Things might get a little spotty here as I we work through changes at my day job—I can’t believe I missed Wordless Wednesday!—But hopefully I’ll be able to get reorganized quickly.

Nephew #1 on a computer

I don’t know if it will last or what he will retain but my almost nine-year-old nephew, inspired by his mother who has discovered

Ancestry.com, asked me if I would show him how to make a tree (online, of course) like his mom. So, last Sunday we met up at my parents and sat down with my laptop and got started. He quizzed/interviewed my parents for their full names and birthdates and birthplaces and the names of their parents. Taking the hint that my father was a Junior so his father’s name was probably…?  It’s a bit of a trick question as my Grandpa changed the spelling of his name somewhere along the way.

My nephew then started a private tree in Ancestry that I’ve shared with his mother as a full editor so he can work on it with her as well.  I was fascinated watching him enter in the information and think of more questions. And I was doubly impressed when he started really thinking out the hints that he was offered through Ancestry.com. He really looked at what the records said, pulling up the originals and actually listening to the stories I was telling—no, really,  you have to understand, my leading complaint is that he doesn’t listen—so that he  caught a few errors in the indexing before I got to them. He was reading through the page for himself, asking thoughtful questions, spelling things mostly on his own, and he didn’t want to stop for dinner—which was an issue because, among other things, I didn’t want Parmesan cheese in my laptop.

I am so thankful for that afternoon which has gotten me through a rough week. I had a wonderful time and I hope he did too!

Happy hunting,

Jess