A good ancestor keeps certificates including birth and death certificates; records including health, military, naturalization, and school; passports; newspaper and church notices; awards; photos; art and craft work; journals; Bibles; diaries; baby, school and wedding books; heirlooms.
He or she dates correspondence, cares for tombstones, keeps research organized, writes or tapes the family stories, and supports family organizations.
A good ancestor dates everything, is sure that full names are included, records where material may be found and always sees that at least one other copy of important data is somewhere else.
A hundred years from now, will they think YOU were a good ancestor?
I have so many ancestors who just annoy the heck out of me. It's like they were beamed here by aliens, and then simply vanished. So I really do try to be a good ancestor, for my daughter and for her future children.
But sometimes, life gets in the way. Photos are unlabeled, important documents are stacked on my desk awaiting filing. I forget to update my daughter's baby book for months at a time.
It's so hard to keep up with everything. Perhaps I just need to be more organized? Or lower my expectations?
What's your secret? Are YOU a good ancestor? If so, how do you do it?
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SOURCE:
"Are You a Good Ancestor?" found at Genealogy Humor
Copyright © 2008 by Elizabeth O'Neal
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4 comments:
Here's what I do:
1. Use my Outlook calendar to place reminders just like Data Backup Day. I will place stuff like "Reorganize Photo Box" or "Work on Photo Properties"
2. Take advantage of quiet times and anticipate them. I'll save certain organization project that don't make lots of noise for a quieter time of day - usually when ic an't sleep.
3. Don't beat yourself up. I've realized long ago I can't do it all: I can't read every genea-blog post I want, I can't write every article or story I want. So I keep a "notes" file in .txt format on my desktop.
Into it I place links, notes, etc. Then I go back and review it when I get a chance each day.
thomas
I'm a pack rat so some future descendant will have lots to sort through. I guess I could organize it all for them but why deny them the fun of trying to figure it all out? Genealogy would be boring if it was all just handed to us ;-)
I absolutely love the new three column look!
What a great topic! I have some ancestors like you do...now you see them and now you don't. I'm probably not the best ancestor, but I have collected and scanned all of my military records - to include my Army medical records...hopefully they will be around for awhile. One thing I haven't done is record very much of my life so someone in the future could have a good idea of how I lived.
I kind of look at myself as an ancestor way-station...with all I've collected about my family, some future genealogist will get a lot of leads about the family from me.
Tim
Those are some outstanding ideas - thank you for sharing!
TIM, I think at this point in my life, I'm also an "ancestor way-station." I'm trying to gather everything up that I can find, but it won't necessarily be organized, unless I find some time later in life. It's hard to do with a busy 2 y/o in the house!
APPLE, I hear ya on the packrat stuff. My husband and I both fall into that category (which is why we can hardly walk in our office!). Although I think I would LOVE it if someone would just HAND me any information whatsoever on my mother's family - sometimes the frustration is just too much!!!
THOMAS, you are my genea-idol. I long to be as organized as you are. So... WHEN would you like to babysit so I can catch up on my filing? ;-)
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