Yesterday I had a very interesting experience working with a patron in the Oakland FamilySearch Library.  He had never been on Family Search before and was eager to see what we had for him on Family Tree.   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.  He is a 71 year-old, African American man named Frank. (Not his real name.)  He is interested in finding more information on his ancestors that were slaves in Arkansas.

He started his FamilySearch Family Tree by adding his information.  When we went to view his pedigree he was extremely disappointed and even agitated that 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.  He was resistant to that whole idea.

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.  We clicked on Arkansas and I showed him The African American page, as well, under the Ethnic selection on the same page beneath the Countries.

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.  In about 15 minutes from his first look at the pedigree he was completely done.  He was thinking that he had given his information to FamilySearch and gotten nothing in return so he started packing up to leave.

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.  He did not expect to have to work for his answers or to spend much time at it.  What a shame.  He left with the Family History Guide link, and my contact information.

As he stood to leave we talked a little longer about how he just wanted his 

great-grandchildren to know about who they are, because he loves them.  I realized then that Frank needs to be a builder right now and not a seeker of his ancestors.  He is not ready to research, but he is ready to share his story, record his voice telling stories about himself and his parents and grandparents.

He is a great grandfather who could leave stories and vital information for his little great granddaughters.  He 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.

Frank’s attitude about family history changed in just a few minute by the time he reached the doors.  He will come back, he will proceed with his family history as a builder for now.  I am pretty sure once he does that he will be fully invested in seeking his ancestors.  The best part is he will have the Family History Guide to help him with all of it. Right on the website www.thefhguide.com he can learn what to do and how to do it. The Family History Guide is surely a game changer for people.