Genealogy Chat

I and probably all of you have at times been frustrated by not being able to find detail of our ancestors, what they did, where they worked, where they lived etc.
What details if any are you planning to your leave future generations and on what media, what do you think will last longest??
I have thought of putting a kind of timeline of my life in a word doc. and putting it on disc. Any thoughts

Not a bad idea, if you were also to keep a paper copy with the disc. One of the arguements we have with a Techie relative is whether electronic data stored now will be able to be read in years to come.

Only recently we gave away a floppy-disc reader to someone who desperately need to access some creative writting he'd saved on one. :-0

Save it all on cloud storage and pass on the log in details.

Oooooo Big Brother and all that. :-0

Mind you, that is another option to consider if you are comfortable with the idea

Not really sure what 'cloud' is or where to find one, but I dont think I would want to put all my details on the internet with so many hackers etc out there

Neither am I, but if you google the name there are quite a few results. My feelings are the same as yours; privacy and security.

On the other hand, we may come to accept it as the norm.

I've often thought about being able to read electronic media in the future. And I've put a lot of thought into what to leave behind and in what form.

One of the nicest things I've found left behind by one of my distant relatives is a book which he wrote about his life. It wasn't a particularly notable life in most ways, just a Norfolk country man, but he told it well and of course, it's relevant to me, as someone whose mother bore his name. So I'm in the process of writing up my own story, mostly from the family history point of view. I'm including details that I remember from my childhood, things I lived with and used, places I went, people I remember, and professions they had etc. Important dates and addresses, and timelines are being included, who I met, what jobs I've had, marriage, children, etc. When it's done I plan on adding some kind of family chart, and vanity publishing and giving copies to interested family members. And of course, I'll be keeping a copy with my own family history research.

I also plan on getting some nice printed family tree charts and framing one for each of the immediate family. Everything else will go into albums and scrapbooks and storage boxes and files, properly labelled and using proper archive sheets and boxes etc. There will also be a computer copy of the important 'bones' on a GEDCOM file ... or six! One thing I do well is overkill!

The cloud idea is quite a good one, but I too have concerns about hackers.

As my only son and his wife do not have children, there's no point in my leaving anything about my FH.

For those of you taking so much trouble, I hope that your descendants are actually interested

Reggie,
What about distant cousins offsprings etc who might want to know about you at some point in the future, I know that I would like info on my great uncles who worked in the iron foundrys of shropshire, they are not in the direct line of my tree but it would fill it out a bit.

Reggie, I agree. I'm not just researching my direct line of ancestors, I'm fascinated by what happened to siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins etc.

I have an interest in social history as well as who my ggg grandfather was. What did the family do with their lives, who did they marry? And don't forget that often the only way to discover more about an ancestor is to step sideways and look up one of their close relatives!

Yes, JudyS, I enjoy delving into all family branches, 4th cousins 3 xremoved et al! That way, you can begin to see the whole picture, and imagine their loves and lives.
I started to keep a card file, but it has now grown very large. I like to write a page or so about all the "main players", where they lived, their occupations, etc., and how their lives developed.
My daughter and grandchildren aren't terribly interested yet, but there was a time when I never gave it much thought, either.
Besides, I rather like my ancestors -they are relatives who don't give you any hassle!