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Monday Genea-pourri, Week of February 7–13, 2022

I have completed one hundred (100) weeks of semi-lock down due to Covid-19. I went out to the History Center, the meadow for phenology, the library to pick up and drop off books, the bank to deposit a check, El Sobrante Historical Society for a tour, and went on three walks.

Genealogy

Blog Writing

Maps – Placing the Amos Gorrell Farm on a Map I wrote about how I found maps that place the location of the farm of Amos Gorrell, my husband’s great-grandfather. One was a plat map and the other a soil map. This post was highlighted on "Friday's Family History Finds" at Empty Branches on a Family Tree.

National Inventors Day: February 11. I wrote about the patent my husband’s great-granduncle Thomas N. Davey received for a “useful machine for cutting splints for chair bottoms and for similar purposes.” I had received copies of the original papers from the National Archives, Kansas City.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Super Bowl LVI (2022) Sunday Our assignment was to answer some questions about our favorite football team, or if we didn’t follow football, then another team. I wrote about the San Francisco Giants, a professional baseball team.

Online Study Groups & Meetings Attended:
I met with Jacqueline on Monday and we talked about her lightbox she used to take photos of glass bottles and pages from her photo album. I met with members of the Sacramento German Genealogy Society in discussion of its future. Wednesday was the California Genealogical Society’s Roundtable and we had a lively discussion on colonial research. Our peer group met and we continued the discussion of Research Like a Pro Chapter Two. Book club met to discuss A Chosen Exile.

Client Work/Presentations: I finished the last Adult School class discussing more online sources. Specifically, two were interested in genealogy software choices and subscription newspaper sites. I met with my Writing Group on Wednesday and we got in discussion on four member’s writings. I made my written comments later in the week and emailed them.  

Volunteer Work: I went to the History Center in the afternoon and checked in with John on finding aids and collection processing, with Ben on the progress of the library inventory, and with Tara on the upcoming Annual meeting plans. Saturday, Andrea and I picked up a donation and delivered it to the History Center. I visited the El Sobrante Historical Society on Friday for tour and wrote up an article for the Contra Costa County Genealogical Society newsletter.

Own Work: I’m still fighting the new RootsMagic as I am doing more research on the Hulaniski family. I am trying to find a small case study. I also started researching Dwight Potter, a neighbor of ours when I was a child living in Walnut Creek. He was also a founding member of the Walnut Creek Model Railroad Society, where I’m a member.

I am taking the SLIG Academy course “Writing for Peer Review” from Karen Mauer Jones. It is every Wednesday from 10 am to 2 pm for ten weeks. I got the time mixed up when signing up, so now I’m missing my German class on Wednesday afternoons. I’m not sure I’ll sign up for the German class in the spring. It’ll depend on how many sessions I miss. We have homework each week and I got mine done on Saturday.

Webinars Viewed:

  • Orphan Train Movement by Jeanne MacVicar

Other: Our Walnut Creek Model Railroad Society had a board and business meeting on Friday and I hosted the zoom portion and took minutes. Starting next month, the board meeting has to be in-person.

I am reading:

  • The Chosen Exile by Allyson Hobbs—FINISHED!
  • Gospel According to the Klan by Kelly J. Baker
  • Genealogical Evidence by Noel C. Stevenson
  • Research Like a Pro by Diana Elder

Photos for this week: Typical of February in California, blooming trees.



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. Oh my gosh! You had a very busy week. The blooming trees have been playing havoc with my eyes....very itchy.

    ReplyDelete

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