Monday Genea-pourri, Week of Mar 22-28, 2021

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 fifty-four (54) weeks of semi- “lock down” due to Covid-19. This past week, I went out to the History Center, to Kaiser for my second vaccine shot, and to Lafayette for a walk around the reservoir and dinner for my birthday.

Genealogy

Blog Writing:

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – “Who Was Your First Ancestor Born in …”. I wrote about both my ancestors and my husband’s ancestors who were first born in the New World. Some were born during colonial times and some were more recent immigrants.

Week 12: Loss--John E Lundquist. I wrote about the losses John felt in his lifetime, from death of two wives to the loss of his eye sight and use of his right arm from serving during the Civil War.

Online Study Groups & Meetings Attended: I attended several study group meetings this week:
Monday Morning met with 17. Jacqueline and I met for an hour or so of conversation on Monday. I was pretty wiped out on Wednesday during the Amigos from reaction to the vaccine shot. Friday, the Cert Peer group checked in with four of us. Book Club discussed the books we all have to share. I started the homework for the BCG Workshop I’m taking on April 9. New York research is tough!

Webinars & Classes Attended: Two of the webinars focused on immigration to the west coast, and other about farming life in Westfalia. Uwe's illustrations were wonderful and he spoke for nearly two hours answering question.

• 20^th Century Immigrants to the West Coast by Linda Okazaki
• Rural Life in Ravensberg & Lippe by Uwe Standera
• Angel Island Immigration Station by Grant Din

Client Work/Presentations:
I continued working on lesson plans for Spring Quarter at the adult school and have half done for each course. The classes begin April 5. I also began research for the repeat client, who has some very tough questions.

Volunteer & Own Work:
I led the last session of the GenProof study group Tuesday morning. We continued discussing the GPS and writing conclusions.  I co-hosted the California Genealogical Society’s class on Irish Research (Part IV). I asked the questions posed in the chat. I worked at the History Center on Tuesday. I worked on a query and checked in with Ben on the city directory/phonebook project.

I spent much of my free time researching the USMC right before and during WWI. The Internet Archive and Hathi Trust have some wonderful period resources. Finding a manual for recruit physicals from 1916 was a great find. I have more to do, but it’s fun digging in deeper.

I also began my column for the California Genealogical Society's journal, Nugget. I want to also write an article for Der Blumenbaum and should work on that, too. 

Other: I got in some weeding this week around my native plant garden. The weather has been nice but we had some pretty windy days that has dried out the plants. I may need to give them a sprinkle. I viewed a wonderful webinar given by my friend Dan Sandri about insects found on Mt. Diablo.

Tuesday, we had our second Pfizer vaccine shot and by the middle of the night, I was pretty sick with a fever. I felt cold most of Wednesday but by evening, I was improving. I was still tired with a headache on Thursday and well-improved by Friday. Norman felt no ill-effects from the vaccine. Now counting the days until I can get a haircut!

Elizabeth came for my birthday on Friday and we walked around Lafayette Reservoir and then ate at a restaurant in Lafayette with garden seating. Doobie was a much better walker this time, keeping up with us.

I finished A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem by Manda Collins. I'm reading three books, two for book clubs: 1919, The Year of Racial Violence by David F. Krugler, D-Day Girls by Sarah Rose, and a saga (super thick book) The Gilded Hour by Sara Donati.

Photos taken this week:

Copyright © 2021 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.