52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 52 "Future"

PRESERVING MY RESEARCH

Here we are - Week 52 in the "52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks" Challenge.  I made it!  I am proud of myself for persevering through these last 52 weeks so that I could complete the challenge.  I now have 52 posts with stories of my ancestors which I enjoyed creating on my blog.

But now what?  Yes, I have recorded photos, stories and details of my various ancestors and their lives and they are now residing on my blog.  

What about the future?  Will blogs still appear on the Web as the years go by.  Will Ancestry.com and Family Tree Maker still exist as the years go by?  Who knows.

While I do have my more than 40+ years of research on Family Tree Maker and also on Ancestry.com will those remain there in the future.  As I have seen in my life technology has changed and improved over the years from manual typewriters, electric typewriters, word processors, DOS computers and finally the Internet and  I have enjoyed all the research benefits that Windows computers have given me.

While I was never married and never blessed to have children of my own I do want my research to be preserved into the future.  My niece has already advised me that she wants all my research and I will give her access to my Family Tree Maker and Ancestry.  But while that data is very important it does not include all the other ancestral information.

That is why I have been creating books on my various family lines and having them professionally printed.  These will also be passed on to my niece and hopefully to her children and their families some day though her children right now are only 5, 3 and 6 months!

Here are the 4 books that I have created so far.  They are all different, created in different styles and formats but contain valuable information on our ancestors that cannot be totally found in Family Tree Maker and/or Ancestry.

My first book created in 2008 prior to my trip to Berlin to meet and visit with Kolberg cousins.  I created this book to give my cousin as a "host gift" as it contained information on our mutual Kolberg ancestors from Klein Tuchen, Kreis Bütow, Pommern that he was not aware of.  In return he gave me vital information on his branch of our Kolberg family which will someday be included in a larger and more comprehensive book on our Kolberg ancestors:

Book number two created in 2020 with a cousin of mine on our Schulte line from Beckum, Westphalia, Germany to Detroit, Michigan:

Book number three, in conjunction with the above book, also with my cousin's expertise.  This book details our Schulte ancestry from our 2nd great grandfather, Joseph Meyer Schulte, his ancestors and descendants.  This was a mammoth project that took many years but one that my cousin and I are very proud of.

Front cover:

and back cover:

And, finally, my most current book completed this year.  This is a book detailing my 2 1/2 week visit to Berlin, Germany in 2008 to visit my above named Kolberg cousins.  While I had intended to prepare this book soon after my trip, it only took me 13 years to finally knuckle down and create the book!

This 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge has now been completed and I look forward to creating more family books in the future.  I am seriously considering taking these 52 posts and putting them into a book - or 3 books considering the size of my posts - in the coming year!

I recently saw a quote that spoke to me regarding the preservation of our memories:

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us.  What we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal" by Albert Pike.

I hope that my research, a very important part of my life, continues to be shared with generations to come! 

Copyright 2021, Cheryl J. Schulte