Want to live forever? You have the secret at your fingertips! Leave your LEGACY IN WORDS for the future. The mission of the LIVING LEGACY PROJECT is to help you do it -- simply and easily.


Consider this harsh reality check. After two-and-a-half generations, most of us will be gone and forgotten
-- forever.  Brutal but true. How can this happen, you say? Because only YOU can tell your story! How you lived and coped with life will never be known UNLESS YOU START NOW AND TELL YOUR LIFE'S STORIES. Write it down for future generations. Your LEGACY IN WORDS preserves you for all time!

All you need is a small amount of time set aside each month to gain immortality!

We can use the inexpensive technology we now have at our fingertips and record our family’s life stories online.  It's so easy! A digital recorder, small digital camcorder, and computer with Internet access will get you started--saving stories, voices, and photos at the Living Legacy Project. This is an online family-and-friends-oriented social networking site with built-in accountability. Its certified legacy advocates, all members of the International Association of Storykeepers, will ensure your success.
Why do we need a Living Legacy Project? Because one very good thing about "the good ol' days" was the written word. Letters of correspondence were penned and often cherished by recipients. These letters recorded the everyday occurrences in the lives of the writers -- at home, work, the battlefield, travel, etc. They were usually stored in boxes or tied together with a string or ribbon for safekeeping and future reminiscing. When found by families and historians generations later, they offer a keyhole glimpse into the lives and era they depict -- a contemporaneously written living legacy.

Leap to the future -- the 20th and 21st centuries. Here's our dilemma. We have a lot of technology to help us communicate and share information at warp speed:  telephones, cell phones, text messages, the Internet, e-mail, and communication wizardry. But little of that will survive into the future. The majority of our personal communication is neither printed nor saved! And even if it were, we do not know how long the toner or ink of today’s technology will last printed on paper processed in our time and made with or without acidity.

Yet, we can access and read court records from the 1600s. They were handwritten with a quill pen dipped into ink and scrawled onto pages in heavy ledger books (although reading some handwriting might present a challenge). In contrast, today’s court clerks are so busy and strapped for time, storage space, and budgets that they refuse to accept depositions for filing. In the past, these provided further insight into matters at the bar and fodder for genealogists.

Modern technology has greatly changed the way we communicate in our world -- on both the business and personal level, and we don't expect much of it to be available for reference in the future. Let's face it, we rarely write letters anymore or keep diaries or journals. It's much faster to email. And so we do. E-mails are sent, read, and DELETED.

Hence, the problem. Where will our history be found in the future? On an obsolete computer with an operating system no one can remember? Early computer users as well as our government have already found themselves in that predicament.

For generations yet to come, there will be no writings or records for them to peer into to see what we thought about the times in which we lived or what our daily lives were like unless we leave something in writing. That's what is meant by a LEGACY IN WORDS. That is the goal and sole purpose of the LIVING LEGACY PROJECT

Let's get going! We cannot afford to procrastinate. We are losing most of the history of the 20th century now with the daily passing of our World War II veterans and next, the Korean War veterans, and then the Vietnam era veterans. How did our mothers and grandmothers deal with life during the absence of their husbands? How did they handle the news that their husband or son had been captured, killed, or was missing in action? How did it affect their lives and their children’s lives? There are so many questions we need to ask, and it's up to us to accept this challenge and record the stories of our time.

Of course, the rich and famous have their stories told and their genealogies traced for free. But the average person, who works to keep food on the table, clothes on the backs of his or her children, and goes to war, these are the voices that have been silenced because of our modern lifestyle. Yet these are the poignant stories that need to be recorded and told.

Here's an example of how letters from the past can reach into the future to touch not only descendants but affect a larger public audience as well: 

Along the Elizabeth River waterfront on the southwest corner of Town Point Park in Norfolk, Virginia, is the Armed Forces Memorial that features 20 letters written home by U.S. soldiers and sailors who died serving their country from the Revolutionary War up to and including the Gulf wars. The letters appear to be scattered by the wind and are forever preserved in bronze. In this way, visitors to the park may read and reflect upon the sacrifices and depredations suffered by the authors. They reflect the human condition during trying times.
So, live forever. Save a life today -- your own and that of your family. It’s your legacy to preserve. It’s our legacy to share. Pass it on!

Fishing and Genealogy

Fishing is synonymous with genealogy! I made this interesting discovery recently when chatting with my 83-year-old Mom. She had just returned from fishing near her home in Virginia Beach. We talked about how relaxing it was for her and how happy I was that she had the opportunity for a break from caring for her niece and doing something she loved. She commented, “It’s just like you and your genealogy.”

I have always compared genealogy to scavenger hunting, but my Mom's analogy was certainly interesting. The more I gave it some thought, the more I realized that a true fisherman has the desire—almost need—to go fishing whenever an opportunity presents itself. Sports fishermen love what they do and are driven by the anticipation of catching a fish and the glorious high they experience when reeling it in. With each telling of the big catch, the fisherman gets to relive the same thrill of the catch all over again.

Sound familiar?

Genealogists likewise experience the desire—almost need—to go searching for information whenever the opportunity presents. Genealogists love what they do and are driven by the anticipation of finding data and the glorious high they experience when retrieving long-lost information. With each telling or sharing of the big find, the genealogist can relive the same thrill of the search all over again.

Did you ever notice how freely genealogists and fishermen share the story of their catches with complete strangers? Those who just happen to be in the vicinity when the big catch is reeled in or the information is located get to hear all about it and share in the excitement. Fishermen congratulate each other on their catches, just the same as genealogists congratulate each other on their finds.

Fishermen endure cold, rain, and wind for the love of fishing, even if they return home empty-handed most of the time.

Genealogists endure long hours of sitting at microfilm readers or computers in libraries and repositories, even if they, too, return home empty-handed most of the time.

The biggest difference between fishermen and genealogists is that fishermen often exaggerate about the size of their catch, whereas genealogists get the facts straight and cite sources.

Being with like-minded folks who understand the euphoria when one makes a haul or finds the mother lode of genealogical gems is always pleasurable. My Mom and I may pursue different passions, but we both reap the same reward of anticipation and discovery—and just plain fun—when pursuing our hobbies.

I just can’t eat my catches!

Living Legacy Project

A wonderful social networking website has recently launched, and its purpose is to encourage all of us to write our own personal histories, which at first glance seems daunting.  But with questions sent to you every week or month, by the time you answer the writing prompts and are encouraged by your assigned Personal Legacy Advisor, at the end of several years, you will have written your own personal history. 

Sign up for a free shoebox for photo storage.  Once you see the benefits and services of the site, I am certain you will sign up for a vault and share your living legacy with your family and friends. 

Check out http://www.legacystories.org/?wiz_id=250

HeritageMakers

If you click on the URL www.heritagemakers.com/legacyinwords, you will be taken to my website at HeritageMakers.  HeritageMakers is a wonderful site where you may set up a free account.  Having done so, you may then upload your digitized photos for storage and use in creating a myriad of projects that include your photos.  If you join Club, you will have access to 50,000 pieces of artwork, thousands of templates, and the assistance of a consultant--me!

Create your own greeting cards, storybooks where you tell the stories behind the pictures and create heritage scrapbooks and storybooks about your ancestors.  Or if a wedding is imminent, create your own invitations, save-the-date cards, wedding favors, sign-in book, tri-fold table decorations, and your wedding photo book.

Personalized playing cards are fun with your children's or family members' photos printed in the deck of cards. 

The quality printing and artwork make scrapbook pages look three-dimensional.  What I love is you don't have to have a room filled with bins to keep all those expensive papers, charms, diecuts, glue sticks, photo corners, etc., taking up valuable real estate in your home.  It's all done on-line.

Print your own UV-coated canvases of wedding portraits, baby pictures, etc.

When you submit your project for publishing, it usually arrives within a week, and you can purchase multiple copies of anything you create for sharing with others.

Recently, a newlywed saw the canvases and said her photographer was going to charge her $400 for what she could purchase through HeritageMakers for $50.  All she has to do is pull her photo into the template and hit "publish."  The final product will arrive in the mail!

Don't waste your time walking all over the mall looking for a gift.  Create one at HeritageMakers that will be treasured and kept for years to come.

Please let me know if I may be of assistance to you in joining HM Club or becoming a consultant yourself!

Grandpa, Tell Me About The Good Old Days

Grandpa, Tell Me About The Good Old Days


One of my favorite songs performed by The Judds, Grandpa, Tell Me About The Good Old Days, makes me yearn for my Grandpa Higgerson. Although he departed this life 36 years ago, in so many ways he lives on.

In 1952, Grandpa was involved in a serious automobile accident and suffered several broken ribs. While my mother worked in town, I stayed with my grandparents. So as Grandpa recuperated around the house, he held my tiny hand in his and took baby steps with me as I learned to walk while he healed.

As a child, I loved sitting on Grandpa’s lap in the old gooseneck rocking chair listening to it creak on the wooden floor of the living room. Studying and tracing the calluses on his rough carpenter’s hands, I'd question him about his childhood, his family, and his life growing up along the Mississippi River in New Madrid County, Missouri.

Why was he so memorable, and why do his experiences still resonate so strongly with me? Neither wealth nor fame visited his door, but he was rich in time and experiences, which he shared with his curious little granddaughter—me.

I can still smell the tobacco he chewed and hear him spitting in the old instant coffee jar kept always by his side. Grandma deplored his addiction and crocheted yarn covers for his "spit jar," as we called it. With the cover, no one could see its disgusting contents.

He'd pick the can up off the floor, unscrew the cover, spit into it, rescrew the cover, and set it quietly on the floor by his side, then commence his recitation, as though the pause to spit helped his memory. If nothing else, it was good for effect.

"Well, there was Watt, my half-brother," he'd say, "who drowned in a boating accident on the Mississippi River when he was 10 years old. My mother almost drowned, too, but her hair got tangled in a drift pile, and when the boat struck the pile loosening it, someone saw her hair and pulled her to safety. All the rest, including my two cousins, Hallie and Cordie Hubbard, drowned."

I always felt somewhat uncomfortable when Grandpa mentioned this tragedy because I did not know how to react or respond. I had never experienced the death of a loved one.

"How did the accident happen, Grandpa?" I asked, because a child dying was unimaginable to me.

He explained that there had been a dance at Island Number 10 in the river on February 25th, 1903, that people lived on the islands in the river back then, and seven people, including his mother and two cousins were returning from a dance in a neighbor's skiff.

"What's a skiff?" I inquired.

"Well, honey, it's a kind of boat."

Continuing, he mentioned that the boat was caught in an eddy and capsized.

"What's an eddy, Grandpa?"

"Where the water swirls around in the river like a cyclone."

Never truly understanding but trying to imagine such a thing, I nodded, after which he continued.

The boat containing seven people was sucked into a drift pile in the river. After my mother was pulled out, the body of Mrs. Robinson was recovered because she was a large woman and floated. Her son, Carl, along with Watt, Hallie, Cordie, and the driver of the boat, Brownie Jones, their bodies were never found. Uncle Eddie even threw dynamite into the river to see if they might float up, but the powerful river had probably carried them downstream.

Trying to change the subject to something more pleasant, I asked about Grandpa's cousins. This was the part I liked the most, watching him count on his fingers 11 names of the children of his Aunt Dora and Uncle Andrew. "Now, let's see," he'd say. "There was Clara, Walter, Nevada, Arthur, Anna, Andrew, Harold, Alice, Mary, Hattie, and Benjamin."

Reared an only child, I could not fathom having that many brothers and sisters!

For 20 years, Momma and I spent almost every Sunday with my grandparents, either at their house or ours, where we had Sunday dinner at noon, as we called it. If Grandpa wasn’t busy and I had his undivided attention, I'd ask him again to chronicle his life because I never tired hearing it. In doing so, I practiced my high school Gregg shorthand. More importantly, it gave me the opportunity to impress him with my newly learned skill. I always wanted him to be proud of me.

Grandpa’s stories influenced my life in many ways. Very young I learned the importance of recording family history and memories for the next generation, and I regret now that I did not do more. I was young and busy going to school, dating, and working. But I cherish the time I spent with Grandpa because he taught me about his heritage, which is a part of my heritage, too. Many of life’s lessons were learned at his knee without either of us even realizing it.

Is it any wonder then that my professions evolved into that of a court reporter, genealogist, and personal historian?

All families have priceless life stories, which, when recorded, are treasured gifts for today and future generations. You just might have a little grandchild or curious niece remembering you and thanking you for your legacy in words some day.

You might be a genealogist if . . .

You may be addicted to genealogy if . . .


you'd rather go to a cemetery than a mall

you brake for libraries

you hyperventilate at the site of an old cemetery

you think every home should have a microfilm reader

you know every town clerk in your state by name

you get locked in the library overnight and never even notice

you are more interested in what happened in 1667 than 2009

you store your clothes under your bed because the closet is carefully stocked with notebooks and journals

you can pinpoint Harrietsham, Hawkhurst, and Kent on a map of England, but cannot locate Lincoln, Nebraska

you've traced some of your ancestors back to Adam and Eve, have it documented, and still do not want to quit.

Enjoyable video

Almost everyone will enjoy watching Antsy McClain performing "Falling in Love in America," and particularly the family photos. Check out the tinyurl above, which takes you to YouTube.