FamilyHistorySearch by  Enter your search terms Submit search form

An Obligation to Future Generations by Chris Krawczyk

What do you know about your ancestors? If you're lucky you know where they lived, when they were born, and when they died. You may have vital statistics and archival information on marriages, baptisms, burials, and other events. If you're really lucky you may have information which discusses occupations, or the amount of cattle they owned, or how they died. But what do you really know about these people?

I can't help but think of my great-great-great-great grandfather Isaac. We know he came here from a little townland called Jigginstown, in Ireland, sometime between 1831 and 1841. We visited Jigginstown last year. His farm is now a row of semi-detached townhouses. We toasted his memory with pints of Guinness and moved on.

We know when Isaac died, who he married, what he did (he was a farmer) etc... We have the family tree down from him encompassing almost 400 individuals. But again, what do we really know about the MAN? The answer is very little. In fact, next to nothing.

Who was Isaac? What were his greatest life experiences? His greatest trials? His fondest memories? All he was is lost. I'm sure his children remembered those things. I'm sure his grandchildren likely remembered some of those stories too. But as generations passed those stories faded into history. Who the man was inside was totally lost. All that remains are facts and statistics.

I'm of the school that believes genealogy should be about much more than finding and documenting events and dates. Events and dates provide the framework for the house that is your past. The stories about who your ancestors WERE make it a home. That is the spiritual connection that people are really seeking when they start to research their family history.

Yes we can infer alot about Isaac by looking at the events that surrounded him. However those are just probabilities. Now, imagine how amazing it would have been if Isaac had taken the time to write a series of letters about his life, describing all of his experiences and the world he lived in. Imagine how amazing it would be if we could ask him questions. What a wonderful thing that would've been.

Now, let's change our perspective for a minute. Let's travel into the future to the year 2157. Your great-great-great-great grandchildren are now retiring and they are seeking to learn about their origins.

They will likely have unprecedented access to vital records and census information. If your name ever appeared in a newspaper, or on the internet, they will likely find it. But again, how much will they really know about you? Will it be lost forever? Or will you take matters into your own hands and change that TODAY. You have the power to do that.

As genealogists we have an obligation to preserve information for future generations. This includes starting a system to maintain, and add to, this information as your family moves forward after you are gone. I will argue that this "system" should also include a way of recording the stories of the family (including yourself). You have the power to tell future generations about yourself and your generation. I believe we have an obligation to ensure those stories are not lost. There are many ways you can do this. We'll discuss some ideas below.

How you record the information is up to you. You can record it using video, audio, or even text. I like the video idea personally. Using the method you choose you will interview family members and record the interviews. Remember to have someone interview you.

Start by making a script of questions that you'll go through and send them to the family members well in advance of the interview. Start with the basic questions about who they are, when and where they were born, etc...

Then ask the questions you would want answers to if you were talking to a family member from two hundred years in the past. You may wish to let the family decide as a group what some of those questions will be. Letting them participate in the process will make their cooperation more likely as well.

While your list will be different here are some questions to think about to get you started:

1) Why did your parents move here?
2) How did you meet your wife?
3) Where were you when man set foot on the moon? What was that like?
4) What was World War two like?
5) Have you ever met any famous people? Who?
6) Tell us what you know about your parents / grandparents?
7) What are your earliest childhood memories?
8) If you had to list the top three moments in your life what would they be?
9) What's your favorite food? Favorite hobby? Favorite movie?
10) How would you describe an average day in your life?
11) What's life like in 2007?
12) What was your first job?
13) How has the world changed in the last 20 years?

Another possibility is to record interviews with the same people at different stages of their lives. Imagine meeting your great-grandfather when he was twenty years old. How cool would that be? This is a system your family will need to work out.

The possibilities are endless. As a family you'll need to decide what to do with the records. You might not want to post personal information like this on the internet. You may even want to keep all interviews totally sealed from the rest of the family until after a family member dies. The family will need to decide and appoint a custodian (likely yourself) within the family.

The custodian will be responsible for passing the records down, ensuring new records are recorded, and that a new custodian is appointed, when the time comes. The custodian should always have an heir in the wings. You never know when sudden tragedy can strike any of us.

No matter how you record the information and what questions you ask there are two absolute rules you must follow:

1) Record digitally. Whether its audio, video, or text. Computer files do not degrade over time. Paper and tape turn to dust. You should make sure that every ten years or so you look into transferring the digital files to new media. Media change overtime (remember the big floppies we used to use?) You should also look into converting the files to whatever new formats exist at that time. The good thing is because the files are digital there should never be a loss of quality.

2) Make lots of copies stored in different locations. This ensures that if one copy of the digital media is lost in a fire others will survive.

I hope this article has given you something to think about. Remember, while genealogists often work in the past, our moral obligation is really to future generations. Give them the opportunity to learn more than simple statistics about who you were. Give them what you wish your ancestors had given you.

What's New?