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Hope this newsletter finds you healthy and well! There's so much news about the upturn in hospitalization due to the Covid pandemic, I think a lot of us have had estate planning on our minds.

Judy Russell, The Legal Genealogist, has a nice blog post about including your DNA in your will, a codicil, or at least filling out a DNA beneficiary form and having it notarized and witnessed.

I was the executor for a family member's estate a few years ago and was able to take over several DNA accounts because I already had the logins and passwords and was executor of the estate so the sites worked with me. But it would be much smarter to plan ahead and make your wishes known for your DNA and other research. If you have DNA with FamilyTree DNA, they have a free DNA beneficiary form on their site that will autopopulate with all your information, test kit number, etc, and then you can print it and take it to be witnessed/notarized (read my blog post below about witnesses & notaries).

We made our estate plans and had wills drawn up with an attorney before digital assets and DNA were a topic of conversation. Our attorney gave us advice for how to type up our own codicil that would be effective where we live and I've included that information in a blog post Sample Forms for Naming a DNA Beneficiary. That blog includes links to other estate planning and digital assets sites that I've found helpful.

As for family history and digital assets, our family worked to make sure everyone got duplicate copies of photos, scrapbooks, etc, but it would be easy for a scrapbook to go to one family member and then never be digitized and distributed to other family members. It doesn't even take bad intentions, just forgetfulness and busy lives.

If you're not up to the task of digitizing these items now, at least consider including instructions for them in your will/estate plan. If you are thinking of tackling a big scanning project, here's my To Do List for Before You Scan. The scanning goes so much smoother if you make a plan and prep the items!

New and Updated Listings

I really wanted to have Pennsylvania Birth, Marriage, and Death Records online available for German-American Day in the US, but I missed the October 6 deadline so watch for that next week if you have German ancestry (mine came through Pennsylvania in the early 1700s). Here's what I've added so far this week:

Maine Birth, Marriage, and Death Records online

New Hampshire Birth, Marriage, and Death Records online

Vermont Birth, Marriage, and Death Records online

Massachusetts Birth, Marriage, and Death Records online

Museums of Bethel Historical Society

Great Cranberry Island Historical Society

Mount Desert Island Historical Society

Winter Harbor Historical Society

Best with your family history work,