What’s going to become of your genealogy files when you’re no longer around?
Should you offer your research to a library, archives or historical society? Or is there a next generation in your family willing to take it? Should you consider that as part of your estate planning?
These are some of the points of discussion in Marian Burk Wood’s book, “Planning a Future for Your Family’s Past.” She focuses on helping you organize your material and deciding what your options are for their future. Her mantra: Don’t bequeath a genealogical mess.
She follows the PASS rules:
- Prepare by organizing materials.
- Allocate ownership.
- Set up a genealogical will and share with heirs.
- Study any storage system you are thinking of using — plastic boxes or whatever — to be sure it meets your needs.
She points out that you need to check with whomever or whatever organization you are thinking of willing your papers to, as neither has to accept your files just because you want to give them. This is a useful book to help you think now about what your options are and how to get your research in shape.
The softcover book is available from Amazon.com for $11.99 plus tax and shipping, or $3.99 plus tax for the digital version. Wood has a blog, https://climbingmyfamilytree.blogspot.com, where she has added “No Heirs for your Family Tree?” at my suggestion. The blog covers lots more.
The Oglethorpe Years subject of Lunch and Learn
“Colonial Georgia: The Oglethorpe Years” is the subject of the Georgia Archives Lunch and Learn virtual lecture on February 12 at noon. Robert C. Jones, prolific metro area author, will be the speaker. The free event is online via the Georgia Archives website — GeorgiaArchives.org — using Microsoft Teams. See the website for details. For more information, call 678-364-3710.
Biden Genealogy
A good bare-bones look at the ancestry of President Joe Biden, written by the late William Addams Reitwiesner, is at wargs.com/political/biden.html. Biden’s roots are in Ireland, Maryland and Pennsylvania.
Contact Kenneth H. Thomas Jr., P.O. Box 901, Decatur, Ga., 30031 or kenthomasongenealogy.com.
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