Beyond the Trees
What does the name Beyond the Trees mean?
Who is Beyond the Trees?
What is the mission of Beyond the Trees?
What types of services does Beyond the Trees offer?
Personal History
What is personal history?
What is a personal historian?
How does personal history differ from genealogy?
How does a personal history project work?
What are the different formats for personal histories?
What topics are included in a personal history?
Why would anyone be interested in my life story?
Can you help me interview my family members myself?
Ethical Wills and Legacy Letters
What is an ethical will or legacy letter?
Who should write an ethical will or legacy letter?
When is a good time to write an ethical will?
How can Beyond the Trees help me write my own ethical will?
Self Publishing
What is self-publishing?
How can Beyond the Trees help me publish my book?
Collaborative Books
What is a collaborative tribute book?
Beyond the Trees
What does the name Beyond the Trees mean?
We chose the name Beyond the Trees to illustrate that we strive to help you tell all the stories of your family and your life, the ones that go beyond just the family tree.
Who is Beyond the Trees?
Beyond the Trees is Jennifer Sauers and Kristi Woodworth, two Cincinnati women with a passion for their second career in personal history. See our About Us page for more detail.
What is the mission of Beyond the Trees?
Our mission is to help individuals and organizations capture and preserve their stories, memories and values. We are guided by our core values of:
- Curiosity – We possess a genuine curiosity about and interest in the lives and stories of others.
- Respect and Dignity – Every life is worthy of respect and every person deserves to be treated with dignity.
- Discretion – Each person’s story is their own to tell and we safeguard their trust carefully at all times.
What types of services does Beyond the Trees offer?
We offer a wide variety of products and services to help you tell your stories, including individual personal histories, collaborative tribute books, educational workshops and self-publishing services.
Personal History
What is personal history?
Personal history is the preservation of a person’s life story, memoirs, or life values in printed form or on audiotape, videotape, CD or DVD.
What is a personal historian?
A personal historian records and preserves people’s memoirs and life stories.
How does personal history differ from genealogy?
A personal historian records a person’s life stories and experiences, whereas genealogists research and record a person’s descent from his or her ancestors.
How does a personal history project work?
There are many different ways to conduct a personal history project, and we will work with you to design an approach that perfectly fits your needs, including some or all of the following components:
- An initial free consultation to discuss your objective for the project.
- An interview, conducted in your home or another comfortable location.
- The interview is recorded (either audio only, or video) and then transcribed, after which we edit the raw transcript into a narrative so it flows like a story.
- The story can then be combined with photographs and published in a keepsake quality book, accompanied by a disk with the original interview recording.
What topics are included in a personal history?
A personal history can be a wide-ranging review of an entire life, or be focused on a specific aspect of a life, such as a career, childhood, immigration or military service. The scope and topics are up to you. In our initial consultation we will help you determine what topics should be included.
Why would anyone be interested in my life story?
At Beyond the Trees we don’t just believe, we know that every person’s life is interesting and worth remembering. No matter how ordinary you might think your life is, it will be extraordinary to your descendants and to future researchers. Just think if you had access today to a book written by your great-grandmother, with details of her daily life, hopes, dreams, values and fears?
Can you help me interview my family members myself?
Yes! Many people choose to interview their family members themselves, for geographic, financial or personal reasons. We are happy to consult with you and provide guidance on interview topics and techniques.
Ethical Wills and Legacy Letters
What is an ethical will or legacy letter?
An ethical will is a document written to express your spiritual legacy, your values, hopes, life’s lessons, forgiveness and love to your family, friends, and community.
Who should write an ethical will or legacy letter?
Everyone!
When is a good time to write an ethical will?
Anytime is a good time to record your legacy for posterity, but we find that turning points in life usually provide the impetus to reflect and passing along your wisdom. For example, the birth, graduation or marriage of a child or grandchild, the death of a spouse or a serious illness. In addition, many times ethical wills are written as part of estate planning, to help explain decisions made in legal documents or simply to provide heirs with a richer understanding of the writer’s life.
How can Beyond the Trees help me write my own ethical will/legacy letter?
We offer periodic workshops in the Cincinnati area, and will soon be conducting these workshops online. In addition, later this year we will be offering a do it yourself, legacy letter book, with explanation and exercises from our workshop.
Self Publishing
What is self-publishing?
Self publishing is the publication of any book or other media by the author of the work, without the involvement of an established third-party publisher. It is generally entirely done at the expense of the author. (Source: Wikipedia)
How can Beyond the Trees help me publish my book?
We offer a variety of services for authors, including editing, book formatting, cover design, preparation for printing and placement in online book stores such as Amazon, Lulu or Blurb. Our published works include memoir, travelogue and an upcoming novel.
Collaborative Books
What is a collaborative tribute book?
A collaborative tribute book is a collection of memories, stories, advice, messages and photos compiled for a recipient in honor of a milestone event such at a 50th Anniversary, 80th Birthday or graduation from high school or college.
