Insights Into Our Future And Our Past

For those who may be concerned about using the new Flash User Interface for the FamilySearch Family Tree, fret no more. My nephew proved to me that the new Family Tree is easy enough for anyone to use.

It’s not every day that you hear a six year old boy chirp, ”I just can’t WAIT to do some genealogy!” when he is asked if he wants to go to the movies. Perhaps his excitement was rooted in the fact that he had never actually done any genealogy in his life, but he had a goal: “I want to learn about James —–.” My brother, who has no interest in genealogy, must have said something to my nephew, because I don’t ever recall mentioning that name. 

We arrived at my home with a video in hand, just in case he changed his mind, but he persisted, “Can we do some genealogy now?” I pulled out a large binder containing photographs and documents, and set it on the table. I thought that certainly, he would have been most interested in the photographs, but when the page turned to a pedigree chart, he exclaimed, “Oh! The records!” I was surprised to see such interest. The book also contained the wedding announcement for his mother and father, and a letter from his mother’s grandfather which he read out loud, word-for-word, while I looked on.

I next pulled up FamilySearch Labs, where FamilySearch Family Tree resides. I signed in, and showed him how he could use the mouse to move along the tree and click on the arrows to expand the information. I was interrupted by my niece who wanted some help, and left him at the kitchen table with that minor instruction, and back in the 16th century looking at an early Allred ancestor.

Several minutes later, as I was searching through the garage for a bike pump when my nephew ran down the stairs, laughing, and calling out, “Auntie Anne! Auntie Anne!” I figured he had stopped searching on the tree to watch the movie, and wanted to tell me about it. He certainly couldn’t be that excited about genealogy. Instead he burst through the door and exclaimed, “They don’t know Ben is a boy! It says, ‘unknown.’ Let’s tell them Ben is a boy! Let’s do it right now!”

I was impressed he had managed to navigate back down the tree to my youngest brother, so I thought I would let him give the feedback entirely on his own. First, I explained that we needed to write down the ID# for Ben, so they knew who to fix. He wrote down the number, and then clicked the “Feedback” button. I gave him an e-mail address to use, but otherwise, he filled out and submitted the feedback completely on his own.

He was a little surprised that they didn’t fix it right away, but I let him know we would check back soon to see that the correction was made. He went on to keep searching for more information on James ——, and other ancestors before it was finally time for bed, and even discovered that, yes, cameras existed during James’ lifetime, so someday, we just might find a picture of him!