Welcome to The Briercliffe Society Forum

You can't pass a cemetery without stopping to see if one of your relatives is buried there.
There is a microfilm reader installed in your bathroom
You call travelling 10 miles to a shopping mall a lenghty trip but call a 100 mile trip to a cemetery a quick jaunt.
You ask every person you meet the last names of their grandparents
You have a massive collection of articles in which your surname is mentioned only once
You have carpel tunnel syndrome from cranking microfilm reader handles
You can recite the day, month and year of your great grandmother's birth but can't remember your own spouse's birthdate
More than half the photographs in your photo albums are of dead people
You can remember things that happened 100 years ago but can't remember what happened yesterday.

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Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

Hands up, how many of you were nodding and giggling as you read these?

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Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

Guess that would be me.
Worse than that, when we were in the Carribean, every island we visited I found myself looking at the gravestones in the churches instead of admiring the architecture. We even found mention of a Leaver having worked on the construction of the Panama canal.

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Maureen
If you can't fight, wear a big 'at

Nothing wrong with that Maureen.
I hold my hands up to all except the film reader in the bathroom. I do have a fiche reader on the dining table though

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Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

So true, I even have more pictures of dead people on my walls, than people who are alive, I am sure any visitors to my house must think I am a bit weird, but my hubbie bless him indulges me. When I am researching family I can actually transport myself in my mind to where they are and what they look like, think I must be a bit loopy eh!
Stephanie.

Me

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

Hahaha.

But what about your hubbies (with the exception of Stephanies)? Lyndon thinks I am a freak. He can talk to me about a new client and I have no idea what he is on about. His mum can talk to me about Mary - 'you know the one who lived next door to Mr Smith in 1871' and I know immediately who she is on about

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Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

Ha, same here Mel.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

I even look at Ontario cemeteries if I pass by one in a rural area, and as far as I know I have no relatives buried in Canada.

Joan

I cannot resist the old part of any cemetery, there is just something which draws me in. A newish one does nothing for me.

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Gloria

I'd be dangerous with a brain.

My dad, bless him, is now 84 and becoming confused. I'm so glad I started my tree and collected the old photos because I can talk to him about his family that I never met, and know who they are. He loves to talk about them because his long-term memory is still fairly good. When he starts to get distressed about being forgetful, it restores his confidence to talk about the things he can remember and it makes him happier. It's a small triumph for him and he gets so much pleasure out of looking at the photos. Even now I'm still gleaning little bits of extra information from him.
I always thought I was doing this for me and my descendants. I never stopped to think that my parents might benefit too.
So I make no apologies for the folders/ post-its/ scraps of paper all over the house. It's a kind of social work!

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Maureen
If you can't fight, wear a big 'at

Here Here, It is just the same for me with my Dad who is 89. My Son and Grandson arnt really interested yet, but all my 'stuff' will be theirs one day, when I am sure they will be more interested as they get older, so it is for future generations too dont you think?
Stephanie.

This is one of my problems. Who do I give my lot to when I leave here?
I have no kids (not going to have any) and none of the nephews or neices seem interested.
I guess it will go to an archive some where if they will have it. Would I have to split it though to do that? I cannot see Lancs being interested in the Staffordshire stuff and vice versa.

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Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

Leave a message in your will saying that it has to be sold on e bay, I am sure someone would want it Ha Ha, then have the proceeds donated to an Heritage society of your choice.
My lot might not even want my stuff, it is precious to me, but it might not mean anything to them. Whatever the outcome we will have enjoyed ourselves along the way wont we.
Stephanie.

I've been thinking about this issue as well. My son isn't interested and I don't think he ever will be, nor is my brother, who lives in England. My niece and nephew might be eventually, but right now they live in England and the Middle East.

What is the best format in which to save all this work, if an archive or library would be interested? I have Family Tree Maker software, but I can't see anyone wanting to transport my precious binders, with all my notes and documents, to another country, even if they could make sense of them.

If anyone else uses Family Tree Maker, could they explain to me how to backup to a flash drive. I have Version 16.

Joan