Monday Genea-pourri, Week of April 8–14, 2024

I have completed two hundred and fourteen (214) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. This week besides the History Center, I went on a bird/wildflower outing, a hike, and to the train club meeting.

Genealogy

Genealogy Meetings:  
Jacqueline and I continued our discussion about our upcoming trip to do research in Texas. Amigos met and we discussed citations and Legos. The Roundtable meeting was full of discussion that the time just flew on by. At Kinseekers Military SIG, we talked about WWI classification records, pensions, and claim files, and collected a few good websites for Army sources. Finally, book club discussed the book Woman, Captain, Rebel by Margaret Willson.

Genealogy Writing/Research:
In the process of filing digital documents I had downloaded, I entered them into RootsMagic and decided to write a short bio about Michael J. Sullivan, my great-grandfather’s youngest brother. Of course, in that process, more research had to be done, and to update the source citations, locating the documents again on FamilySearch. The first draft is finished, but I want to write more about where they lived and do more research on some groups mentioned in obituaries.

I sent a query for some research to be done in Joliet, Will County, Illinois. I would like a particular court case file and some deed index search. If deeds are found, then copies of the deeds.

Blog Post Published:

School Days for Margaret Teresa Gleeson. For 52 Ancestors, I wrote about Margaret’s days as a student and as an elementary teacher.

SNGF: Are You Experimenting with Artificial Intelligence for Genealogy? I wrote about my attempts to use ChatGPT and thought I would rather do research, analysis, and writing myself.

Genealogy Volunteer/Work:
John and I got started with the final library inventory. It will probably take a few weeks. Once that is done, we can upload the spreadsheet to PastPerfect. We will be able to print out and attach labels to each of the books.  Then our library will look like a real library and our volunteers will know where to replace the books.

I presented “Brick Walls” to the Kelowna and District Genealogical Society in British Columbia via Zoom.

Since this was the second week of the month, I had two board meetings to attend: the Sonoma County Genealogical Society (via Zoom) and the Contra Costa County Historical Society (in person). I am the secretary for both and took minutes.

Webinars/Courses Viewed: I attended many webinars this, primarily due to a 24-hour marathon conducted by Legacy Family Tree Webinars (LFTW). I watched a few live and have a few more to watch the recording, which I’ll do next week.

• Use AI to Draft Narratives from Timelines and Research Logs by Nicole Elder Dye (NGS AI Workshop)
• Genealogist's Guide to Cemetery Photography by Judy G. Russell (LFT)
• A Primer on Austro-Hungarian Geography by Dave Obee (LFT) – cool maps!
• Unlocking Birth Records by Lisa Lisson (LFT)
• African American Research: The Reconstruction Era by Ari Wilkins (LFT)
• Using U.S. Church Records as a Brick Wall Strategy: Case Studies by Sunny Morton (LFT)
• Using Newspapers to Explore Communities and Daily Lives by Gena Philibert-Ortega (Kinseekers)

The last webinar gave me ideas on researching the Long Beach earthquake of 1933 as my father lived through that one, and any union strikes he might have been involved with as a retail clerk. I loved how Sunny used case studies to show different types of church records.

Other:
Our walking group hiked the Skyline Gardens at Tilden Park this week. This is an area where the eucalyptus trees were removed and the area is being restored to a more natural state. Lots of wildflowers were blooming.

I also walked with the Mt. Diablo Bird Alliance in Briones Park, where we looked for wildflowers and birds. An orange-crowned warbler gave us a show.

I am reading:

• Woman, Captain, Rebel by Margaret Wilson—FINISHED!

Photos for this week.

Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great at documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week. This idea came from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing, who started this meme.

Copyright © 2024 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.