What to Do with Inherited Genealogy

Introduction: In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega suggests three steps to follow when you inherit family history material. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book “From the Family Kitchen.”

Was someone in your family a genealogist? Maybe you learned family history research from a family member, and they have gifted you their research. Maybe a death in the family meant that genealogically relevant research and documents were passed along to you because you’re the family historian.

Photo credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html

I recently traveled out of state to pick up some inherited genealogy research. A family member passed away earlier this year, and I picked up his research and am compiling it for his family. It’s important to me to honor his work and pass it along so that future generations of his family can benefit (and maybe become interested in genealogy).

Have you inherited boxes of research? Not sure how to tackle that research? Here are three ideas to get you started.

(1) Organize

Organization is a necessity with any research – but especially when you inherit someone else’s stacks of papers. It can be overwhelming to inherit page upon page of research. My suggestion is to start with the easiest stuff to organize and go from there. What’s the easiest? The duplicates.

I’ve never inherited research that wasn’t full of duplicates. Multiple copies of the same census sheet or pedigree charts are usually what I find. Before you begin, toss out the duplicates. That will make the inherited piles smaller and can help you focus on what’s left.

While you are recycling paper, add to that recycling pile anything that has nothing to do with your family research, such as old handouts and syllabi from presentations and conferences or magazines. It can be tempting to save these, but be honest with yourself about how much time you have to devote to working on this new genealogy project – with all of that work, when are you going to find extra time to read old (and most likely) outdated educational materials?

Once the initial sorting is complete, I organize the remaining documents according to surname, then married couple or individual. After everything is sorted, I enter the information into an online tree or genealogy software and attach records to each individual or family. I then throw away records that can be easily found online (such as those census copies printed from websites). Original documents, photographs, or hard-to-find items I digitized and file.

I know throwing away paper isn’t something most genealogists like to do. Please notice I listed what I would never throw away. The U.S. census is easily found online. You can save a digitized copy on your computer, but there is no reason to keep paper copies of it unless you have a specific need for those copies.

(2) Verify

It doesn’t matter how skilled that researcher was, it’s imperative that you verify their research. If they cited their sources this may be an easier task (though you will still need to analyze what they source). If they didn’t cite their sources, it will require you to do some research.

How do you do this? Start with their pedigree charts and family groups sheets. Person by person, add them to an online tree or genealogy software program. Some programs will alert you to issues like children born after a mother is dead or a location that didn’t exist in that time period. Take some time to ask questions about what you are looking at. Does the time and location make sense? Is it a common name that could be confused with other people of that same name? What do the supporting records tell you? Yes, inheriting genealogy means that you need to continue that research to ensure that it is correct.

(3) Preserve

Now that you’ve organized what you inherited, verified the information, and completed some research, it’s time to think about the future. Over the years I’ve inherited research that was not my direct line. As I think about what will happen to it after I pass away, I have to face the reality that my kids aren’t going to want a bunch of papers about people they don’t know or aren’t related to. Having been involved in a handful of estates I know what happens to the majority of the items a person leaves behind.

So how do I preserve these items for the future? Adding information to online trees is one way for the information to be found and appreciated by other researchers and family. I’ve been working on digitizing what I have and then adding it to online trees to be discovered. This way if it is thrown away after I’m gone it is still available to researchers.

Once you compile a collection it may be something you can donate to a genealogy library, archive, or historical society. Do your homework first. These institutions don’t want a pile of papers. Determine which repositories you’ll contact and then ask them if they are interested and what needs to be done for them to accept the donation. Not every repository has the room to store miscellaneous family history papers. However, if you do compile the research into a book, that can be donated to FamilySearch or other genealogy libraries. (To learn more about what FamilySearch accepts see their FamilySearch Library Donations page.)

As I go through the collections I’ve inherited, I pull out the items that surviving family may cherish, such as photos. Once digitized and shared online I contact family to see if they would like these copies.

So, what am I doing with this new collection I just picked up? After I organize it, I’m adding it to an online tree and then sharing that tree with other family members. I will digitize photos and make them available in an online cloud storage program so they can be downloaded. I’m also creating a family history book using the templates available from Family Tree Notebooks. I’ll make a digital copy of that book available, and then family can choose to print it.

Do You Have Inherited Genealogy?

Have you inherited genealogical research? How have you tackled the boxes or piles of research?

One thing to keep in mind is that someday, someone will inherit your research. What are you doing to preserve it? Keep in mind that what you consider important may be seen as an endless pile of paper to other family members.

Please share your plans in the comments below.

Explore over 330 years of newspapers and historical records in GenealogyBank. Discover your family story! Start a 7-Day Free Trial

Note on the header image: old photos and correspondence.
Credit: https://depositphotos.com/home.html