTreeMaker allows users to nominate a successor. 
• WikiTree allows users to include an "advance directive" for their trees.
• Consider dividing and distributing duplicates and some photos now, leaving other decisions for heirs.
• Children will get all photos, "whether they like it or not." 
• Personal items can go in a box marked "save forever."
• Let heirs know where your DNA results are online and leave passwords so they can access those results.

As always, a shout-out to #Genchat co-hosts Liam "Sir Leprachaun Rabbit" (@leprchaunrabbit) and Christine McCloud (@geneapleau). They work hard to make the chats fun and functional!

You're always invited to join the #genealogy and #FamilyHistory conversation on Twitter. It's free and it's informative.

Recap of "Apres Vous" #Genchat Discussion Q3

"Apres Vous" - What Happens to Your Family History Materials?

Participants had a variety of interesting answers to question #3. This summary presents their ideas in no particular order--some thoughts for you to keep in mind when you are making your own decisions about keeping family history safe "apres vous."

Q3: Should you give any old photos or artifacts to relatives or institutions now? Why or why not? Participants tweeted:

• Not giving anything away yet, will digitize and distribute some things at a later date, to family and to an appropriate institution.
• Duplicates can go to other branches of the family, sharing the info more widely.
• Donating to an institution means documents and photos will be accessible to other researchers in the future.
• Giving copies of old photos to relatives now, with stories and context, may stimulate more interest in family history.
• Consider keeping items of personal interest to direct ancestors, but donating items not in direct line to appropriate institutions.
• Give away some photos when younger relatives are a little older and more interested in hearing about the family'shistory.
• If donating to an institution, make sure family knows which items have been donated where.
• If giving to one relative, be sure rest of family knows who has which photos.
• Consider providing a bio and/or family tree if donating to an institution.

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A hearty thank you to Liam "Sir Leprachaun Rabbit" (@leprchaunrabbit) and Christine McCloud (@geneapleau) for hosting #genchat every other Friday. I had fun serving as guest expert for this "apres vous" two-day conversation on Twitter.

Recap of "Apres Vous" #Genchat Discussion Q2

#Genchat discussion "Apres Vous" question #2

"Apres Vous" - What Happens to Your Family History Materials?

Lots of activity on Twitter during this recent #Genchat two-day conversation about what happens to our family history after we join our ancestors!

The answers to question #2, summarized and listed below, are starting points to keep in mind as you approach your own decisions about keeping family history safe "apres vous."

Q2: How can you organize your family history collection now, with future generations in mind? Participants suggested:

• Have information in one place, make it easy to understand (don't use your own shorthand and expect heirs to understand it).
• Consider putting documents into binders, organized and with tables of contents, to keep things together and safe. 
• Another idea is to use archival boxes, organized and with contents pages as a "finding aid" for the collection.
• Use a consistent organization system for paper and digital information.
• Weed out unimportant "junk" so collection is not a burden to heirs. This may help keep entire collection out of the trash later on.
• Consider whether your organizational system is "self-explanatory" to next generation.
• Label everything, identify people in photos, and indicate which side of the family tree your photos belong to.
• Put photos and originals into archival sleeves. Label all!
• Write about each heirloom, describe it, whose it was, the context, why it is treasured, how it came into the family and into your possession.
• Create a "treasure map" so heirs know what is where.
• Inform family of what other heirlooms/photos are in the hands of other relatives and/or institutions.
• Write the year in four digits, 3/2/2020 instead of 3/2/20, for clarity.

Many thanks to Christine McCloud (@geneapleau) and Liam "Sir Leprachaun Rabbit" (@leprchaunrabbit) for hosting lively #genchat conversations every other Friday. It was a privilege to be involved in the "Apres Vous" discussion!

You can drop in and follow the conversation or add your thoughts during #genchat every other Friday. See the schedule and more information here.

Recap of "Apres Vous" #Genchat Discussion Q1

#Genchat question from February 28-29, 2020 conversations

If you missed the first-ever double #Genchat on Twitter on February 28-29, this is a quick recap of the insightful and interesting discussion of question #1 on both days. Future blog posts will recap other questions and answers.

Thank you to Christine McCloud (@geneapleau) and Liam "Sir Leprachaun Rabbit" (@leprchaunrabbit) for hosting these fun, fast-paced tweeted conversations every other Friday. Here's a full schedule of 2020 #genchat topics.

"Apres Vous" - What Happens to Your Family History Materials?

The topic was "apres vous" and the chats included an icebreaker question plus seven questions to spark conversation.

It was an honor for me to serve as guest expert for the two days. I learned a lot from the participants on multiple continents, and I've really enjoyed participating in the ongoing conversation, too. This is such an important topic for everyone in the genealogy world, one that's worthy of continued discussion and consideration.

Following is a brief recap of participants' answers, summarized from their tweets. Food for thought as you make your own decisions about "apres vous."

Q1: What should you consider when planning to pass family history materials to the next generation? Participants suggested:

• Label everything, physical and digital.
• Label, date, provide context for photos, heirlooms, and other items.
• Identify memorabilia with family-history significance.
• Create a spreadsheet and number all items to correspond to spreadsheet numbering.
• Consider whether the person who will inherit your family-history collection has space to store it properly.
• Consider how to organize the collection so it makes sense to heirs.
• Try to keep collection together in one place.
• Consider separating items to go to different heirs, depending on their interests.
• Consider who in family would value the collection and keep it safe.
• Consider who would have the motivation and the interest to inherit the collection.
• Keep the stories alive, in a blog or a book/photobook or by telling them over and over.
• Record the source of your stories, photos, and memorabilia.
• Tell the new generation stories about people who are no longer with us.
• Share your passwords to genealogy sites with your heirs.
• Consider what is worth passing down to next generation and what is really trash.
• Inventory your genealogy collection and include the location of each item. 
• Some folks keep most important items in safe deposit box. Tell people where.

Recap of Q2 coming soon!

Clues in Family-History Books: Caveat Emptor!

Searching for surnames in books on FamilySearch.org

Let me say it yet again: I married my husband for his ancestors! Happily for me, there are many people researching his ancestral surnames.

Even more important, a number of these people have written books about their research into the history of specific families. As valuable as the books are, loaded with useful clues, I have to say caveat emptor.

Inheriting a Larimer Family History

My husband's family has had a copy of a particular LARIMER book in their hands for more than 60 years. They knew the cousin who researched and wrote it. The author wrote eloquently about the Larimer patriarch who was shipwrecked en route from Northern Ireland to America; he listed every descendant he could find or find a name for, and a tid-bit about each person's life.

This author personally contacted my husband's parents in the 1950s to request information about their family. First-hand knowledge!

Yet I know this book has some typos and mistakes. On our family's copy, my late father-in-law or mother-in-law crossed out names and dates that weren't correct and wrote corrections in pen or pencil. The book listed the wrong death date for my husband's grandmother, for instance. In all, I found a dozen handwritten corrections. And those are only the errors my in-laws were aware of.

Nonetheless, these days, when a cousin contacts me about Larimer ancestors, I send this link to the book on the FamilySearch.org website. Anyone can download and read the book for free, from anywhere. Just don't make the mistake of believing everything. Check. It. Yourself. 

In other words, caveat emptor. Keep the Genealogical Proof Standard in mind while reading, and treat the contents as clues.

Searching for a Surname Book

To see whether Family Search has a book about a particular surname, navigate to the page where you can search only the book collection. See the screenshot above for an example where I searched for "McKibbin" and "Indiana" to find anything about a family that intermarried with the Larimer family in that state. (Sometimes creative spelling will turn up additional books to consider.)

At the top of the results is a book tracing the ancestry of a McKibbin family in Indiana and those who intermarried with it. I've downloaded this free book, which was written in 1977 and subsequently submitted to the Family History Library. Now I'm in the process of checking the information against what I've discovered in other records and from other sources.

There are also other books with the McKibbin surname, the Larimer surname, and names that appear in my husband's family tree a few generations back (such as Work, another family that intermarried with Larimer descendants).

Slowly, I'm making my way through the results lists to see which books are relevant to my research. Along the way, I'm gaining an appreciation for the social, historical, and economic context these family-history books add to my knowledge of hubby's family tree.

Colleen Brown Pasquale ("Leaves & Branches" blog) also suggests searching for family histories in Gengophers.com, which links to results at Family History Libraries, FamilySearch, and other sites.

Caveat Emptor: Clues, Not Facts

Until I can verify, the information in any family-history book is a clue, not a fact. But there are some great clues to be found, as long as I keep caveat emptor in mind.