My Trails into the Past

Outside activities included phenology, History Center, day trip to Berkeley, a movie, and garage sales. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I worked two afternoons at the History Center again this week, working with the library database on Tuesday and attending a meeting about processing the Maffei collection. I did a birth certificate pull for my long-standing client. Genealogy Meetings:  This week I had meetings with Jacqueline, the CGS education committee, APG Golden State Chapter, and the Labor SIG.   Genealogy Writing/Research : I did not write much this week, except for the homework in the Mastering Genealogical Proof class I’m taking and the 52 Ancestors & SNGF blog posts. I started working on the Johnston family and did a little research and writing during the one Level Up session I attended. Also, my daughter is visiting and we spent time together. Blog Posts Published: Can Samuel Johnston’s 1850 Mississippi Neighborhood Help Locate His Alabama &...

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) Did extreme weather or a natural disaster ever affect you or your ancestor(s)? In what way(s)? How did you find this out? Describe one or more of the extreme weather experiences in your own life or in your ancestors’ lives. Thank you to Marian B. Wood for this SNGF idea. Here’s mine: This was a tough assignment. I searched in my RootsMagic database for someone who was in a hurricane, tornado, blizzard, or disaster, and came up with nothing. Then I remembered an aunt was in San Francisco during the 1906 earthquake. I have several families who were living in San Francsico during the 1906 earthquake and fire. I don’t know much about their activities, only what was told to me. My grandfather, William Cyril Hork’s sister, Ida Hork Colmann and her husband Martin J. Colmann, were living in San Francisco. He was li...

Once the research expands back into the census with tick marks and only the head of household listed, it becomes more difficult. I have a family who were living in Yalobusha County, Mississippi, in 1850. The head of household and his wife were born in South Carolina. The children were born in Alabama, with the youngest at 1 years listed as born in Alabama, suggesting they came recently to Mississippi. Common Surname Their name is common: Johnston, which often is rendered as Johnson. I must look at people with both spellings. His first name was Sam or Samuel. I have found 14 men with the first name of Sam, Samuel, or S Johnson/Johnston in the 1840 Alabama census. Three households have a man in the right age group: Samuel Johnston, Talladega Co. Samuel Johnston, Benton Co. S. Johnson, Lauderdale Co. Of course, it is also possible that they moved to Alabama after the 1840 census enumeration was conducted and were still in South Carolina, or were in the act of traveling to Alabam...

Outside activities included phenology, History Center, hiking, a meet with fellow modelers, and a trip to Placerville for a family reunion. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I worked two afternoons at the History Center, working with accessions and putting away some donated items. I presented my Farming Ancestors talk to the North San Diego Genealogical Society. Genealogy Meetings:  This week I met with Jacqueline and we continued the discussion about the her trip to the Bay Area in September to visit National Parks. She had is all mapped out on a calendar. We also looked about her writing project and worked on some formatting issues. I also had a good conversation with Carol in the Renewal Accountability Group. Genealogy Writing/Research : I finished up the month with a final post about the tax records in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. With the new month starting on Saturday, I wrote my first Johnston family post on Sunday. I attended two sessions of Level Up Accountabil...

A new month, a new surname. My great-grandfather, Thomas N. Johnston, was born 25 July 1885 in Texas to Reuben M. Johnston and Olivia Jane Jones. The tombstone photo showing his birthdate is consistent with other records created in his lifetime: [1] July 1885, living with his parent Reuben M and Jane Johnson in 1900 [2] 25 July 1885, as stated on his WW I draft registration card [3] 24 July 1885, as stated on his WW II draft registration card [4] 25 July 1885, as stated on his death certificate. His wife, Rose Johnston, was the informant. [5] 25 July 1885, on the funeral notice. [6] However, his place of birth has conflicts: The obituary and death certificate said he was born in Montague County. [7] The WW II draft card he supplied the information for said Coleman County. [8] His parents were living in Comanche County in 1880, making this his likely place of birth. [9] Likely the same informant provided the information for the tombstone, death certificate, and funeral notice. H...

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) Did your family go on vacation? Describe one or more of your vacations with your birth family or with your spouse and children. Thank you to Lisa S. Gorrell for this SNGF idea. Here's mine: There is only one vacation I remember our family taking when I was young. Because we had a large family of six children, we did not go on many outings. Plus, my dad worked six days a week, especially on the weekends, where he got paid more. So, this one summer in 1968 when my youngest sister was about six months old, we spent a few days in Santa Cruz. They rented a cabin. We spent time at the beach, went to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk, and rode the train at Roaring Camp and Big Trees. I don’t remember much but I have photos. Typical summer day along the coast with the morning fog Here we are at the Roaring Camp One of our san...

Here is my last post about the Gorrell family for the month of July. I did not get as far as I had hoped, certainly not researching Amos Sr's wife, Leah Wollam's family, or James Jr's wife, Sarah Milholland's family. Perhaps I'll get to it next year. This is the final installment about the tax and census records I found for Beaver County. The previous posts can be found here and here . I never found how these men acquired the land or how the land was disposed of. I learned that townships have local records and the next time I visit Pittsburgh for GRIP, I will take the time to visit Beaver County, particularly Ohioville and South Beaver. After discussing the tax and census records for the two James Gorrells and their widows, I wrote a few paragraphs about the history of Beavery County book I found that mentioned James Gorrell in the early part of the county's history. The Report* I recorded the information from census and tax records from 1800 through 1841 for v...