Welcome to The Briercliffe Society Forum

I don't use FTM but I would have thought that there is a 'backup' option in the 'File' drop down menu Joan.

I looked into the possibility of depositing my info a few years ago (on the event of my death). I can't remember the archive/organisation I was looking at but there was a specific format before they would accept it. I decided not to bother.
It would seem a shame for it not to go to go good use after the time, effort, money and enjoyment spent in researching it.

_________________
Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

Just about all the other researchers I've contacted have been extraordinarily generous about sharing their data. Perhaps that comes at least partly from the frustration we feel when we can't get our families to see how fascinating it all is - it's so nice to find someone who really is interested, even if they are an umpteenth cousin several times removed and living on the other side of the world.

As to bequeathing our data: I think most of us are doing this work (if you can call it work) for ourselves first: if someone else is interested, that's a bonus. If we can't interest our families, we can at least upload our data to various genealogical sites - such as the Briercliffe Society at one end of the scale, or Ancestry or the IGI at the other - in the hope that it will be useful to some distant relative we've never heard of. In fact we probably ought to do that anyway.

I find it very odd that people aren't interested in who their ancestors were and what they did; but I suppose other people think it's very odd that I am!

Charon

Yes Charon,fully agree with that.I suppose the problem is what to do with all the stuff like BMD certificates and photographs and newspaper cuttings etc etc etc that are not stored on a pc but are in hard copy form in filing cabinets.

_________________
David
Genealogists do it in the library.

You're quite right David - though in an ideal world (or one sort of an ideal world!) we'd have all that stuff digitised, wouldn't we? Then all that would be left to bequeath would be solid heirlooms - my grandfather's clock, for instance. But finding homes for even those things doesn't seem to be all that easy.

By the way, in my opinion (as a late starter, and one who hasn't yet accumulated a huge mound of paper) it's a good idea to scan every document and store the scans in at least two places. How would we feel if we had a fire or a burglary and lost it all?

Though I suppose in the case of a burglary the list of suspects would be quite short

Charon

It's not just the documents that I am thinking of. I have spent £100's on books relating to my research. What will I do with those?
I also have a (fob?) watch that is only in my possession because of the tree. The list of 'material' objects that concen me is endless. Maybe a museum would have those...or the nephews/nieces will sell them and pocket any cash?

_________________
Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

Well when you buy Extwistle Hall Mel and restore it ,maybe you can add the Briercliffe Society Historical Records Wing where we can all deposit our stuff for future generations.

_________________
David
Genealogists do it in the library.

Oooh, there's a thought. My very own museum!

_________________
Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

You (one) could make a list of the books you've found useful, and keep it safe, preferably digitised, so that if you find others who share the same interest they could get copies of their own, or from libraries. In fact, this forum already contains a lot of tips of that kind. One's own list would also be useful when one had that fire I was talking about.

Sadly, as I found out when I cleared my parents' house, most of the books we have are of little interest to most other people and worth far less than we paid for them, if anything at all. It would be a kindness to our Executors if the older generation among us were to clear our shelves while we're still living!

Of course, really rare books should be preserved and could be offered to any organisation that will have them, from the British Library downwards. In-between books, such as A Lancashire Township, do sell on eBay, as we've seen, and presumably go to good homes.

As for Mel's fob watch and my Grandfather's clock, the inheritors can always go for eBay or Flog It! We shan't be here to weep about them.

Charon

All this talk of death has got me depressed.

_________________
David
Genealogists do it in the library.

Dont be depressed David, after all death is our hobby isnt it with all our researching. I to have treasured items handed down through the family, they mean the world to me, but to family they probably seem like a load of old rubbish. My son jokes (least I think he is joking) that he will flog it all, but I have told him if he does that I will come back and haunt him. He does have a sentimental spot even though he would deny this, he still has a couple of teddies from being a baby so maybe all will not be lost, I wont be around to worry will I, unless I decide to take it all with me, then there would'nt be any room for me in the box ha ha.
Stephanie.

Mel, thanks for your response to my Family Tree Maker question. Yes, there is a backup selection on the drop down file menu. It includes directions for changing the destination location to a flash drive but the program won't accept it. I've been backing up to CDs, and I'll continue to do that until I figure it out. The Help option is not much help. I just thought there might be another FTM user out there.

Joan

I think Kris is a user of FTM, he is back at the weekend Joan.

_________________
Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

I normally use Family Historian but I have a copy of FTM v 12. I was able to save a file to a flash drive as follows:

1 insert flash drive in USB socket
2 in FTM, open file you wish to save
3 Click on :
> save
> export file
> entire file
> (use up arrow in Save line to go to) My Computer
> flash drive (E in my case)
> give file a name (I have a running series of update numbers)
> save

I don't see why it shouldn't work with FTM v 16. Any thoughts, Mel? Worth a try?

Charon

The instructions are more or less the same in PAF so I agree with you, it should work. I can't understand how saving to a flash drive should be any different to saving to a CD. The method must be the same?

_________________
Mel

Searching for lost relatives? Win the Lottery!

I use FTM but I only ever back mine up to cd and also email it top my laptop.

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