Will there be an estate to tend to in the future? Start planning now. Other family members will see papers as trash rather than genealogical gems. Make sure that you volunteer to help with the estate when the time comes. The estate may be a direct line ancestor or may not be. So, express your desire to help and preserve information. And, ask yourself a few questions now in order to preserve important clues to your family’s history.
Where are family papers such as birth, marriage and death records?
Older relatives may be preserving the records from their parents or aunts and uncles. That may mean that papers are located in several places. Also, ask after family bibles or birth and death books with newspaper clippings.
2. Can you locate collections of letters, journals and scrapbooks?
The stereotypical pack of love letters tied with a ribbon may be something you will encounter. Find out if there are letters from friends, spouses or grandparents. Scrapbooks are more common than journals and both are a portal into your family history. These provide an insight to relationships and the lives of the extended family. While you are at it, ask about old school papers, grades and yearbooks.
3. Do you know what you would like to have and what other family members would like?
When you know what would have special meaning to you, say so. Make sure that every family member gets something they want if you are in charge of the estate cleaning. Start exploring this topic now as some family treasures everybody will want!
In the meantime, visit your elderly loved ones and spend time with them. Interview and record their stories about family, their memories of historical events or times of need and how inventions have changed communication over the years.
Interviewing, A Make Family History 7 book:
Find Your Heritage: Family Member Interviewing Journal with Prompts, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B086L1FZDC
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