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Monday Genea-pourri, Week of January 24–30, 2022

I have completed ninety-eight (98) weeks of semi-lock down due to Covid-19. I went out to the History Center, to the meadow for phenology where it was icy, train club for a show night, and a memorial for a friend from the train museum. It was a very nice memorial, but too many people in a small space at the reception, so we sat outside to eat.

Genealogy

Blog Writing:

Curious – How did the Sieverts of Schneidemuhl Posen Get to America in 1850s? For this week’s 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks post, I wrote about how I was trying to determine how my Posen ancestors got to Hamburg where they caught a boat to America in 1852.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – What First Sparked Your Interest in Family History Our assignment was to describe how we got started in genealogy.  

Online Study Groups & Meetings Attended:

  • I met with Jacqueline on Monday and we talked about our future trip to Missouri and Kansas to do genealogy research. We debated whether to fly or take the train. Flying is way cheaper!
  • I attended the first RootsMagic SIG started by CGS. We’ll meet monthly on the 4th Wednesday. I need to commit to using RM8 which I’m a little reluctant because it’s so different and I’m very used to using RM7.
  • CDG Mentors met to discuss how to better serve our mentees. I am getting a new mentee, who turns out to live not far from me.
  • Our peer group met and we updated each other on our genealogy activities.
  • Book club met to discuss chapter 4 in the KKK book we’re reading.

Client Work/Presentations: I taught the adult school intermediate class about how to use FamilySearch. I worked on my Foundations syllabus for the upcoming AppGen term. I have the syllabus, in-class activities, and the homework done. Need to create the answer sheet and work on the PowerPoint presentations. I met with the writing group and we discussed one member’s story of her father.

Volunteer Work: I went to the History Center and worked on queries and then a group met with a website consultant about how to update our very old website. They had some good ideas on how to modernize our website and make it mobile friendly.

Own Work: I didn’t do a lot of my own work this week except that I solved the Research Like a Pro Mini Challenge problem I was working on. I received the obituary from the Joliet Public Library that gave me Mary Jane (Garden) Zdralevich’s death date. In the process of the research, I also discovered when she married and who. Still wonder why two Joliet-born people would marry in Dubuque, Iowa. They both claimed they were living in St. Louis. They were overage, so that wasn’t the reason. Some things we may never find out.

Webinars Viewed:

  • Historical Resources at the California State Library by Elena Smith

Other: We attended the memorial service for our friend, Ed, at Christ the King Church in Pleasant Hill. The reception was held at Queen of all Saints cemetery. It was nice to see some old friends from the Junction that I had not seen in many years.

I am reading: I worked so much on my syllabus that I didn’t have much time to read. My reading this week focused on the first two books only.

  • The Crowded Grave by Martin Walker
  • Gospel According to the Klan by Kelly J. Baker
  • Genealogical Evidence by Noel C. Stevenson
  • The Chosen Exile by Allyson Hobbs

Photos for this week:


A tree at Queen of Heaven cemetery

Ted fixing my derailed train

Frost on Snowberry plant

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.


Copyright © 2022 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

Comments

  1. I agree with committing to RM8. I am still using 7, but am playing with RM8. Your plant photos always make me smile. Love the snowberry plant with frost - very appropriate, given its name.

    ReplyDelete

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