{"id":154,"date":"2017-09-13T22:15:18","date_gmt":"2017-09-13T22:15:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/?p=154"},"modified":"2019-01-16T17:38:10","modified_gmt":"2019-01-16T17:38:10","slug":"154-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefhguide.com\/blog\/154-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Assessing the Individual’s Needs in Family History"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Yesterday I had a very interesting\u00a0experience\u00a0working with a patron in the Oakland \"\"FamilySearch Library. \u00a0He had never been on Family Search\u00a0before and was eager to see what we had for him on Family Tree. \u00a0 He had been on other big sites for a couple of free days in the past and wanted to further his search for his great grandparents. \u00a0He is a 71 year-old, African\u00a0American man named Frank. (Not his real name.) \u00a0He is interested in finding more information on his ancestors that were slaves in Arkansas.<\/p>\n

He started his FamilySearch Family Tree by adding his information. \u00a0When we went to view his pedigree he was extremely disappointed and even agitated\u00a0that his tree did not begin to populate across the page. I explained that we needed to do a little research to find the next person or two in his family. \u00a0He was resistant to that whole idea.<\/p>\n

I took him to The Family History Guide and showed him where we \"\"could look for possible records that might help him by going to the FamilySearch (FS) menu and looking at Countries in the drop-down menu. \u00a0We clicked on Arkansas and I showed him The African American page, as well, under the Ethnic selection on the same page beneath the Countries.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

We looked at one set of records in Arkansas that could possibly help, but he got frustrated when the years he was looking for were not available online with one click of a button. \u00a0In about 15 minutes from his first look at the pedigree he was completely\u00a0done. \u00a0He was thinking that he had given\u00a0his information\u00a0to FamilySearch and gotten nothing in return so he started packing up to leave.<\/div>\n
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He was an intelligent man, quite computer savvy, very nice and apologetic about his impatience. I realized that the problem was he had watched too many commercials on TV and too many one hour TV programs that showed simple solutions to complex genealogical challenges. \u00a0He did not expect to have to work for his answers or to spend much time at it. \u00a0What a shame. \u00a0He left with the Family History Guide link, and my contact information.<\/div>\n
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As he stood to leave we talked a little longer about how he just wanted his\u00a0\"\"<\/div>\n
great-grandchildren to know about who they are, because\u00a0he loves them. \u00a0I realized then that Frank needs to be a\u00a0builder<\/b>\u00a0right now and not a\u00a0seeker<\/b>\u00a0of his ancestors. \u00a0He is not ready to research, but he is ready to share his story, record his voice telling stories about\u00a0himself and his parents\u00a0and grandparents.<\/div>\n
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He is a great grandfather who could leave stories\u00a0and vital information\u00a0for his little great granddaughters. \u00a0He knew their 2nd and 3rd great grandparents and knows their parents and others that will be important to those little girls as they grow up.<\/div>\n
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Frank’s attitude about family history changed in just a few minute by the time he reached the doors. \u00a0He will come back, he will proceed with his family history as a builder for now. \u00a0I am pretty sure once he does that he will be fully invested\u00a0in seeking his ancestors. \u00a0The best part is he will have the Family History Guide\u00a0to help him with all of it. Right on the website\u00a0www.thefhguide.com<\/a>\u00a0he can learn what to do and how to do it. The Family History Guide is surely a game changer for people.<\/div>\n

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