I don't want to be a brickwall for my descendants. I am sure they will have enough of those to solve without me adding to the frustration. When I was making my 2011 genealogical goals one of my 11 for 11 was to "Research myself! Add personal facts to my genealogical software."
I started using Roots Magic as my software program and it has a very nice selection of facts to add to each person. If by chance there isn't a fact for your situation, you can create one. So, I really don't have any excuse for not adding my facts to the program. I guess I just get hung up on researching the past.
Well, no more! I am going to research myself! Here is some of the information I plan on leaving for future generations. I hope they will be thanking me and I become one of their favorite ancestors.
What kind of information would you like to leave for your ancestors?
I started using Roots Magic as my software program and it has a very nice selection of facts to add to each person. If by chance there isn't a fact for your situation, you can create one. So, I really don't have any excuse for not adding my facts to the program. I guess I just get hung up on researching the past.
Well, no more! I am going to research myself! Here is some of the information I plan on leaving for future generations. I hope they will be thanking me and I become one of their favorite ancestors.
- Records and Certificates recording significant events in my life. For example, birth certificate, baptismal certificate, school records (high school and college), and marriage certificate. In addition to the certificates I am trying to write a few lines about each document. For example, future researchers may want to know why I was baptized 200 miles from my birth place. It was the church my parents were married in and there wasn't a Lutheran church in my hometown.
- Residence/Census Information. They won't be scratching their heads wondering where I lived in 2010 Census, I have put a residence fact for each place and a note with the time period I have lived there. I added who was head of household and who else lived there at that time. I included the street address, too. I included pictures for those places I have pictures for.
- Property/Land Records. We have owned two houses in my 30 years of marriage and I plan to add that information with a scan of the deeds and/or mortgage papers.
- School Information and Pictures. I have quite a few class pictures from elementary school. I plan to scan them into my program. I scanned my Kindergarten one in and when I went to list my classmates, I couldn't remember all their names. So, I posted it on facebook and asked my friends (I have connected with a few friends from elementary school there) and we came up with all but 4 names out of a class of 28 or so.
- Information from scrapbooks and memory books I have. I have a memory book from confirmation, high school senior year and my wedding. I have receipts from various things in each. I plan to go through them and scan (with my flip pal!) interesting things I saved. I have 2 scrapbooks from my childhood and teen years that I want to go through. They are in pretty rough shape. I have newspaper clippings from the Detroit Riots, Top 100 Song lists for a few years, TV Guide articles on Batman, and clippings about the Detroit Tigers in the 60's. All things I remember being interested in, and maybe a little obsessed about(Batman!?).
- Memories of my life. In addition to having the facts for my ancestors, I especially enjoy when I can learn more about the person. I plan to write in the notes section information about my likes, dislikes, activities and any other memories from my past. I think I will write a few blog posts about this, too. I have a feeling 52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy and History will keep me focused.
- Pictures! I would like to scan in pictures from various points in my life and write a little about my memories of the picture. I may even ask my parents about them and see what they remember.
What kind of information would you like to leave for your ancestors?
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Posts
January 19, 2011 8:35 AM
This is an excellent idea and I've often thought how I neglect collecting information on the living persons in my family, including myself. I guess I just find the dead a whole lot more interesting!
January 19, 2011 8:40 AM
I, too, find the dead more interesting! Once I document myself I plan to move on to other living members of my family.
January 19, 2011 8:57 AM
I've got quite a bit of information on myself. i find myself almost as interesting as dead people. i've collected info on my husband and children as well. It's in binders mostly and I need to scan it in and fill in the blanks. I like the idea of listing houses and households with photos.
January 24, 2011 10:13 AM
As someone who has written her family history, I can attest collecting information from dead people is far easier then seeking the co-operation of the living. But of course that doesn't stop me from being a nag.
January 24, 2011 1:28 PM
Kristin, you are on your way to becoming someone's favorite ancestor. I am glad you are including yourself and family members in your research.
Lynn, your descendents will appreciate your nagging in the future!
January 28, 2011 8:55 AM
This is an interesting idea that most of us neglect while being so busy collecting data on past ancestors. I suspect there's at least a little bit of reluctance to record details of the living for privacy reasons, or at least I always get a little inner twinge when I consider the possibility it might get inadvertently published and cause a privacy concern. I may not go as whole-hog as you, but I'll certainly be adding more information about me to my database.
January 28, 2011 9:05 AM
Daniel, I understand your privacy concerns. My Roots Magic software program allows me to mark information as private and I use that for all living persons in my database. Any information marked private doesn't show up on the reports. I am very careful about that.