My Trails into the Past

I have been blogging for thirteen years. I started out with a different blog: Mam-ma's Southern Family, that I started from attending a California Genealogical Society class in 2011. I quickly discovered that I wanted to write about more than my grandmother's family, so created this blog on June 27, 2011. I write more here because I cover my father's lines, my mother's father's lines, and my husband's lines.  I write about three blogs per week: one about my genealogy week, one themed post from 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, and one from Saturday Night Genealogy Fun from Randy Seaver. Occasionally, I write about a particular find I make in my genealogy research.  Some statistics: I wrote 147 posts last year. 6 posts were highlighted by Amy Crow Johnson on her 52 Ancestors email. 14 posts were highlighted by Linda Stufflebean on her Friday Family History Finds 5 posts were highlighted by Randy Seaver on his Best of Genealogy Blogs I hope to have this many or more in th

When family members live in different towns and states, they make the effort to visit. My grandmother, Anna Hork, would go up to Montana in the summer to visit her sister, Nellie Goe. She was a school teacher and had summers off, so she could travel to Montana to visit Nellie or travel to Pomona to visit her sister, Loretto Patterson. Here is a photo of my grandmother (right) with her sisters, Nellie (left) and Loretta (center). I don’t know the date and I am not sure of the place. It could be in Anaconda, Montana, where Nellie lived, Pomona, where Loretto lived, or even Napa, where Anna lived. The hills in the background could be in any of the three places. I looked for their addresses in the 1940s and checked Google. The street view of the houses come up and only the one in Anaconda is close, but not the same house. I know it is not in California in Pomona or Napa, as the styles of the houses are wrong. What do you think? Anne's house in Napa Loretta's house in Pomona Nelli

I have completed two hundred and twenty-four (224) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. We flew home on Monday, which ended up being a day early and had to take BART home. Jet lag was tough this week, as I am still waking at 5 am. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   I met with the NGS this week about the call for proposals for the 2025 conference, with Matt B about the timeline of our duties for the conference, and the Oakland FamilySearch Center’s staff meeting. On Friday, the genealogy ladies (Linda, Kim, Kathryn, Sherie, and I) met for lunch. It was great seeing everyone and the conversation in the car going there and back with three others was invigorating. Too bad we forgot to take a group photo! Genealogy Writing/Research: This week, I started transcribing the deeds from Will County I had collected in Joliet. I found Vincent Sievert had sold a lot to his daughter, Julia, and her husband, Anton Hork. These are my great-grandparents and I had no idea they owned land that ear

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night Again - Time For Some More Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to answer: 1)  What genealogy "rabbit hole" did you go down recently?  Did you have genealogy fun?  How did it help your genealogy research? Here’s mine: I spent time this past two weeks (some while I was holed up in a hotel room with Covid) going down a rabbit hole searching for information about Disciples of Christ, the Churches of Christ, the Stone-Campbell tradition, and the preacher Walter Scott. I want more background information about the religious teachings that my ancestor N.H.O. Polly preached in Texas. This background information will be used to help tell his story in the KDP I am working on. I first tried PERSI, the Periodical Source Index at the Allen County Public Library. [1] It is an index of many genealogical and historical publications that the library houses. The index is not an every-n

I have many regrets about my early days of genealogy research, as I am sure many of us have. We regret not asking our elders certain questions before they died. Some of us did not even know about genealogy when our elders were alive. That is what happened with me. In the summer of 1969, I flew down to Pomona, California, with my grandmother (Nana) to attend a wedding. We stayed with her sister, Loretta Patterson, in Pomona for two weeks. Loretta’s grandchildren were my age and I spent some time with them, visiting Disneyland, Hollywood, San Juan Capistrano, and other Southern California sites. There were many days when I was home with Aunt Loretta and Nana for dinner. Dinner was always a great deal of fun listening to Aunt Loretta and Nana talk of their childhood days in Mitchell, South Dakota, and Anaconda, Montana. Only I did not know exactly where they lived until I started genealogy. Their stories had us laughing so hard, that they brought tears to our eyes. Aunt Loretta was th

I have completed two hundred and twenty-three (223) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. We had one last day in NYC on Monday, having dinner at Delmonicos. Then off to Pittsburgh for a couple of days and then to Chicago for a couple of days. We visited botanic gardens in both Pittsburgh and Chicago. Saturday night, we got word our train out of Chicago for Los Angeles was canceled. There were no other options so we’ll fly home on Tuesday. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   None this week. Genealogy Writing/Research: I did some research in Will County, Illinois at the court records office and the county recorder’s office. The clerk at the courthouse has to do some research to locate the old records I’m interested in. One of our newest CGs, Deb Dean, joined me at the recorder’s office and we tackled the deed indexes. The clerk, Melissa, showed us a book that acted as an index which was much better than looking at microfiche. She was such a help that if I discover there are more, I’m

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's  Saturday Night  Again -  Time For Some More  Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings tonight is to:  1)  It's Father's Day on Sunday.  Tell us three things about your father, or one of your grandfathers (or another male ancestor), that have influenced you in your life. Here’s mine: 1) I am a San Francisco Giants baseball fan because of my father and his mother, my Nana. I remember one spring day when he took us from school and we drove over to Candlestick Park for a Giants game. However, it started to rain before we got to the Bay Bridge and the game was called a rainout. We were so disappointed. We got a rain check and went later in the season. 2) For a few years in the 1970s I was an Oakland Raiders fan. Dad had season tickets and he took me a few times. I didn’t understand all the nuances of the game, but he patiently explained them to me. What I didn’t like was he never stayed til the end of t

I have completed two hundred and twenty-two (222) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. We arrived in New York City this week by train on Monday and I woke to Covid on Tuesday. Been stuck in the hotel room, though by Friday, feeling good, ventured outdoors, though masked. We’re leaving on Tuesday for Pittsburgh. Not much of a trip this year. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   None this week. Genealogy Writing/Research: Being laid up, I worked on my Polly project some, though the first few days, my headache was too strong to do more than just read, and not think about writing. Blog Post Published: Ill Health: How to Discover the Cause of Michael J. Sullivan’s Death . For 52 Ancestors’ theme of “Health,” I wrote about how I investigated the cause of death of my great-granduncle, Michael J Sullivan, and whether treatment might have been possible. SNGF: Write a Genealogy Poem Using AI. We were to use one of the chatbots to write a poem. I told it some of my interests and ChatGT

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night Again - Time For Some More Genealogy Fun!! Here is our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings tonight:   1)  Have you ever written poetry?  About genealogy research?  Do you want to?  2)  You can use the FREE ChatGPT-4o tool to write a poem (or perhaps another GPT tool).  Write a prompt with details of what you want to include, and let the AI chatbot do the job for you! Here’s mine: I will be honest. I am not a poet. I do not understand poetry. I do not even like poetry unless it rhymes. This is also the fastest I have put together a SNGF post, but it is because I did not write it. I am upfront here. It was written by a chatbot. My prompt: “I am a genealogist, who enjoys bird watching, hiking, taking photos of wildflowers, and watching baseball and tennis. Write a poem about me.” ChatGPT4’s response with a poem: In the archives of history, you delve so deep, Tracing roots and branches, secrets to keep. A ge

The obituary said he had been in ill health for a long time. [1] Michael J. Sullivan, the youngest brother of my great-grandfather, John H. Sullivan, died on 31 October 1931. [2] He had been the president of the Sullivan Electric Company in Butte, Montana. [3] My next thought was, what was the cause of his lasting ill health? The obituary was not forthcoming, however, there was more information on the death certificate. He died at home at 162 West Granite Street of “Uraemia” he had since 2 October. [4] Uremia is when there is a buildup of waste products in the bloodstream because of untreated kidney failure. It causes nausea, vomiting, weight loss, and fatigue. Without treatment, it is fatal. [5] Besides the uremia, he also had chronic myocarditis, which is the inflammation of the heart muscle. This weakens the heart muscle making it hard for the heart to pump. [6] Another secondary condition was chronic nephritis, which is an inflammation of the kidneys. [7] This is likely t

I have completed two hundred and twenty-one (221) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. We traveled this week by train to New York City and arrived on Monday. More on that below. Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:   At our Monday meeting with Jacqueline, I showed her the timeline I created of N.H.O. Polly’s life and that I plan to use it to help write his life story. Genealogy Writing/Research: I continued my writing project on the life of NHO Polly. By writing on the train across the country to Chicago, I was able to get a lot written. I have a portable table that I set up on the train. Since there is no internet service, I just write and make notes of any source citations that need updating in red text. I got seven pages written! Blog Post Published: Four Years at Creative Play Cooperative Preschool . For 52 Ancestors’ theme of “Creativity,” I wrote about our time attending a cooperative preschool whose focus was on play as a way to learn. SNGF: Your Most Frustrating Researc

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's  Saturday Night  Again -  Time For Some More  Genealogy Fun!! Our mission tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to:  1)  One of the goals of every genealogy researcher is to solve difficult name and relationship problems.  What is one of your most frustrating research challenges that you have not yet solved?  Here's mine: My most frustrating research challenge is locating family in Ireland. I know where my Sullivan family was in the early 1840s: Cahirkeem in Eyeries Parish, County Cork. Two children of Jeremiah Sullivan and Mary Sheehan were baptized: Mary Sullivan was born on 1 November 1843 and baptized on 5 November. Her godparents were Daniel Sullivan and Margaret Sullivan. [1] Julia Sullivan was baptized on 17 August 1846 in the same location as above. Her godparents were Cornelius Sullivan and Johanna Harrington. [2] She is not one of the children who came to America and probably died young. 1846 was during the