Cultivating
a family legacy is not that different from tending a garden: land with poor
prospects, at first glance, has to be coaxed over time –patiently and
carefully–until it has a fertile life of its own. Case in point: The Morris
family of Pennsylvania, which nursed its garden into an arboretum, an estate
that lives on even after the family mansion, the iron-manufacturing company
that supplied its fortune, and the line of direct descendants have all
disappeared.
A "Legacy" can be hard
to define with any certainty. What does a legacy mean to you?
There are those monuments, those
legends, and those gifts about which there is no question. Whether it is in the
name of a particular family or a community, it is unquestionably a legacy. So
it is with a garden created roughly a century ago by members of the Morris
family in Pennsylvania.
For those with high ambitions to
leave a legacy, consider a recent meditation in the form of a Barron's Penta article titled “A Lesson in Family Legacy.” It is
the story of that Morris family garden.
The garden is no patch of soil,
either at its start or in the present day. No, it is the Morris
Arboretum of the University of Pennsylvania, a famous landmark still giving
to the public and the University. However, it was not always that way, nor was
it as pretty as the article describes. In fact, the Morris family of
Pennsylvania, namely siblings John and Lydia Morris, raised the garden from the
soil and left their name in place long after their own passing or the passing
of their house through the form of an endowment.
While not every garden can be a
monument, or every gift a legacy, it does require a unique perspective when it
comes to coordinating your assets, goals and values.
What will be your legacy?
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Reference: Barron's Penta
(October 4, 2013) “A Lesson in Family Legacy”