The HeirShare Story:

I ran into my high school history teacher recently and as we were catching up, I commented that though not a real history buff as a student, I find myself drawn to learn more now both globally and personally. He commended me for my interest and agreed that I was no history buff as a student.

My father had a collection of things that had been handed down to him through the years. When he passed away, I wound up with his collection. My mother also had her collection of family history most of which fit in the steamer trunk my grandfather with during WWII. When my mother decided to downsize , I wound up with her collection too. After a quick look, it went into the attic. (Not a good idea.)

Two years ago my wife and son began going through the collections and realized one of the concepts that helped launch HeirShare. We were the only family that had access to these collections.

My parents had 4 children who then, between them, had 14 children. I have 3 uncles and total of 4 cousins who have 9 children. This totaled roughly 30 people who would be interested in seeing the collections but none who had access to it. And as caretaker, I would be reluctant to ship any of the material anywhere.

We began scanning photo albums, letters as old as mid 1800’s, documents, and more, then organized the material and copied it onto flash drives and sent to all for Christmas that year.

It occurred to me then that there was a business in there somewhere but though I thought about it a lot, until I left my former job, I was not able to give it the full time effort it required. Now, however, HeirShare is poised to deliver an important service to families in the upstate of SC. HeirShare will organize your family’s collection, scan and make digital copies of it, then store the material in the proper folders, sleeves, cases and boxes (which will slow or stop the acidic deterioration) and help you decide where is the safest place to store them. HeirShare will then make an electronic copy and deliver it to you on the best media. HeirShare will also set up a cloud storage site so that your extended family members can browse the collection at their leisure.

We will not ship your irreplaceable material anywhere and risk loss or damage. We will work in your home or in our workshop. We will ensure that your collection is stored to last for generations. Our mission is to help you conserve and share your historical family collection so that your entire family can learn about your rich family history.

Adair Watters