Dear Listers, The following message came to me on another list and I think it's worth sharing. Kathy Devlin --------------------------- Hi Listers, This came to me from another mailing list I am on and I thought it was a terrific thing. I am sure you are all like me and have spent hundreds of hours gathering information, it would be a shame to see it lost in the next generation. Hope it does some good. Dana Stokes Genealogical Codicil to My Last Will and Testament To my spouse, children, guardian, administrator and/or executor: Upon my demise it is requested that you DO NOT dispose of any or all of my genealogical records, both those prepared personally by me and those records prepared by others which may be in my possession, including but not limited to books, files, notebooks or computer programs for a period of two years. During this time period, please attempt to identify one or more persons who would be willing to take custody of the said materials and the responsibility of maintaining and continuing the family histories. [If you know whom within your family or friends are likely candidates to accept these materials, please add the following at this point: "I suggest that the persons contacted regarding the assumption of the custody of these items include but not be limited to" and then list the names of those individuals at this point, with their addresses and telephone numbers if known] In the event you do no find anyone to accept these materials, please contact the various genealogical organizations that I have been a member of and determine if they will accept some parts or all of my genealogical materials. [List of organizations, addresses and phone numbers at bottom; include local chapters, with their addresses, phone numbers and contact persons if available as well as state/national contact information and addresses] Please remember that my genealogical endeavors consumed a great deal of time, travel, and money. Therefore it is my desire that the products of these endeavors be allowed to continue in a manner that will make them available to others in the future. Signature ___________________________ Date ___________ Witness ____________________________ Date ___________ Witness ____________________________ Date ___________ ==== IOWA Mailing List ==== The IOWA Lists now have their own website with unsub instructions, list rules and other useful information. Visit & Bookmark http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~richard/ialist ============================== Gain access to over two billion names including the new Immigration Collection with an Ancestry.com free trial. Click to learn more. http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=4930&sourceid=1237

Good Afternoon, Listers: Hi Kathy -- thanks for posting! Feeling a bit lazy, I am copying and pasting in what I responded to someone who commented on this same post by someone else on another list I administer. That poster had some very valid comments regarding the wording and efficacy. This is a partial quote. ............. "In many states, this clause would be precatory, not mandatory. The words "requested" and "please" make it an optional action on the part of an executor." ................. my reply to the thread: Marilyn -- well stated. I, too, was going to mention that it is far better to choose and have an agreement with the person or persons in line to inherit your hard work and pick up where you left off. Many of us have been entrusted with the skeletons in the closet. They are not always documented in our readable records and notes. We certainly do not want to take them with us when we go. That would defeat the purpose of being given the key to the closet in the first place. They need to be entrusted to someone that will not allow them to dance until no harm can come of letting them out of the closet. We need to personally turn over some of those closet keys. Last summer, one of the subscribers to the Boyd list, and a life member of the House of Boyd Society died. Linda was an ***excellent*** researcher. Very meticulous and very picky about how or if records, research, etc. would be shared and with whom. She believed in proving every detail you are given and expected nothing less from others. She would only share GEDCOMS with those that had a particular program so the hard work and notes she included would remain intact. And at that, you did not get "the whole thing." You were grateful to get the portion that was the line you were researching. As most of us do, she had collected mountains of data and had input it, but not yet truly organized her work so that it was "library ready." When she found she had cancer and might only have 2 months to live, more if she was lucky, she used a good deal of her energy, or what was left of it, to spend time with her family -- both living and archived -- to get her life's work in order. She took precious time to find a home for her research and ensuing reports, documentation, correspondence, etc. A college in Tennessee agreed to take her research. It is unrelated to Tennessee and Tenesseans. However, they were so impressed by the caliber of her work, they wanted to house it so it would be shared with others. They provided her with the format and needs to be met in order that they could microfilm her life's work. She knew before she died that her husband would be given a full copy and that subsequently other copies would be sold, and for how much a roll, to offset their microfilm costs. She made this information known to her fellow researchers. When she set to work to tie up the loose ends of her research, as is, she found she had kept multiple copies of all the reports she had probably ever printed and no one but her could really sort them out. So she set about culling the extraneous to make the process easier for someone else to complete if necessary. And it was. Her wonderful husband of many years, a non-genealogical type, was charged with completing the process of preparing the documents of the body of her works for presentation to the Library. She taught him how. And he took it on as a labor of love and honored her life's work. It is now ensured that it will be preserved, not only for her two sons, but for their future children and more. So, while you are considering whom to take the mantle from you with regard to your research, consider the condition you leave it to them. Set a schedule to get your notes and documents put in an order that will be useful and easy for others to follow. Catalog your items. Do not assume a repository or your local genealogical society will accept your "gift" without first consulting them. They may not want it, nor may they have a way to store or deal with it. It is far better for you, the genealogist of your family, research and find a home for your life's work, than to entrust it's future to those who likely would rather roast marshmallows over the nice bonfire it could make! Good topic. Thanks for bringing it up. If anyone has something to add to these tips, please do! Happy Trails, Lauren ............... ps... could you imagine MCGS being chosen to "house" or finish someone's genealogy? We do not at this time have the resources to do so. I suspect that many other Societies do not either.