My Trails into the Past

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Night again -  Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1)  How do you use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to help you understand the lives, history, and geography associated with your family and your ancestors, that aid your genealogy and family history research?   2)  Please share the ways (at least one way!) that you use AI tools in your genealogy and family history research.  Here's mine: To be honest, I don’t use AI much. I enjoy the artificial intelligent tools that makes full-text search available at FamilySearch and look forward to this technique at other genealogy websites. I also enjoy whatever tools are being used to enhance OCR capability in newspaper research. I have not used it much besides the above. I tried having it analyze my research results but realized I should be doing the anal...

This post will double as a 52 Ancestors and a 12 for ’26 post. This month, I’m studying the Shotts and Bishop families, beginning with Amos Gorrell’s wife, Catharine Elizabeth Shotts. Elizabeth was born on 18 February 1835 in Ross County, Ohio, to Daniel Shotts and Mary Ann Bishop. [1] She was the second child of six. The family lived in Huntington Township and Daniel was a farmer. Even though Daniel could not read and write, his children were all attending school in 1850. [2] When she was 22 years old, she married Lemuel J. Sayre on 14 January 1857. Rev. William Morris officiated. [3] Lemuel was a 21-year-old Virginia-born farmer, the son of Squire and Lydia Sayre. [4] They had three children. Mary Adela Sayre was born on 29 May 1857 and she died 11 November 1858. [5] She is buried in the Denver Cemetery, Ross County. Her death date was calculated from age at death: 1y 5m 13d. [6] George Sayre was born on 3 August 1859 and he died on the same day. He is also buried in the D...

Outside activities included gym, phenology, History Center, trip to the Google Store, and dinner at Original Joes. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I volunteered twice at the History Center again this week, working with Traci and John on the Betty Maffei collection on Monday and my regular shift on Tuesday, where I opened. Genealogy Meetings:  I attended the RootsMagic SIG and met with Jacqueline for last minute plans for her trip – she’ll be arriving this coming week.   Genealogy Writing/Research : I wrote about Samuel & Elizabeth Johnston in Texas & Mississippi, then wrote about Reuben’s wife, Oliva Jones’ family. Blog Posts Published: Samuel Johnston’s Land in Yalobusha County, Mississippi on a Map For the theme of “a spot on a map,” I wrote about how I found Sam’s land on a map. SNGF: Describe One of Your Own, or an Ancestor’s, Life Turning Point I wrote about my early career decisions. Courses Attended :  I again attended the last two ses...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Night again -  Time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1)  Every historical person has major events, milestones and "turning points" in their life, from birth through death and even beyond.  These events, milestones and turning points can be the basis for family stories of the historical person. 2)  Please share one of those events in your own life, or the life of one of your ancestors.  Here's mine: One turning point in my life was figuring out what I was going to do with my life after graduating from college with a degree in Biological Sciences. I really didn’t want to go out in the working world. I liked college, taking classes, and learning new stuff. My job at the college library was fun. In fact, I was enrolled to work on a second major of Geography. Besides, there were no jobs to be had. We were in a ...

Outside activities included phenology, History Center, hike, and anniversary party for my niece.   Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I volunteered twice at the History Center again this week. Traci and I worked on the Betty Maffei collection on Monday and on Tuesday, I entered books into the library database and shelved them. Genealogy Meetings:  Meetings I attended this week were the CCCHS board meeting, an education committee meeting at CGS, NARA SIG, and Oakland FS Center meeting. I met Linda for tea and we had a great get-together talking about our projects and families.   Genealogy Writing/Research : I got in a little more writing this week, finishing up what I had started on Reuben Johnston, finishing up on the full-text search for him and his brothers, and introducing their parents Sam & Elizabeth Johnston. I also wrote a couple of proof summaries for the MGP class. Blog Posts Published: William Hutson “Hutts” Loveless Lived a Long Life For the ...

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) Do you have any records of your ancestors' schooling, such as report cards, yearbooks, or photos? 2)  If so, please share one of them and what you learned about your ancestor(s) from the article.   Thank you to Lisa S. Gorrell for this SNGF idea. Here's mine: We have my husband’s mother, Thelma Nilsen, report card for her 7th grade school year. [1] Report cards tell us how teachers thought the student did in each subject, not how much the student learned. This card is interesting because the citizenship grade is a large as the scholarship grade. I was surprised to see a report card without letter grades, especially in such a high grade level. She had no + in the scholarship section but did have + in responsibility, cooperation, and courtesy to teachers. This card was issued by the Elim Unio...

Outside act ivities included phenology, History Center, hike, and lunch in Orinda. Genealogy Genealogy Volunteer/Work: I volunteered twice at the History Center again this week. I worked putting more items away on Tuesday, and on Saturday worked with entering collections into PastPerfect and the Online Archive of California. I led the writer’s group and we discussed Margaret’s submission and talked about citations. Genealogy Meetings:  This week I met with my accountability group, military SIG, and two sessions of Level Up.   Genealogy Writing/Research : I have spent time writing but didn’t get much completed or published on the blog. Part of the reason is the two courses I’m taking during the week. Blog Posts Published: What to do about Multiple Sources for One Event For the them of “Multiples,” I wrote about how I analyze and correlate multiple sources and pieces of information. Highlighted by Linda Stufflebean and Randy Seaver. SNGF: An Unusual Newspaper Art...