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. I have completed ten weeks of “lock down” due to Covid-19. I left the house only to do phenology at the meadow and walks to the mailbox. Otherwise, I’m meeting people on Zoom. Genealogy Blog Writing : Blogs posted this past week: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 21: Tombstones: Finding Tombstones. I wrote about our trip to Conway, Arkansas and trying to find 8 different cemeteries where my Loveless family was buried. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Share a Childhood Memory   I wrote about my first trip on an airplane, a trip I took to Southern California with my Nana in 1969. Study Groups Attended:     Many online meetings again this week: Our Monday Morning Group met for ninety minutes. As always, we had sharing and questio...

It's Saturday Night -  time for more Genealogy Fun!  Randy Seaver’s mission for us this week is: Your mission, should you decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible music here) is to: 1) Have you written your memoirs yet? If so, please share with us one story from your childhood. If not, then start your memoirs! The story could be a memory of your family life, your schoolwork, your neighborhood, etc. It doesn't have to be a certain length - just something you recall. 2) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this blog post, or in a post on Facebook. Be sure to leave a link to your work as a Comment to this post.. Here's mine: First Trip on a Plane I took my first trip on an airplane with my grandmother (Nana) in the summer of 1969. We went down to southern California, primarily to attend a wedding of Nana’s great-niece, Christine. We stayed three weeks with Nana’s sister, Loretta, in Pomona. We then were driven down to San Di...

This is my third 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. In the spring of 2015, my husband and I made our first trip to Arkansas to visit his cousin’s husband, who lived in Hot Springs. Since Hot Springs was so close to Conway in Faulkner County, I planned a three day trip to Conway and Little Rock where I would conduct research in the local museum, courthouse, recorder’s office, university library, and the state archives. The highlight of the trip was visiting the eight cemeteries located in Conway and the outskirts. I thank my husband for being so patient, first for trying to find the very small, old cemeteries on narrow country roads, and second for helping me find the various tombstones to photograph. We had no maps and only names and dates to search for. ...

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 have completed nine weeks of “lock down” due to Covid-19. I left the house only to do phenology at the meadow, walks to the mailbox, and a trip to the post office. Genealogy Blog Writing : Blogs posted this past week: 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 20: Travel: Lorene Traveled Around the World, Part IV. I wrote about the continuing trip from Japan to Europe with girl friends of my aunt, Lorene. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your Maternal Grandfather's Matrilineal Line.     We wrote about our maternal grandfather’s maternal line. I could only go back three generations. Perhaps something to research in the future. Study Groups Attended:     Many more online meetings again this week: Our Monday Morning Group met for ...

It's Saturday Night - time for more Genealogy Fun! Your mission this weekend from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1) What was your mother's father's full name? 2) What is your mother's father's matrilineal line? That is, his mother's mother's mother's ... back to the most distant female ancestor in that line.  Provide her ahnentafel number (relative to you), and her birth and death years and places. 3)  Tell us about it in your own blog post, or in a Comment on this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please put a link to your post in Comments here. Here's mine: 1. My maternal grandfather (#6) was Tom J Johnston (1912-1973). 2. Tom’s mother was (#13) Nell Hutson (1888-1919), who married (#12) Thomas Newton Johnston (1885-1951). Nell was born in Texas, perhaps in Comanche County, and died of the young age of 31 in Comanche County, Texas. Nell’s mother was (#27) Sarah Helena “Sallie” Selman (1858-1916). Sal...

This is my third 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 girl friends left for a trip around the world in the fall of 1953. Check out  Part I ,   Part II , and Part III . New Delhi We last left Lorene and her three friends in India, where they were about to travel by train to New Delhi. Their ride was twenty-four hours and they had their own compartments with four bunks. To be careful about what they ate, they brought their own food (“C” rations that her friend Dick Ebert gave her). They were filthy from all the smoke. They arrived after nine p.m. and had trouble finding a place to sleep. The YWCA didn’t take guests aft...

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 have completed eight weeks of “lock down” due to Covid-19. I left the house only to do phenology at the meadow, walks to the mailbox, and a trip to the post office. Genealogy Blog Writing : Blogs posted this past week: VE-Day in Chester, England . I found a photo George took on VE-Day in Chester, England. He also wrote about it in his diary. 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Week 19: Service: George J. Gorrell’s WWII Service at Burtonwood Air Depot . I wrote about my husband’s continued service in England. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun -- Your "Favorite" Genealogy Websites (2020 )   Wrote about some of my favorite websites where I conduct genealogy research or learn about new genealogy things. Study Groups Attended:     Many more...

It's Saturday Night - time for more Genealogy Fun!   Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has our assignment for tonight. Our mission, should we decide to accept it (cue the Mission Impossible music here) is to: 1)   What are your "Favorite" genealogy websites?  What ones do you have in your web browser "Bookmarks" or "Favorites" bar or listing? 2)  Please list them in your own blog post, in a comment on this post, or in a Facebook post.  Please leave a link to your work in a comment on this post. Here’s mine: I probably use the following websites for genealogy research at least every day : Ancestry.com FamilySearch: mostly the catalog and the wiki Google.com (keyword search, images, translate, maps, books) More often, I use: The Portal to Texas History, mostly the newspaper images Newspapers.com GenealogyBank.com Chronicling America FindAGrave Depending on what I’m trying to research, I’ll use the following:...

My husband’s father, George J. Gorrell, served during World War II at the Army Air Force base, Burtonwood Air Depot, as a mechanic. Other posts about his adventures are here: George J Gorrell Served in the Army Air Corps During WWII US Army Air Corps Base in England Where George J Gorrell Served Letters Home, Using V-Mail George J Gorrell's WWII Service at Burtonwood Air Depot Today is the 75th anniversary of VE-Day (Victory in Europe).  On May 8, 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered to Allied Forces. George kept a diary of his adventures during the war. From April 28, 1945 to May 8, he  recorded the news of the war. April 28:    Mussolini reported executed. April 30:    Hitler reported by Germany to have died. May 2:       Italy’s German armies surrender, including South Austria. Heard news at Southport ARC. May 4:       North Germany, Holland, and Denmark Germans surrender. May 7: ...

This is my third 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 is a continuation of the story of George J. Gorrell’s service during World War II in the Army Air Forces. Previous posts: George J Gorrell Served in the Army Air Corps During WWII US Army Air Corps Base in England Where George J Gorrell Served Letters Home, Using V-Mail George J. Gorrell enlisted in the Army Air Forces on 27 July 1943 in San Francisco. [1] He was part of the group of men who were already working at air depots doing maintenance on airplanes. He was told he would be doing the same work. [2] In 1941, he had trained at Curtiss-Wright Technical Institute in Glendale, California and was awarded a diploma as Master Aviation Mechanic. [3] He also received training at the Sacramento ...