My Trails into the Past

Another great theme this week. Thanks, Janice, for suggesting it. Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1) What were your family pets? What were their names? How long did they live? What stories do you have about them? 2) Tell us in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or on Facebook or Google+. Please leave a comment on this post with a link to your post. I wish I had scanned images of all of the pets I had as a child. My first pet that was truly mine, was a white cat named George "Sparky" Anderson. He was a really kick, by liking to sleep at the foot of my bed under my covers. My mother gave us a really old cat when we got married named, Patty. She wouldn't clean herself and Norman had to give her baths, which she didn't like. She had teeth problems and we had some surgery done. Then one day she disappeared and we never found her. That was our last cat. Since then we've had dogs...

I am working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow . I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past . I’m looking forward to writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. My husband’s mother, Thelma, grew up on a farm in Hilmar, Merced County, California. Here is a photo of her with her three older brothers (Arnold, Leonard, and Reuben) and one younger brother (Raymond).  Left to right: Thelma, Ray, Arnold, Reuben, Leonard Nilsen I just love this photo. It was taken about 1927-28. The boys are wearing typical clothes of children of farmers.  Mrs. Hoover's First Grade Class, Hilmar School Here is a typical class photo.  Thelma is in 2nd row, 4th from left and her cousin, Ken Lundquist, was also in the photo, but I don't know which one is him.   Copyright © 2018 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week. This idea came from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing, who started this meme. Genealogy This week has been primarily spent working on the five lessons I will be teaching in October & November at the Oakland FamilySearch Library on behalf of the California Genealogical Society. This is an intermediate level course, focusing on another set of records: military, tax & other lists, cemeteries, newspapers, and writing. I currently have eight (8) people signed up and there is room for more. To register, go to the CGS website here . I also viewed several webinars this week: "Using Lists to Find Proof" by Cari Taplin, who presented this on behalf of the Board for Certification of Genealogists (BCG). The recording can be found at Legacy Family Tree Webinars. This was helpful in working on one of my talks.  "25 ...

Another SNGF assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing .  I haven’t participated in a long while, first being in Wales and England in August, and then when I got back, had too much catching up to do. Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!):  1) What is your earliest memory?  How old were you, where did you live, who are the characters in your memory? 2)  Tell us in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or on Facebook or Google+.  Please leave a comment on this post with a link to your post. Janice Sellers suggested this topic.  Way to go! My earliest memory is during Kindergarten. I have faint memory of being sick with scarlet fever and our house being quarantined. I remember the doctor coming to our house to check me out. I have hated tongue depressors since, as it seemed he was trying to choke/gag me with it.    When I returned to school, I had so many carto...

Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week. This idea came from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing, who started this meme. Genealogy The highlight of my genealogy week was the four-day retreat I had with three other genealogists at a vacation home in the north Tahoe area. We spent two full and two half days working on our genealogy. During meal breaks (that we took turns preparing) we had discussions about research logs, creating citations, and some other topics. I worked on creating PowerPoint presentations, handouts, and exercises for the five classes I’m teaching in October. I can proudly say that I’m 95% done on two of them and started on the third. Working in a quiet area for three plus days was a wonderful experience. We did speak to each other and asked or answered questions, but having no distractions was the best part of the experience. Volunteered at the Cont...

I am working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow . I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past . I’m looking forward to writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. My birthday is March 26, which makes me an Aries. The immediate relative with the closest birthday was my sister, Danna, who was born on April 1, just six years younger than me. Growing up we celebrated separate birthdays. Today, my sisters and nieces get together to celebrate our birthdays and Danna and I usually share the celebration together. When I met my future husband, I learned that his paternal aunt, Ada, had the same birthday as me, though she was born some fifty years before me. One year on my birthday I was awaken early by Aunt Ada calling to wish me a Happy Birthday. This was before we were married. I was working a graveyard-like shift from 1930 to 0330 and had been in bed only a few hours. I had no...

Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great documenting our own. I’ll write about what I’ve been doing the past week. This idea came from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing, who started this meme. It has been nearly a month since my last Genea-pourri post. My husband and I went to England and Wales where we visited with a niece and her husband, toured Stonehenge, Blenheim Palace, Salisbury Cathedral, and Old Sarum before heading to Cornwall and Wales. In Wales we had dinner with online genealogy friend, Hilary Gadsby. It was a fun trip and took me nearly 5 days to recover from jetlag! Hilary and me in Llandudno Genealogy On the trip, I did do some research in two facilities in Cornwall. The first in Truro was the Family History Centre. Volunteer, Vivian, helped me at the computer and I got familiar with some Cornish record sites. Now I will join the society so I have access again. I forgot to take a photo of the place though. The second place wa...

I am working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow . I will write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails Into the Past . I’m looking forward to writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. I have written previously about my paternal aunt, Lorene Hork, who went to Japan to work for the U.S. Army. She left me a collection of the letters she wrote home from Japan and from her trip across Asia and Europe on her return home. See this post and this post . Because she worked for the federal government, I sent for her official personnel file from the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis. It was simple; just send a letter with the request. I received an envelope full of photocopies—a total of 110 pages! And at no charge. A surprise was in the packet. Lorene had also worked for the U.S. Navy at the Mare Island Naval Yard during World War II. The naval base was located in Vallejo, only about twen...