What is a Genealogical Will?
In a general sense, a will (or last will and testament) is a legal document that outlines a person’s wishes regarding the distribution of their assets and the care of any minor children after their death. A standard will typically addresses issues such as property distribution, appointment of an executor, guardianship of minor children, and other matters related to the person’s estate. The term “genealogical will” doesn’t have a widely recognized and established legal meaning. Even if a genealogical will can’t be legally enforced in every possible jurisdiction, it is still of a great benefit for you to create one.
What are the benefits of having a Genealogical Will?
- Preservation of Family History:
- A genealogical will might include information about family history, traditions, and values. This can serve as a way to preserve and pass down the family’s cultural and historical background.
- Distribution of Heirlooms:
- You may use the will to specify how family heirlooms, artifacts, or sentimental items should be distributed among heirs. This can help prevent disputes and ensure that items with particular historical or sentimental value are passed down to specific family members.
- Cultural or Religious Practices:
- If your family follows specific cultural or religious practices, a genealogical will can be used to outline how these practices should be continued or maintained by future generations.
- Charitable Contributions:
- Some individuals include provisions in their wills to make charitable contributions or endowments in the name of their family. This can be a way to support causes that are significant to the family’s history or values.
- Family Legacy Planning:
- A genealogical will might involve planning for the continuation of family businesses, traditions, or other aspects of the family legacy. This could include instructions on how certain family enterprises should be managed or passed on.
*VERY IMPORTANT* It’s important to note that the legal specifics of wills can vary by jurisdiction, and it’s advisable to consult with a legal professional to ensure that any specific provisions you want to include are legally valid and enforceable.
As genealogists and family historians, we acquire a great deal of documents, photos, jewelry, heirlooms, etc. We want to preserve these records and items to ensure they are passed down through the generations. We have all seen cases where things get sent to an estate sale and end up in an antique store or they just get thrown in the trash. It’s heartbreaking to think about all the thousands of hours put into preserving your family history only to have the people left behind not know what to do with everything, so it just gets forgotten or destroyed. There are several options to think about and we’ll go through some of those below.
What to do with all of your Genealogy items?
Ask family first
To start with, think about your immediate family. Is there a spouse, child, grandchild, sibling or niece or nephew that would be willing to take over your research and heirlooms? Do you have a few family members in mind to spread things amongst? If yes, wonderful! You need to sit down and talk with those family members and make your wishes known and go over how to make it work smoothly. If you’ve got someone in mind, you need to get it in writing. Names, ways to contact, what items and where, etc. It’s also a good practice to check over your will and genealogical will periodically, say once a year, just to verify nothing has changed. People move away, pass away and relationships can change.
Speak with extended family
If you don’t have any immediate family that wants to take custody of your items, what about a cousin? You can have both short term and long term custody of your items. You could arrange for a cousin to hold onto your research until a long term repository is available. Having someone to step in and care for things until the long term solution is available can be of a great benefit.
Check with local institutions
If you have no immediate or extended family to care for your items, you can start looking at local institutions. Places such as libraries, genealogy societies, historical societies, archives, etc. Please don’t assume they will take all or part of your research. They might not be able to accept personal research but they might be able to point you towards a solution.
For those of us in and around Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, we have a few local options. The W. S. Hoole Special Collections Library and the Samford University archives in Birmingham, Alabama are great places to consider. It’s a good idea to have some kind of listing of what all you have, so making some sort of an index will help you figure out where best to send your items.
Out of State options
There are quite a few institutions from around the United States that accept genealogy research from all over the country. They might not be able to take everything from everyone though. You’ll still need to check with them ahead of time to verify. Some options are the Allen County Public Library Genealogy Center in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Also remember the Latter-Day Saints (FamilySearch) in Salt Lake City, Utah, who preserve thousands of records. Check if there is a local Family History Center of the LDS – Latter-Day Saints, near the family hometown, they would also be interested.
One other major place to donate is the New England Historical Genealogical Society. They accept collections from all over the nation, not just the upper northeast part of the United States. If you had family who could be part of the DAR – Daughters of the American Revolution, there is another good location to donate. You could also reach out to the Library of Congress to see if they might accept some of the items.
A Genealogical Will template
Below, you’ll find an example of a blank genealogical will. You can find this on my downloads page. Be sure to have it filled out and filed with your other important documents and make them easy to be found upon your death. It does no good if it can’t be located when its needed.
Conclusion
I hope that by reading through this, you’ll be inspired to think about and create a genealogical will. Talk things over with your loved ones and put a plan in place. I couldn’t possibly make this all inclusive and think of everything, so if you have some other ideas for where to send your research, let me know in a comment below!
