My Trails into the Past

This is my second year 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 have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. This week for Halloween, I decided to feature some of the costumes my daughters wore for Halloween. Most years, I made their costumes, though sometimes they were borrowed or bought, and often handed down. Store-bought costumes One costume borrowed was the pumpkin costume Elizabeth wore her first year at the Creative Play Cooperative Pre-school. It was a surprise that she matched her teacher. The following year, she was a bride. We often attended the Halloween party given by Margaret’s friend, Sam. They carved pumpkins and played games. Parents sat around visiting while eating potluck food. It was always a fun time. Here is a shot from a party given by their babysitter’s daughter.

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 Blog Writing : 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 43--Travel . I wrote the third installment of the adventure of my aunt, Lorene Hork and her travels around the world in 1953 with three other friends. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Photographs of Heirlooms . I had five heirlooms that I wrote about and included photos of. Webinars/Study Groups Attended:   I attended my Thursday evening  online study group, and Kim, Linda, and I had a very engaging conversation about the KDP. In my Friday group, after everyone checked in, we discussed DNA standards. I attended the Sacramento German Genealogy Society to listen to Dr. Roger Minert speak about his project, German Immigrants in American Church Records. He spoke about the start of the project

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - time for some more Genealogy Fun !! Here is our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing: 1)  Last week we shared the heirlooms that we inherited or obtained from our families. 2)  This week, please show a photograph of one or two of them. 3)  Share your cherished heirloom(s) in your own blog post, on Facebook, and leave a link to it in the comments. Last week, I shared two blog posts that I wrote about some heirlooms I have. I also mentioned some others that I will now show here. Glass-domed clock . This clock was passed down to me by my grandmother, Pansy Louise (Lancaster) Johnston in 2005. I always loved watching this clock when I was a young child and am glad I now have it. It is not working now, so I need to find a clock repair shop. This clock was made in Germany.  I searched for these clocks and Google and found they are called Anniversary Clocks.  I found on sale at eBay a Kundo Clock

This is my second year 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 have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. I have previously written about my father’s sister, Lorene E. Hork, who worked for the U.S. Army in Tokyo before she and three other gals left for a trip around the world in the fall of 1953. Check out Part I and Part II . I left off the last post with the gals in Taipei, Formosa (now known as Taiwan). They next continued their travels aboard the ship to Hong Kong for a few hours, where they shopped and took a cab to Repulse Bay where they drove “on beautiful winding roads high up in the hills overlooking the City.”  The ship continued onto Manila in The Philippines. There they took a three-hour cab ride around the city, visiting the Malacañang Palace, where the President resides, and viewing the rui

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 Blog Writing : 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 42--Adventure . I wrote about the passport my ancestors, John Coor and John Kethley had to get in order to travel across Creek land in Georgia. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Family Heirlooms Did You Inherit.  I wrote about some heirlooms that Norman and I have inherited. Webinars/Study Groups Attended:   NGS Quarterly Study Group where we discussed George L. Findlen’s article “It’s a Numbers Game! Understanding Genealogical Formats” by Alice Hoyt Veen, CG for the APG Writers SIG I attended the Monday Morning Group of the Contra Costa County Genealogical Society and showed examples of the records I photographed at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis during my s

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans:  It's Saturday Night again -  time for some more Genealogy Fun !! Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has our assignment for this week.  1) The NEHGS Weekly Genealogy newsletter asked an interesting question this week - let's use it for our SNGF this week. 2) What "family heirlooms" did you inherit or obtain? What are your most cherished possessions that were owned or created by an ancestor or relative? They could be photographs, letters or documents, a diary, an audio or video recording, books, jewelry, clothing, quilts, needlework, drawing or painting, toy or doll, collectibles, musical instrument, furniture, something else? 3) Share your cherished heirloom(s) in your own blog post, on Facebook, and leave a link to it in the comments. I have written two previous blog posts about heirlooms I have.  "A Family Heirloom, Actually Two" and  Fearless Females "Day 6" . I have some other heir

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 Blog Writing :   52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 41 – Context: William C Hork Worked For the WPA . I got a late start but wrote about my 5th grade experience with a road map.   Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: One of Your Immigrant Ancestors .   I wrote about wanting to visit Oberhundem, the home town of my great-grandfather, Johann Anton Hork. Webinars/Study Groups Attended: I attended only one webinar this week: 50 Records for Female Ancestors by Gena Philibert-Ortega I also attended both of my online study groups and we had very engaging conversations. We saw Faye for the first time in months on Friday and it was nice hearing what she has been up to. Client Work : I had a court record pulls in Contra Costa and Alameda coun

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has another fun activity for us today.  Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1)  Tell us which ancestral home (an actual building, a village, a town, even a country) you would most like to visit.   Which ancestors lived there, and for how long?  2)  Share your ancestral home information in your own blog post, on Facebook, and leave a link to it in the comments. Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting this topic. The ancestral hometowns I would like to visit is Oberhundem, Kirchhundem, and Altenhundem, which today are very close to each other in the district of Olpe, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.     During the German Empire (1871-1918), there were 1296 inhabitants. [1] My great-grandfather, Johan Anton Hork, came to the U.S. in 1870. [2]

This is my second year 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 have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. The first hint that my paternal grandfather, William C. Hork, worked for the Works Progress Administration (WPA) was the entry for him in the 1940 Federal Census. He stated he was a laborer for the WPA. [1] The WPA was a New Deal agency that helped employ millions of out-of-work men and women, mostly unskilled. It was established on 6 May 1935 and dissolved on 30 June 1943. [2] The second piece of information that gave reference to the WPA was his World War II draft registration, conducted on 16 February 1942. He stated he worked on the WPA. project #12322-S at the Ontario Municipal Airport in Ontario, San Bernardino Co, Calif. [3] So he worked for the WPA. How can I get these records? In checking w

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 Blog Writing : 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Map it Out: My Love Affair With Maps . I got a late start but wrote about my 5th grade experience with a road map. 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Harvest: Amos Gorrell on the 1870 Ag Schedule . I wrote about Amos Gorrell’s farm production in 1869. Amos Gorrell Purchased Land in Cooper, Co, Missouri, 1869 . This answered the question of where Amos got the land that was listed in the 1870 Ag schedule. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: One of Your Immigrant Ancestors .   I wrote Martin Gleeson, who came to Canada from Ireland. Webinars/Study Groups Attended:   I attended no webinars or study groups this week. Client Work : I had a vital record pull in Contra Costa County this week. Volunteer Work

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - time for some more Genealogy Fun !!     Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings has given us another assignment: Here is your assignment if you choose to play along (cue the Mission Impossible music, please!): 1)  Tell us about one of your immigrant ancestors.  Where and when did they come from, how did they migrate, where did they land, where did they settle? 2)  Share your immigrant ancestor information in your own blog post, on Facebook, and leave a link to it in the comments. Thank you to Linda Stufflebean for suggesting this topic. I haven’t written about Martin Gleeson, my 3x-great-grandfather. He was born in Ireland between 1787–1891 and died in Carleton County, Ontario, Canada on 9 October 1859. [1] He married Ann Gleeson, sometime before 1821 if they married before the birth of their first known child, Michael Gleeson, who was born about 1821. [2] She does not appear in any records but her tombs

Last week, I wrote about Amos Gorrell, Jr. being enumerated on the 1870 agricultural and population schedules. See this post here. The ag schedule indicated he had 25 acres of land. The population schedule did not indicate that he owned real estate. The conclusion from that would be he was renting the land he was living on. However, I have found a land transaction where he purchased about 24 acres of land from James & Virginia Staples in Cooper County, Missouri on 6 Aug 1869 and it was witnessed by W. L. Scott, the Justice of the Peace. [1] This piece of land was located at the Southwest fractional quarter of the Northeast quarter of Section 2, in Township 48, Range 19. I wanted to know where this was and used Randy Majors website where I could map the section, township, and range, and it would appear on a Google map. [2] From RandyMajors.com Because he purchased only a fractional quarter of a quarter, or less than 40 acres, I don't know exactly where i