My Trails into the Past

In May of 1882, Thomas Davey and his wife, Mary Nicholas Davey, of Jeffersonville, Indiana, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in their home surrounded by their children. They even were reunited in matrimony by their minister from the Methodist Episcopal church.  The local newspaper had a nice write-up about the event.  "Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Davey, living at No. 226 Wall street, celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of their marriage at their home on Tuesday evening and were again united in marriage by Rev. Ongley, of the Methodist Episcopal church.  The aged couple were married in their native country in 1832, and are blessed with seven children and eighteen grandchildren, several of whom were present on the happy occasion.   “Mrs. Davey is particularly well known as a Christian lady whose good deeds of charity have endeared her to many during her residence of twenty years in this city.  Mr. Thomas Davey, after many years of faithful service as blacksm...

I have completed two hundred and forty-seven (247) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities were trips to the History Center, to the train club, and to a Wednesday Walkers party.   Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:    I met with the Cert Renewal group, Kinseekers Military SIG, Jacqueline, and Amigos this week. I shared the WWI draft classification record from Erath Co, Texas during Kinseekers. Jacqueline and I talked about my new iPad and Jacqueline asked questions about census citations. We got caught up with each other during Amigos. Genealogy Volunteer/Work: At the History Center on Tuesday, I continued with the same collection—this time I’m entering data into the finding aid and correcting some folder labels. Our Writing Group met and because no one had submitted any new work, we discussed general topics and made the dates for the next session. We decided to meet once a month through April.  Genealogy Writing/Research: I did some major tidyi...

Calling All Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night Again -  Time For Some More Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing s is to:  1)   Today's challenge is to share memories of December holiday gatherings and celebrations with your families (as a child, a young adult, a parent, a grandparent, a great-grandparent, an aunt or uncle, a sibling, a cousin, an in-law)!   2)  Pick two or three questions from the list in my blog post:  Ask AI:  "What questions can I write about concerning family gatherings and celebrations during the December holidays?"  Use different questions from the list that you didn't use last week. Here's mine: Last week, I wrote about when we opened presents and what kinds of trees we had. This week I shall select two more topics: Were there memorable gifts or surprises from your family’s holiday history? I have been thinking about the family gifts we received over the years. One year in the mid-...

The day I met my future mother-in-law I knew it would be a good relationship. I had been seeing her son for about a year or two. We met at the trolley museum off Highway 12 when I came up with friends from the train club. We all loved volunteering there: running streetcars, maintaining the track, and working on rebuilding cars in the shop. He lived on the museum site as a sort-of caretaker and worked in Rio Vista during the week as a welder. Later, he took a job closer to where I lived and moved to Pleasant Hill. I do not remember the exact circumstances that led us to visit his parents at their home. His mother welcomed me warmly. She gave me a tour of the house and when I saw a bookcase in the hall, I knew I had found a kindred soul. Books can reveal a bit of one’s personality. She was an avid reader of fiction. Many of the books on her shelf were also on my shelves. She had a whole collection of Louis L’Amour books, and he was one of my favorite authors then. She also had the Mrs. P...

I have completed two hundred and forty-six (246) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities were two trips to the History Center, a trip to the doctor’s office, a trip to the Oakland FamilySearch Center, and a trip to the Chevron archives.   Genealogy Genealogy Meetings:    Genealogy meetings this week included the NGS Conference Committee on Monday morning, a Zoom meeting with Jacqueline on Monday afternoon, the Certification Discussion Group on Wednesday, and Gena’s book club on Sunday. I put a library hold on one of the books mentioned about our BYOB (bring your own book) day.  Genealogy Volunteer/Work: On Wednesday, I presented at the Oakland FamilySearch Center on researching in person at archives and libraries. I had a nice audience who were very interested in doing research in Germany.  I volunteered at the History Center on Tuesday and Saturday. I’m still working on the same collection—this time I’m entering data into the finding ...

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)   Today's challenge is to share memories of December holiday gatherings and celebrations with your families (as a child, a young adult, a parent, a grandparent, a great-grandparent, an aunt or uncle, a nibling, a cousin, an in-law)!   2)  Pick two or three questions from the list in my blog post:  Ask AI:  "What questions can I write about concerning family gatherings and celebrations during the December holidays?" 3)  Tell us about your memories of your holiday gatherings and celebrations in your own blog post, in a comment here, or on your Facebook page.  Be sure to leave a link to your report in a comment on this post. Here's mine: I chose these two questions: Did your family have traditions for how gifts were given or opened (e.g., all at once, youngest to oldest)? Wh...

I grew up in a large family of six children, two boys, and four girls, with me being the eldest. Back in the sixties, mothers tended not to work unless they were the only breadwinner. So, my dad worked six days a week with Tuesdays off. He worked a union job and got time and a half or more to work on Sundays. He did not always work Sundays, as he was sometimes in charge of taking us to church.  So, providing for a big family on one salary was hard. Being the oldest, my younger siblings would get my hand-me-downs from clothes to toys. Most of my childhood toys were passed on to younger siblings, so I had none to share with my daughters. But I do have one item from a purchase in fifth grade. I bought a troll with allowance money and I still have it. But being the fifth oldest grandchild of my Nana, I got some hand-me-downs from my older cousins. I’m sure that was a blessing when my brother and I went to parochial school in Pittsburg. The white shirts from cousins probably helped with...