My Trails into the Past

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 After Christmas, I decided to work on family research by taking care of some back-logged items, entering them into RootsMagic, and renaming the files as appropriate. I worked for three days entering nearly 200 deed records from Kaufman and Rockwall Counties in Texas that I had obtained from the Family History Library back in 2015. These deeds are for the Lancaster family, with Polly and Butler families thrown in. I discovered some interesting information on George W. Lancaster by transcribing the deeds. More on that in a separate blog post. Blog Writing : I wrote the following blog posts this week: Week 52: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks about my 2019 goals. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun : discussing last year’s goal and what I plan for next year...

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has his yearly resolution challenge: Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible! music) is to: 1)  Did you make any New Year’s Resolutions, or state Goals and Objectives, for genealogy and family history research in 2019?  If so, tell us about them. 2)  If not, then make ONE resolution, or state one goal, for your genealogy research that you are determined to keep during 2019.  We'll check on progress toward that resolution/goal during the year in SNGF (if I remember!). 3)  Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a Comment to this blog post, or in a Facebook status post.  Leave a link in Comments to any post you make. My 2018 Resolution I did make a resolution last year and it was to submit my portfolio to the Board for Certification of Genealogists and I did fulfill the goal. Not only that, I was certified as well. My 2019 Resolution My goal for this year is to w...

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. Now that my energy is no longer focused on finishing my BCG portfolio, I need a new project to work on. In these past three months I have been in a fog, wandering from one genealogy activity to another, trying to find something to occupy my time. I should organize my files. I have a lot of old paper notes and photocopies that could be scanned or tossed. I have files from a book I wrote about my husband’s family that should be culled and donated along with the files put together by Aunt Bernice and cousin Terry to the California State Archives. I also have slides from early vacations that should be scanned and had started that process, but scanning slides is very time-consuming. It takes much longer to scan than pho...

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 long, almost three month wait is over. I heard on the 22nd of December from the Board for Certification of Genealogists that I have become a Certified Genealogist®. It was the best Christmas present this year. I’ve written all about the certification process here. I was ill with the flu part of the week and so did not work on genealogy much. I continued working on my own family research by the continuation of the Johnston line. Blog Writing : I wrote the following blog posts this week: Week 51: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks about Muriel Gleeson putting together a photo album for the Gleeson & Tierney families for the theme of Nice. Certification : A post announcing becoming certified. Cert Peer Group : Again we had five of us ...

I became a Certified Genealogist® officially on December 22, 2018 and will hold the certification for five years. I was so excited when I got the news. I submitted on October 5 and waited (not so patiently) over two and half months. What helped, was I started working on another project: looking for the father of Samuel Johnston. To become certified, I had to submit a seven-part portfolio to the Board for the Certification of Genealogists that demonstrated my ability to follow the Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS). [1] It really was the culmination of many years of research practice, several years of education, and then putting together the portfolio. This portfolio was then judged by three competent genealogists who use a rubrics to determine whether I have met the standards of the GPS. Education was a major factor in helping me prepare for certification. I had started conducting genealogy research as a self-taught researcher. I read The Source and attended presentations b...

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. When I think of someone in my family who was nice, the one who was the nicest was my first cousin twice removed, Muriel Gilbert.  If it hadn't been for her, I wouldn’t have this wonderful photo album of the Gleeson family that was so nicely labeled. Now, the album has no out-right mention that she put it together, but there are clues. For one, in the table of contents, she references people by the relationship to her. Photo no. 9 has three young women: “Mother, Aunt Kate Whalen, Aunt Anna.”  [See photo below] Secondly, the way she created the “M” letters is consistent with another booklet I have that she made, called the Birthday Book. In that book, she kept track of important birth, marri...

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 was too busy this week to very much of my own genealogy. I am still working on documenting Samuel Johnston’s live in Mississippi and Texas. Blog Writing : I wrote three blog posts this week: Week 50 of  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks  about Frederick Henry Davey for the Naughty theme. For Saturday Night Genealogy Fun , I resubmitted the tree I did in 2013, however couldn't add the names Nicholas, Philips, and Hocking. Cert Support Group : Five of us caught up on what we’d been doing and then discussed the chapter in the new ProGen book on writing proof arguments and case studies. Monday Morning Meeting : A small group met this week and I was able to share the photocopies of my mother in newspaper articles abo...

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. This week we are to write about the theme “naughty.” I had a hard time thinking of someone who had broken the law or done something wrong. I then thought about Frederick Henry Davey, my husband’s great-great-grandfather. He was married three times. His first marriage to Matilda “Tillie” Wollenweber produced four children in five years, and then Tillie died in 1885 of malarial fever. [1] He married a second time to Tillie’s sister, Julia Wollenweber probably soon after Matilda’s death. [2] He was not found in any records with Julia, however, their son, George T. Davey, named them as his parents in 1920 on his marriage application. By 1892, she married Jacob Ettel. [3] George was the only child named Davey in the 1...

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 worked on a couple of different lines this week: My mother, Lea Hork, was a member of the Junior Woman’s Club in Pittsburg, California, and I found several articles about her activities with the club—even two photos. Check out my blog post below about what I found. I also drove by my old home and St. Peter Martyr School, the school I attended. There appeared to be no school that day, so I was unable to check out the office to see if there were photos of our classes. St. Peter Martyr School I am also working on Samuel Johnston, writing up what I know about him, his neighbors, and his children. I do hope this analysis can help me find out where they came from in Alabama and South Carolina. Blog Writing : I wrote three...

Randy Seaver’s Genea-Musing’s post for this week: Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:   It's Saturday Night again -  time for some more Genealogy Fun!!  Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision. Here's your chance to sit on Genea-Santa's lap (virtually) and tell him your Christmas genealogy-oriented wish list: 1) Write your Genea-Santa letter. Have you been a good genealogy girl or boy? What genealogy-oriented items are on your Christmas wish list? They could be family history items, technology items, or things that you want to pursue in your ancestral quest. 2) Tell us about them in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook Status  post.  Please leave a comment on this post if you write your own post. I have been a very good genea-girl this year. I worked very hard putting together my BCG portfolio and have turned it in. I am now being very patient awaiting the results. ...

This week I visited the Pittsburg (California) Historical Society. We lived in Pittsburg from about 1956 to 1963 in a two-story house on East 9th Street. The Society runs a museum in a huge building with some really fantastic displays and I took a glance at that before asking what kind of archive records they had. In their library, they had binders with indexes to other collections. Under the surname index, I found several references to our family surname HORK. Boy did I find some treasures. These were newspaper clippings that had been indexed by volunteers. They were located into two different binders, but both about women’s clubs. My mother was a member of the Junior Woman’s Club, which later was known as Pittsburg Woman’s Community League. There were several articles about my mother on various committees. Here is an undated printout of the officers and chairmen of the club. My mother had two jobs: Ways and Means and Press. There was an article about the club’s plannin...

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. Joseph Norman Gorrell was born in the last days of Winter on 9 March 1869 in Blackwater, Cooper County, Missouri. His father, Amos Gorrell, kept a daily journal and recorded the following on his birthday: “Weather cloudy at intervals with some rain. I go up to the Clarks in the morning and grind my axes. Jimmy helps me. Geo. works in the clearing. Both of the boys work there in the P.M. Wife is unwell – (labor) takes suddenly ill at noon and a child (a boy) is soon born. Before any person gets here. I am all alone at the time go immediately for Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Hill. they come and attend to everything all right. I go and bring Mrs. Oneal. but all is over before she gets here. She stays all night. Wife appear...

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 . This week we received homework for our Advanced Southern Research class at the Salt Lake Institute of Genealogy (SLIG). It’s about doing some cluster research and I decided to work on one of my brick walls: Who are the parents of Samuel Johnston, who was born in South Carolina, had children in Alabama, lived in Yalobusha County, Mississippi, before moving to Titus County, Texas, where he died. I have no idea where in Alabama and where in South Carolina he lived. So we have a spreadsheet to record information about what we know, and also to begin analyzing the neighbors. I had already thought about that. Which neighbors also came from Alabama? Perhaps they came with the Johnstons. I also did a little research on Reginold Lancaste...

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has another challenge for our Saturday night.  Our assignment is: 1)  Winter arrives this month all over the northern hemisphere, and the daily routines of work, education and play change along with the seasons.  2)  What were your favorite winter activities when you were a child and teenager and young adult? 3)  Share your memories on your own blog post, in a Facebook post, or in a comment on this post.  Please leave a link as a comment on this post if you write your own blog post so that everyone can read all about it. Living in sunny California, we had few days of really cold weather or even rainy weather, though I remember it raining a lot more when I was in elementary school than it does now. Winter days meant wearing sweaters or sweatshirts to keep warm and maybe a windbreaker to keep the rain off. We didn’t have heavy winter coats or even umbrellas.  I do have some memories of winter activitie...