My Trails into the Past

This week's ancestor belongs to my husband--his great great-grandfather. Anders Eliason was born on 28 Sep 1821 in Grolanda, Skaraborgs län, Sweden. [1] He was the son of Elias Pehrsson and Kjerstin Ericsdotter, the third of seven children.   Birth record of Anders, son of Elias Pehrsson & Kjerstin Ericksdotter He married Cajsa Florine Pehrsdotter on 11 Jul 1847. [2] She was the daughter of Pehr Andersson and Maja Andersdotter, born on 12 Sep 1812. [3] Marriage of Anders & Cajsa in 1847 In 1866, Casja and Anders immigrated to the United States aboard the City of Manchester. Two of his children, Sofia and Alfred, and his brother, Gustaf and his family were on board, too. 1866 ship list of the City of Manchester The family ended up in Iowa with new surname of Lundquist. It has not been determined why the name was changed to Lundquist. Perhaps there were other family members already in Iowa who had adopted this name. Anders and Casja had 6 childr...

Matrilineal Monday is a blogging theme to celebrate or share something of your mother’s line. When I started on the process of locating my grandparent’s marriage record, all I knew from my aunt (their daughter) was they got married on Thanksgiving and the reception was at Aunt Sadie’s. I didn't know who Aunt Sadie was. I wasn't sure of the year, so I didn't know when Thanksgiving fell. All I knew was William Cyril (known as Cyril) came from Hamilton in Ravalli County, Montana and Anna (later known as Anne) came from Anaconda in Deer Lodge County. Letters sent to the county recorders in both counties came back with no record found. Gosh, why wouldn't they be married in one of their hometowns? Letters were sent to the Catholic churches in both counties with the same results: no record of marriage found there. So, who was Aunt Sadie? My daughters and I had taken a trip to Montana to visit both Hamilton and Anaconda, hoping to find more information about th...

I spent over 32 years working for the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) where I was a member of the Amalgamated Transit Union 1555. I began working there as a BART Train Operator and later became an Employee Development Specialist (EDS) where I taught new employees to be train operators. I retired in 2010. My father, William J. Hork, worked most of his life for grocery stores that were unionized. He was initially in the Retail Clerks Union 1179 which later was renamed United Food & Commercial Workers Union. My father worked for LoRay, Ralphs, Bon Appetit, and Safeway. He retired in 1993. My grandfather, Tom J. Johnston, worked as a carpenter most of his life. His last job was with the Contra Costa County Community College District and he worked at the Diablo Valley College (DVC) campus. I remember visiting him there once with my grandmother. He gave me a wooden tennis racket and frame. I loved playing with that racket. Updated 4 Sep 2014. I found To...