Monday Genea-pourri, Week of Mar 8-14, 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-two (52) weeks of semi- “lock down” due to Covid-19. One full year! It’s probably going to be at least another six months, maybe more before some resemblance of normal, at least for those who have been vaccinated. Our private car train trip has been rescheduled again to September, so that may be our first trip somewhere (LA to Chicago). We’re also thinking about a trip to Oahu in October.

This past week, I went out to the History Center, to phenology, to the bank on my bike, and out to dinner at Vic’s with our daughter, Elizabeth. I'm so glad that most people in my town still wear masks.

Genealogy

Blog Writing:
I fulfilled my blog post writing this week by writing both last week’s and this week’s 52 Ancestors posts, and participating in the Saturday Night Genealogy Fun post.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Your #1 All-Time Favorite Song. I made a list of my top 10 and then chose my favorite of the bunch.

Week 9: Multiples—Twins & Double Cousins. I listed the lines that had twins in the family (none in any of my direct lines), and about my grandmother’s double cousin, Dorothy.

Week 10: The Name’s the Same – Eight Generations of Dempseys. My Welch line has multiple men with the first name of Dempsey and then one daughter married a Coor, and the name continued also down the Coor line.

Online Study Groups & Meetings Attended: I attended several study group meetings this week:

• Monday Morning met with about 16 at one time.
• Jacqueline and I met for an hour or so of conversation on Wednesday morning.
• Amigos on Wednesday afternoon.
• Friday, the Cert Peer group checked in with six of us and we tested watching a video for a webinar party in October.
• Book Club discussing the book Only Woman in the Room

Webinars & Classes Attended: I watched eight webinars this week, some from RootsTech and some from FGS OnDemand.

• Dueling Dates & Fact Fights: Resolving Evidence Conflicts, Part I & II by Melissa Finlay (RT)
• Researching Ancestral Locations in Prussian Genealogy Records by Nancy Loe (LFT)
• FamilySearch Catalog & Research Wiki by Diana Elder
• Is it One, Two, or More People? By Jan Joyce (CCCGS)
• Irish Research Part II by Maureen Hanlon (CGS)
• Military District of Ohio & Federal Bounty Land Records by Rebecca Whitman Koford (FGS)
• Reconstructing the Past: Understanding Military Record Loss by Michael L Strauss (FGS)

Client Work/Presentations:
Monday, I taught the last Adult School Workshop class. I began working on lesson plans for Spring Quarter at the adult school. The beginning class is mostly done but needs some tweaking. I need to do slightly more than tweaking on the workshop class on writing.

Volunteer & Own Work:
I led the sixth session of the GenProof study group Tuesday morning. We discussed the fourth part of the GPS: conflict resolution.

I worked at the History Center for four hours. I finished off some queries and got Ben started on photographing pages from city directories and phonebooks.

I co-hosted the California Genealogical Society’s class on Irish Research (Part II). I asked the questions posed in the chat.

Other: I attended my three German classes and my Swedish class. I attended the Walnut Creek Model Railroad Society meeting and took minutes. For exercise, I did two walks and two bike rides downtown.

Elizabeth came for a visit on Saturday to help out with some more cleaning and then we went out to dinner in downtown Martinez at Vic’s restaurant. It was a little too chilly for outside dining this week.

I finished reading:

• Black Diamond by Martin Walker
• The Only Woman in the Room by Marie Benedict

I’m reading:

• 1919, The Year of Racial Violence by David F. Krugler
• A Lady’s Guide to Mischief and Mayhem by Manda Collins

Photos taken this week: The theme was yellow.

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