Many of us have been blessed to sit beneath the 150-year-old banyan tree in downtown Lahaina, Maui. (Which is said to be showing signs of life after the devastating August fire. Yahoo.) Looking at the city-park-wide spread of this tree, one can imagine an equally large series of roots reaching back into time and bringing the beloved tree back to life.

The Maui Banyan is the metaphor I choose to share with you today. All that we see, from the ground up, is our growing family (pretend you’re the tiny white person/spot). But what we cannot see is the equal number of roots/ancestors that brought us to this point. 

It’s those people/ancestors whom we genealogists seek. The question on the table to day is how to organize and keep that information in a safe and a usable way? Let’s take a peek at the different safe-storage-for-long-term methods:

• Individually Managed Family Trees.. meaning YOU are in charge, period:
  • American Ancestors TREES
  • Ancestry — private member trees
  • MyHeritage — private member trees
  • Findmypast — private member trees
• Keeping your tree online on these websites means nobody/no how can add/substract/multiply/divide or mess with your information…. but you can give permission for folks to see your tree. 
• Collaborative Family Trees…. meaning folks do work together to add/edit/mange profiles. BUT know that others can and might make changes to “your” profile. Not supposed to without giving documentation. 😉
  • FamilySearch Family Trees….. nearing 2-billion online trees
  • WikiTree….. 36 million trees
• Programs on your own computer…… meaning you are solely in charge; both have a free and paid version.
  • LegacyFamilyTree —- can sync with FamilySearch
  • RootsMagic —– can sync with Ancestry

Certainly there are other online programs and other at-home computer programs. I’m just giving the bare minimum here to kick-start your decision making process as to what are YOU going to do with all your family history information?????

Remember, your “Maui banyan” might burn to the ground next time. 

Is there such a thing as One World Tree? One tree that documents every ancestor back to……. well, as far as records exist. Those advocating a One World Tree believe (as do I) that we’re all children of God and therefore we are related. Somehow. Somewhere in time. But the information on those 20th generation ancestors is beyond our ken and our reach, isn’t it? 

Let’s talk practicality. Ask yourself these questions: 

• How far back can I, or do I want, to find (and document) my ancestors??
• Aren’t we mostly happy if we can find records back into the 1500s? That’s 20 generations, a million names! Can we keep track of a million ancestors? Can we know a million ancestors? I think not. I cannot!
• Do we really care what path other genealogists might choose to pursue?
• What do know about the last 5 generations of ancestors? (That’s nearly 200 years!) Isn’t that the point of doing family history…. to get to know at least something of an ancestor’s life and times? 

Once those questions have been answered in your mind, consider these:

• Do I want to share my tree/information or keep it (safely) to myself?
• Back 200 years (or more) are those folks just your ancestors? Hardly. 
• Besides, how many answers have I gained for my family tree/ancestors from others?? Isn’t sharing really the best option?
• Lisa Louise Cooke (FamilyTreeMagazine, May/June 2022) advocated YES for sharing but to “keep the heart of our genealogy at home….. a master family tree of your family tree, built on your own computer, is the key to securing your family history now and for generations to come.” 
• While I greatly respect Lisa Louise, I puzzle her answer. Just keep my tree on my computer? What if my computer crashes/floods/burns in a fire…… and I’ve not kept backups regularly? And/or shared them with family? All will be lost. 
• Everything I’ve read, and from all the genealogy/tech gurus, say this: DO have an online tree, do keep it backed up in multiple places, and DO keep your tree in a home computer program on your own computer. 
• Puzzle and ponder your answer to these questions and “problems”………… Part 2 next time.