Where will you save your family tree?

The oak tree in front of my house is over 100 years old.
I can only hope that my genealogical tree lasts that long. 

Something to think about . . . 

Someday, my children (or maybe their children) are going to give away my computer. They may check for personal information and maybe wipe it. However, I am fairly certain they will not open my Family Tree Maker application. 

I have recently come to the conclusion that if I want to pass on my knowledge of my family's history, I should not rely only on this blog or donated materials. I need to share on a public tree. My tree on my Family Tree Maker application is now my backup. My public tree at Ancestry gets all of my attention. When I am writing about an ancestor, ALL of his or her relevant records are now added to my Ancestry tree. I make notes in sections where facts might be questionable or where I might see conflicts with other trees. If I write a post about an ancestor, I turn it into a story to be added to my Ancestry tree.

I know that the public trees at Ancestry require a subscription, so they are not completely open to the public. But I like that I can control the content of my Ancestry tree - no one makes changes except me. 

Ancestry does not delete trees. Even the old WorldConnect trees that retired last month are being migrated to Ancestry as a free-access collection. 

I'm not promoting Ancestry - they certainly don't give me any discounts. There are many ways to share trees. I'm just saying that each one of us needs to think about how we plan to make sure that our hard work continues to be shared even when we can no longer share it. 

If you want to know more about the families I research, click here to like my Facebook page, where you will see each post and other genealogical finds. 

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Diana

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