What now?

[NevilleTB]

Over the last year I have been researching my family tree. I have found the help I received on Rootschat invaluable and am grateful for the information provided. Rightly or wrongly I decided to go back to when the first direct ancestor on each branch arrived in Australia, except in one case which would have taken me back about forty thousand years.

I prepared a document on each of the direct ancestor couples. I now have over 30 Word documents ranging in size from 30 to 80 pages including copies of documents, pictures and references in a timeline structure. The documents probably run to about 1,500 pages in total. Each document has three sections. A section for the male prior to marriage, the female prior to marriage, and the couple.

There are still a number of holes I have not been able to fill, and I can keep going to try and trace down more details, but I have probably found 90% of what I am ever going to find.

All this is very interesting on a personal or family level but I fell a bit like the dog that chased a car and caught it. What do I do now? I don't want all the information to disappear when I quit this mortal coil, but not sure what to do with it all.

I have a family tree on MyHeritage which has only part of the information and also some wrong information. I will progressively work through that and get it as up to date as possible, but that will be only reflect part of the research.

I thought I would put the question out there and see if genealogists much more experienced than I am can make some suggestions.

[Jackiemh]

Funnily enough, I was thinking along the same lines recently.
Although my family is interested in my research, i can't see any of them taking it on. I have quite a bit of paperwork to back up my findings plus a tree on Tribal pages.
So, I am wondering if I should put together a volume on my main family lines and donate it to, well that is another question.
I, too , am interested in suggestions.
Jackie

[majm]

Some thoughts

A multipage pdf for each ancestor is a great way to share... for example ...

  Have you considered joining various Family History Groups and sharing your papers with them?  Your local government authority's public library may have contact details.

  Have you considered joining the Society of Australian Genealogists NSW, (SAG) and offering your research to their archives?  https://www.sag.org.au/

  Have you considered one name study groups https://one-name.org/  and https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Guild_of_One-Name_Studies

Just some thoughts.       

JM

[Peter L. Mitchell]

Hi Neville.

I have also had this problem. I've done the following:

Transcribed any letters or family documents that have come into my possession (I have a wonderful four page crossed letter that will take centuries to finish).

Sat down with the oldest family member and asked her/him to tell me as much as possible about any old photos I have had. This worked best with my 94 year-old aunt. I had ziplock bags, notepad and pictures. Each picture was put into a bag along with the notes. Just invaluable.

Catalogued any books or furniture that have come into my possession, along with their correct stories.

Searched Trove for any information about the family members.

Used the Ancestry search of early Victorian teachers' records to locate the full details of any teachers and transcribed them (some of the inspectors' comments are brutal).

Created documents for each family that records where they lived at different times (Durham pitmen moved around a lot - very frustrating). Voting records are very useful for this sort of thing. Visiting these places and taking photos is a great way to add to the information). For many I've also used Google Maps screenshots to show distances and locations at various times.

Asked older family members to write down any anecdotes they remember from their childhoods and compiled them in documents.

Created a master document that records the details of every birth, marriage and death certificate I have purchased and then matched this information with family movements.

Good luck with it.

Peter

[NevilleTB]

Hi Peter
Sounds like a thorough job. Alas I have only one older relative who is only 8 years older than me. I have no family documents such as family bible (they were a bunch of heathens!) or diaries. If I had started 30 years ago, I could have turned up lots of more interesting stuff.

My dad who died at 92 was ruthless with old records. It all came down to one photo album with notes written on the photos. I have had to rely on available records. I have just about exhausted online resources so will move on to physical media at some point.

I am surprised an organisation has not started an online repository for amateur historians. I am looking at how to publish about 1200 pages of Word documents to create a surviving book of family history. If I find anything I will let you know.

[Peter L. Mitchell]

Sounds like you have been unlucky with the family records. I was very fortunate to have inherited quite a few items and I've spent many hours working on them.

One other thing I have been doing is passing on relevant records to historical societies in the areas where my ancestors lived. I'm also in the early stages of visiting these places and taking photos (a few teachers in the background) as an additional record. I'm in Australia, so that requires a bit of self-organisation and occasional travel.

The repository of family records is a really good idea. Good luck with it!

An online repository is a really good idea. Good luck with it!