Monday Genea-pourri, Weeks of Dec 9-22, 2019

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.

I was on vacation to New York City from Dec 8 through December 18, visiting with my youngest daughter, Margaret. Our oldest daughter, Elizabeth came to visit for part of the time. We visited the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Botanical Garden in the Bronx, as well as saw three shows: Oklahoma, Tootsie, and Margaret’s play, A Christmas Carol, a Gay Fantasia. We visited several stores, such as Macy, Bergdorf Goodman, and Bloomingdales where we checked out the decorations and watched the light show on the outside of Saks 5th Avenue. We also ate at some great restaurants. I got in an average of 12,000 steps each day and also managed to catch a cold.  It was cold and wet most of the time but fun to be in the city!

Genealogy

Blog Writing: I pre-wrote and scheduled the blog posts for 52 Ancestors these two weeks. I did not have my computer with me, so had to figure out how to copy and paste the post into the Facebook group, but managed that fine on the iPad.

• 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 50—Tradition. I wrote some traditions in our family.
• 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 51––Future.  I wrote about my writing goals for 2020.

Webinars/Study Groups Attended:   

I skipped the online study groups during the trip, as the time zone change was not convenient.  I did begin to watch a Legacy Family Tree webinar given by the Board for Certification of Genealogists, called “How to Write a Case Study that Meets the New Standards for DNA: As Codified by the Board for Certification of Genealogists” presented by Melinda Daffin Henningfield, CG. It was time to leave for the airport so I still have the last ten minutes to watch. It was excellent and one to watch again.  I checked in with the Friday group this week and it was nice seeing Dennis, Annette, and Josh.

Client Work:

There was no client work performed these past weeks, however I received a query and will investigate the problem later this month.

Volunteer Work:

There was no volunteer work except attending the board meeting for the Contra Costa County Historical Society where I took minutes. I also attended the Intro Genealogy teachers group meeting at the California Genealogical Society. We reviewed the previous year and made our 2020 schedule. I will teach one of Dick’s classes in June on census.

Own Work:

On Friday, I met with Jacqueline at the Walnut Creek library where we worked on our own genealogy projects. Mine was dealing with the to-do list I made up, taking care of business I neglected while in NY. We tried a Japanese restaurant for lunch and it was very good. Nearby was a book store which we also visited. I bought two teen books for a donation to a local youth home.

On Saturday, I began to post the information from five World War II draft cards for Lancaster and Johnston men in my family. That lead to more research—finding marriages, census records, births, and more—about seven hours worth. I didn’t record the findings in writing, but entered the data into RootsMagic. These are collateral families, but might be helpful someday with DNA. Perhaps I’ll recognize the surnames of the matches! The Young Men WWII draft cards from Ancestry are so nice—in color and very clear. I’m sure I have more to search for.

Other:

Thursday, I did the phenology study at the Strentzel Meadow with Shirley. I’m on my own the next two weeks. It was cold and dreary but much warmer than it was in NYC.

On Sunday, I began the process to clear out my bowels in preparation for a colonoscopy on Monday. The prep is worse than the procedure. Here’s hoping they find nothing!

Copyright © 2019 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.