Preserving your Family History - Part One

Image from WikipediaOne of my favorite hobbies is genealogy or the history of my family. There is so much to learn from digging into your families past. Joy thinks I’m crazy but to me it is fascinating. Unfortunately I waited till both my parents as well as grandparents had passed away. This of course made things more difficult. Shortly after my Mom died by aunt her sister developed Alzheimer’s and could even remember her grandmother’s maiden name. On my father’s side my father’s sister was way off in left field on what she thought the family history was.

Even if you are not into family history per say please realize that most likely someone in your family will start searching their family roots. It could be one of you children or grandchildren, it could be a niece or nephew or even yourself ten years from now. They may even have to do this for a school project someday. Don’t be the disappointing relative who is ignorant of your family background.

We all take pictures, video and keep keepsakes to preserve our memories. But we do a poor job of keeping those memories alive for the next generation. Often our memories die with us simply because we never thought of organizing things in away that will allow our children or great grandchildren to know what these symbols of our memories mean. In the next couple of posts I will discuss a few simple things that we can all do properly preserve the family history.