Help please - bereavement in my family research buddy

[purple11]

Hi Roots Chat Family

I'm wondering if anyone can give me advice please....
My Auntie was my Family Research Buddy and she passed away suddenly 3 days ago. To say I'm devastated is an understatement. We had been working together for many many years tracing our family history and all of sudden she is gone too.

We had been collating all our family findings and discoveries under her personal ancestry login.
I have followed the guidelines and exported all our family trees into GEDCOM files and then uploaded them to my own ancestry login account. Is there anything else I should do? could do? before her account membership fails to renew in 7 days time?

Brokenhearted,
Purple11

[Kiltpin]

If you can get control of her account, that would be an asset. Do not forget that all media are not transferred with the GEDCOM file, you will have to do that separately. 

If in doubt, email Ancestry and explain the situation - you might need a copy of her death certificate. 

With condolences

Chas

[Stanwix England]

I'm sorry to hear of your Aunt's death. It's clear she was a much loved woman.

I agree that you should get access to her account if you can.

I would maybe look through her messages. She may have been in contact with some cousins or other relatives that you may wish to contact again. It would be nice to let them know and also give them your details so they can contact you.

[nestagj]

Oh dear how sad, please accept my sympathy.

Please don't take this the wrong way but this is a very traumatic time for the family and to be honest if I was in their place I wouldn't want to be approached for a copy death certificate for family history purposes whilst trying to deal with the trauma of a sudden death of a close family member and organising everything else that's needed after a bereavement.

To give you a bit of breathing space If you have access to her account and can afford it. I would pay for a month's membership in her name so that you do not have to rush to get things sorted.   All you need to do is change the subscription and the payment details; at the end of the month all you need to do is cancel the membership.
Nesta

[california dreamin]

My condolences also.

I think nestagj that is an excellent idea.  Additionally, you can also log in and 'Invite' yourself (or other family members ) to have a role on that account: guest, contributor or editor.  If you're an Editor you should be able to start transferring the tree over to any personal account??

Kind regards,
CD

[ciderdrinker]

Hi
Just to add you don't need an Ancestry subscription to access your Ancestry account.You can view the Tree and DNA matches etc without that.Previous messages will still be there,they don't just disappear.
So don't feel pressured time wise.

You just need her log in details.I'm sure given the circumstances Ancestry will be understanding.
All the best
Cidderdrinker

[Biggles50]

Sorry to read of your loss.

I would suggest that you buy Roots Magic, install it on your Computer and then start a new Project within the software.

It will then ask how you want to proceed but rather than choose the Gedcom option choose the download from Ancestry one.

It will then download everything including media, documents etc from Ancestry.

Better to spend cash on something you get a lasting return on rather than an Ancestry subscription,

[purple11]

Thank you everyone for your support and guidance.
I hadnt thought about checking through her messages - and she had made lots of contacts through her DNA also. I will pay for an additional month or two and work my way through transferring and saving all the important files.
Thanks for your ideas and help - I really appreciate it.
Kind regards