Many times you hear of the passing of someone when it is too late to pay your respects. Or perhaps distance, schedules or other circumstances prevent you from attending a service even if you do find out in a timely manner. I recently discovered a company which addresses these delicate issues surrounding the passing of anyone in your life.

Legacy.com is an online media company which provides a forum for people to share memories and express their condolences. Legacy works with over 650 newspapers in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Australia.

Legacy provides a place to post an obituary, sign a guestbook and create a memorial Web site. Legacy also offers other related services such as searchable obits, death notices and family histories.

In the business world, we might have hundreds of connections. I might not be able to fly across the country to attend a memorial service, but I certainly like the opportunity to leave behind some lasting thoughts on the dearly departed.

It isn’t just limited to the business world, though. According to Production Manager Jason Farber, “We frequently hear from families who are glad they have a place to go to connect with family and friends during this difficult time; from across the country or from another country entirely.”

When a card or flowers simply do not express enough, Legacy provides several options which allow you to express your feelings. “People often use our Guest Books to share  their thoughts and condolences when distance prevents them from attending the funeral of a loved one,” Farber explained.

There is also the possiblility that you don’t know the person; however, that person made some impact on your life. Perhaps an athlete or poet. Legacy provides you with an outlet for your thoughts. Despite not knowing you, the grieving family can take some comfort in your words and those of others like you.

An ad campaign once stated, “It’s the next-best thing to being there.” That’s exactly what Legacy is.

 John Wroblewski, distribution specialist

 

You and I are related. It’s not as far-fetched as it sounds. According to an article in yesterday’s Boston Globe, scientists are hot on the trail of DNA analysis that can trace the route a person’s ancestors traveled from

 

The Genograhic Project, a research initiative conducted in partnership between the National Geographic Society and IBM, uses laboratory and computer analysis of DNA to map how Earth was populated. The five-year study, which commenced in 2005, is expected to result in a public database that will house one of the largest collections of human population genetic information ever assembled.

 

In their initial report, released last June, researchers revealed the results of the analysis of genetic data collected from 78,590 participants. Interested in discovering the route your ancestors took from the cradle of humankind in East Africa ― east through Asia and perhaps across the once ice-covered Bering Strait into the Americas, or northwest through Europe and eventually across the

 

The study is open to the public. Participation information is posted on the Genograhic Project Web site. There’s also an interesting video that tracks the results of DNA tests conducted on four individuals selected at random in

 

Look around. That’s your long-lost relative sitting across from you.

 

 

 

I just attended an Oktoberfest Dinner at the German Tourist Board office in New York, where part of the presentation was a new promotion campaign targeting the millions of Americans who are of German descent. German immigrants have been coming to America since the founding of Jamestown in 1607. 

There is a Web site, GermanOriginality.com, that will be accessible through the Church of the Latter Day Saints’ geneaology site Familysearch.org, the largest repository of family records in the world.
 

Bremerhaven and Hamburg are also targeting Americans researching their family history through their recently developed German Emigration Centers. These centers are located in dock areas from which emigrants boarded ships for the U.S.A., Canada, Brazil, Argentina and Australia.  

The Bremerhaven center is located in a new purpose-built building in the dock area of Bremerhaven. There you can access the records of the 7 million people who left Germany through Bremerhaven between 1830 and 1974. So a person can find an ancestor’s name on the actual boarding pass lists that are part of the museum’s archives.  

Researching one’s ancestors, either in America or overseas, is just another good reason to travel. When you find records of your forebears in foreign lands, it gives you a more meaningful experience of that country. All of a sudden that country’s historic events, which your ancestors lived through, become important to you. We are all the offspring of survivors. There have been horrific events throughout history. How your ancestors survived those trials and tribulations is part of who you are. Somehow our ancestors made it through the 30 Years War, the 100 Years War, the persecution of the Huguenots in France, the persecution of the Catholics in England, the pogroms, the Russian Revolution and its aftermath, and the ultimate test of survival, WWII and the Holocaust. Travel makes it hit home.

– Dick Evans, vice president