Monday Genea-pourri, Weeks of October 29-November 11, 2018

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

Family Research. I spent most of the 11th, working on the Johnston-Couch line, picking up some 1940 U.S. census death, cemetery, and newspaper records on Ancestry, FamilySearch, and Findagrave. Two of my great-grandfather’s sisters married Couch brothers. There were a lot of Couch surnames found in the Comanche Chief newspaper of Comanche Co, Texas.

SLIG Virtual Practicum. I worked on Week 3's assignment while in New York and Week 4's when I got home. I have found that using a research log can be useful, but there is not enough space to write some analysis. I’m going back to a research report for Week 5. Week 4 was a kicker, with DNA analysis and research in English records! Thanks to Sheri for the help.

Blog Writing: I wrote two blog posts these two past weeks:

Week 44: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks was about “Frightening.” I posted some photos of one of the many Halloween parties my parents had. One of the photos has a “ghost” in it.

Week 45: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks was about “Beards.” I wrote about John Gleeson, showing him in three photos sporting his beard.

Randy Seaver’s Saturday Night Genealogy Fun. About our Zig Zag ancestors. I could only go back five generations. This past week’s topic was what we collected as a child and I reposted one from two years ago.

Intermediate Skills 2. We had our last class about genealogy writing. I covered it in two parts: writing as we research (research plans, research reports, research logs), and final products (genealogies, family history, etc.). I think everyone liked the presentation very much. I forgot to take a class photo, so I have no visual record of the participants.

Cert Support Group: Dennis turned in his portfolio and now feels like I do: both relieved and sort of lost. When you work on something as hard as we did for nearly two years, you wonder what you should now do with your time. We also discussed Chapter 16 in the new Professional Genealogy book on DNA.

Other Activities

We spent eight days in New York City, traveling there to see our daughter, Margaret, in a new play called “Meg, Beth, Amy, Jo & Louisa” about Louisa May Alcott’s writing of Little Women. It was very good. They hope to take it on to the Fringe season.

We saw different things in New York City this time: Central Park, Roosevelt Island, Teddy Roosevelt’s Childhood Home, and crossing the Williamsburg Bridge into Brooklyn. We saw two Broadway shows: The Band’s Visit and The Waitress, and ate at some very nice restaurants. We also hit Katz Diner again so Elizabeth, who arrived in NYC just after Margaret’s play, could eat there. 

I also took a trip to New Jersey, met by friend, Judy Russell, and we went down to Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge for a day of bird watching. I shot some 150 plus photos and had great conversation with Judy. All in all, a great trip.

This past week, I mostly stayed indoors due to the Camp fire up in Butte County that is sending smoke and poor air quality to the Bay Area. 

Copyright © 2018 by Lisa Suzanne Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.