By LaRae Free Kerr

As family history researchers, we may think the proliferation of information on the Internet and the use of multiple technologies – including health technologies – has made finding our ancestors a slam dunk. One of the messages of 2007 regarding genealogy certainly supports that: the underlying rationale of genealogy has changed from one of elitism to one of democracy. But a second message of 2007 in these State of Genealogy remarks should scare researchers into action.

The Internet has democratized genealogy, making family research available to all, not just to nobility, royalty and the very rich – those who want to insure the continuation of lands, holdings and incomes in a few hands via inheritance. The underlying societal shift resulting from this democratization is a sense that even the poorest serf, the most abject slave, the most desperate indentured servant – and their descendants – are of surpassing importance.

This genealogical democracy is more than a wide-spread attitude change, however; it also increases both wealth and health for some. As far as wealth goes, people die intestate throughout the world, leaving small or massive amounts of money with no one designated to receive them. This money goes to governments unless heir hunters can find the relatives before the government deadlines arrive.

Fraser and Fraser, a British heir hunting company, distributes £30,000 to £300,000 and more to various unsuspecting relatives of super-saving deceased persons. Their fascinating video at http://www.lostkin.co.uk/heirhunters/default.htm shows researchers burrowing into records, knocking on doors and in general spreading the wealth. An entertaining novel called The Heir Hunter by Chris Larsgaard describes the same process at a fictitious American company.

In addition to sharing the wealth, genealogy research also shares health. A Reuters headline at http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSL2856779820080102 proclaims “Colon cancer risk traced to common ancestor.” According to the article by Michael Kahn, “a married couple who sailed to America from England around 1630 are the reason why thousands of people in the United States are at higher risk of a hereditary form of colon cancer.”

The article went on to say, “Cancer researchers at the Huntsman Cancer Institute in Utah did not name the families but said thousands of people across the country may have the mutation that spread widely as the couple’s descendants branched apart over many generations.”

In a second article at http://www.deserttelevision.com/Global/story.asp?S=7566420, Amanda Gardner names Mr. and Mrs. George Fry as the 1630 carriers of the colon cancer gene. Anyone descended from the Frys can now take steps to decrease their chances of suffering this type of cancer. This health-related use of genealogical information is but a tip of the iceberg in how family research can be used to save lives.

At the ICAPGen conference on the 10th of November, 2007, L. Reynolds Cahoon delivered a message entitled Our Digital Legacy, What We Don’t Know Will Surely Hurt Us. This may be the most important message to come out of 2007. The following information is from my notes of his lecture.

Records management practices are terrible now. It’s a problem this generation has created, and it must be solved because 1. the world runs on digital information, and 2. ensuring information’s accessibility and usability for the future is this generation’s challenge. Our ancestors ensured information’s accessibility and usability well, by keeping records and preserving them.

Now, however, the way we work has changed, but the way we manage the records of that work has not kept pace. Even though IT (information technology) is an immediate solution, it is creating big problems because crucial information is buried indiscriminately with unimportant information making data hard to retrieve, because information is destroyed before its time (think of all the courthouse records that were microfilmed, often haphazardly, then destroyed), and because information is stored in obsolete formats (how, today, can you use those 5 inch floppy disks?).

Goals for the future include saving records in case of disaster so people can continue their lives and work. Another goal is to find ways to make records shareable and interoperable across systems. Records must be kept long enough to protect rights and assure accountability. And, some way of preserving records for the long-term must be found.
Already genealogists can carry their complete databases on a stick in their pockets. In ten or twenty years, will there be a machine anywhere that can read those sticks?

Knowing that our hard-won research must be saved for generations, there is only one solution for individual genealogists – until the IT people develop practical solutions. And that solution is to keep paper copies of all research. Believe me, it is the ONLY way at this time to ensure that our records can be read in fifty years. Keep one copy of everything and donate it to a person or repository that will preserve it forever.

LaRae Free Kerr, M ED, can be reached at Itsallrelatives@sfcn.org or Itsallrelatives.us.