Hi Roberta,
You are not being whinny! You are SAYING THE TRUTH!! I feel ya with this one. I know exactly what you mean....I don't mind helping at all. In fact, I enjoy it when I am able to help someone. But, sometimes it is highly irritating (in my opinion) when you send someone some useful information, and they don't have the common courtesy to acknowledge that they even received it!

Your message hit home because of a recent situation. About a year ago, I helped a family member to trace her family tree at the main library. In the census records alone, we got back as far as her gg-grandparents and even her gg-grandfather's parents. We were not able to find her gg-grandmother's parents because we originally misinterpreted her maiden name from her death certificate.

Well, just recently, while looking at some Educable School records at the courthouse trying to find my own people, I ran across her gg-grandmother's records and learned what her maiden name really was. I was so excited, as though I had found my own ancestors. So, when I got a chance to view the census records, I found her gg-grandmother's parents and a host of other people who appeared to be connected to her gg-grandmother. I copied all of this information, typed it up in tables (Microsoft Word) so she could understand it, and mailed the information to her, knowing that this would be a great surprise to her. Well, that was a month ago....hadn't heard one word from that family member...just to even acknowledge that she got the information in the mail!!

In this day in time, more and more people are irresponsible, unthoughtful, selfish, and fail to show some kind of gratitude. We don't ask for a million bucks for the help. Just a simple "Thank You". Why are those words so hard for some people?? Oh well....

Melvin