What
happens over three generations to the family history records in a family? And what will happen to your records over the
next three generations in your family?
My Great-Grandfather was a prolific genealogist. He did his best to preserve his records for
coming generations, but the large collection and methods of preservation have
been a challenge in my family. Likewise
you can’t see into the future, but there are measures you can take now to help
make sure your Great-Great-Great-Grandchildren can learn about their
heritage.
In four generations we have gone from ledgers, journals and
letter writing, to iPads, YouTube and Megadatabases. We can’t predict what the next three
generations will bring, but we know it will be vastly different than what we
have now. How can you hedge your bets
and make sure that future generations will be able to learn about your family’s
history?
Joseph Hatten Carpenter: Genealogist
My
Great Grandfather left us 18 volumes of family group sheets, 33 personal
journals, one genealogy chart, and several loose ledgers, letters, a book of
poems, and etc. He
intended that they be donated to an archive for safekeeping. As
far as we can tell, the family didn’t exactly do what he asked, but it has
turned out ok. The family group records that would have been
discarded by an archive have been kept in the family which is now working to
digitize them. The journals have been
preserved in an archive where everyone has access to them. Joseph
had 5 children,18 grandchildren, and now has great-great-great grandchildren. Different
branches of the family have ended up with different heirlooms.
“One arises from the study of genealogy with a
clearer and more charitable conception of the whole brotherhood of man.” –My Great
Grandfather, Joseph Hatten Carpenter
I’m sure my Great-Grandfather would be pleased if you were able to
better archive and pass on your family history records because of the lessons
you learned from his experience. Good
luck.
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