My Trails into the Past

On 6 April 1917, the United States declared war on Germany and thus entered the war that had been going on since 1914. [1] On 18 May 1917, the Selective Service Act of 1917 was enacted, with the first draft registration conducted on 5 June 1917. [2] My great uncle, Jack Sullivan, might have seen the headline in the Butte Miner or some other newspaper. I am not sure where he was living since 1912. After his mother’s death, he moved to Portland, perhaps to live with his grandparents, John and Margaret Gleeson. [3] However, Jack sent a letter to his sister, Nellie Goe, saying he had enlisted in the engineering corps at Vancouver, Washington. He stated he “enjoys the new life and that he feels pretty much at home, as there are six other Anaconda boys located in the same barracks.” [4] Looking at his Veterans Affairs Master Index card, created after the war, listed his enlistment date as 4 June 1917. [5] This was the day before the draft registration. Since he had enlisted in the Ar...

Outside activities included phenology, gym, hiking, and 2 lunches with friends. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: This week, I volunteered three times at the History Center. We worked on Betty’s collection on Monday, and I worked on the newspaper donation on Tuesday and Saturday. I sent out the BCG press release for this month’s webinar. Genealogy Meetings:  I attended the Labor SIG on Monday, Military discussion with Craig Scott and the APG Golden State Chapter on Tuesday, and on Sunday, I attended book club. Jacqueline and I met on Friday. Genealogy Writing/Research : I began researching the Davey family, beginning with Matilda, my husband’s grandmother, and then began writing up on her father, Frederick. Blog Posts Published: Matilda Pearl Davey (1880-1958) 12 for ‘26 A 12 for ’26 post describing Matilda’s life. Matilda Gorrell Demonstrated the Value of Service For 52 Ancestor’s theme of “A Family Value,” I wrote about my husband’s grandmother, who gave back t...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Night again -  Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1)  Reader Sarah emailed:  "We pulled real eighth-grade diploma exams from 1902–1914. In the two Ohio county reports we found, only 100 of 282 kids passed. They had to spell Constantinople and Marseilles and answer "Why is tobacco in all its forms more injurious for a boy than for a man?" "Could make a fun Saturday Night Genealogy Fun prompt: Take the 15-question quiz and guess whether your ancestors passed. "Here's the page: https://homeschoolstates.com/research/1914-eighth-grade-exam/ " 2) Take the test and tell us your score. 3) Which of your ancestors living in 1914 would pass the test? Thank you to reader Sarah for suggesting this. Here's mine: I failed, getting only 12 of 15 correct. I missed one geography question and would have known it in 1914. I also missed two mat...

It’s a new month and a new surname: Davey. Matilda Pearl Davey is my husband’s grandmother. He may have met her twice; the first time when just a toddler in 1954 with his brother, the sons of Matilda’s only son, George Gorrell. They visited again in 1957. Childhood Matilda was born on 18 April 1880 to Frederick Henry Davey and Matilda “Tillie” Wollenweber. She was their second-born child. [1] She had three brothers from Fred’s first wife, one brother from his second wife, and two step-brothers from the third wife. [2] Her mother died when she was five years old. [3] In the beginning, her mother’s sister, Julia Wollenweber, came to live with them and her father married her on 28 July 1887, however, the marriage did not last and they were divorced by 1892. [4] The story as told by her son, George, Matilda was sent to live with aunts and perhaps spent time in a children’s home. [5] One aunt may have been Catharine Rose (Davey) McFall, who lived in Jeffersonville, Indiana, and lat...

A value that my husband’s grandmother held was service. Throughout her adult life she valued providing a service to others. There is no documentation as to why she did this. Perhaps her unorthodox childhood had something to do with it. Matilda Pearl Davey was born on 18 April 1880 to Frederick Henry Davey and Matilda “Tillie” Wollenweber. She was their second-born child. [1] She had three brothers from Fred’s first wife, one brother from his second wife, and two step-brothers from the third wife. [2] Her mother died when she was five years old. [3] In the beginning, her mother’s sister, Julia Wollenweber, came to live with them and her father married her on 28 July 1887, however, the marriage did not last and they were divorced by 1892. [4] The story as told by her son, George, Matilda was sent to live with aunts and perhaps spent time in a children’s home. [5] She married Joseph Norman Gorrell on 19 December 1900. [6] He was a lineman for a telephone company. In their first ...

Outside activities included phenology, gym, hiking, and train club. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: This week, I volunteered at the History Center where I worked on the new donation of newspapers. Genealogy Meetings:  I attended several meetings this week: Renewal Accountability Group We discussed the new version of RootsMagic at the RootsMagic SIG Linda, Jennifer, and I met about the 2027 second quarter writing sessions at CGS Jacqueline and I met, and we discussed her trying to get a bankruptcy file, my research on a military guy who went AWOL and trying to get the court-martial file, and my reading about the railway service in France during WWII. At Book Club, we continued discussing White Trash . Genealogy Writing/Research : This week I finished up researching and writing about the Sullivan family, and began researching the new family line for November: the Davey family. Blog Posts Published: Teaching Career of Anne M. (Sullivan) Hork in California ...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Nigh t again -  Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1)  Find an ancestor who has a life event (e.g, born, baptized, married, died or buried) on Hallowe'en (31 October). 2)  Tell us about him or her -- who were his or her parents, spouses, children, occupation, residences, etc.  NOTE:  No luck?  How about a relative?  Or a famous person?  Here's mine: I also have RootsMagic 12 and ran the “On This Day” report, selecting Oct 31, family events, and color coding. I only got a half page of returns, but I don’t’ have as many people in my database as Randy does. Family Events 1733 - Birth: Nils Jonsson-756 , Sweden 1809 - Birth: Creath Neal-3235, Jessamine Co, Kentucky 1811 - Land Purchase: John Kethley-3248 , Feliciana Parish, Louisiana 1816 - Birth: Eva Charlotta Johansdotter-4264, 1835 - Death: Jacob Bischof-...