My Trails into the Past

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) Have you found an unusual, chilling, amazing, or fascinating newspaper article about your ancestors?  2)  If so, please share the article and what you learned about your ancestor(s) from the article.  Provide a source citation too! Thank you to Lisa S. Gorrell for this SNGF idea. Here's mine: Several years ago, I visited the Pittsburg (Calif) Historical Society to write an article for the Contra Costa County Genealogical Society’s newsletter. I had a regular column highlighting local research resources. I was super surprised to find my mother’s names listed in a newspaper index. We lived in Pittsburg from about 1956 to 1963. It seems my mother was involved with the Junior Woman’s Club in Pittsburg and she was mentioned on various committees as each year these were chosen. Of course, she wasn’t...

Sometimes our genealogy database is not completely clean and tidy. I might know a fact’s date down to the minute. I might not know the exact place an event took place. Different records that name our ancestors might give us different answers to a research question. So, what do we do? Enter all the different dates into our database? Pick the best one and ignore the rest? This is where following the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) helps us answer this. [1] For a reminder, the GPS asks us to first do reasonably exhaustive research, while recording source citations for each item we find. We also must analyze each document and the information we find in the document to understand the source of the information. If we get conflicting information, and that is common when we find different dates for an event, we work at resolving the conflict, hoping to get close to the correct answer. And lastly, we write up our conclusions and share them. [2] When we have multiple information pieces tha...

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...