My Trails into the Past

John Gleeson and Margaret Tierney reared ten children, five sons and five daughters. Born in Ontario Province, Canada, they migrated to Dakota Territory in 1879. Two daughters married and raised families. The other three were teachers. Anna Marie (1860-1912) married John H. Sullivan in Davison County, Dakota Territory, likely at the Holy Family Church in Mitchell, though no record of their marriage exists. Before her marriage, she filed for 160 acres through the homestead act, as did her father and two of her brothers. John also received 160 acres. They later sold the land and moved to Anaconda, Montana, where John worked at the Anaconda Copper Works. They raised five children, four daughters and one son. When the youngest was just twenty, Anna died. Mary Martha (1863-1962) married Warren Edmond Gilbert in Mitchell, Dakota Territory. They had one daughter. They moved to Los Angeles sometime in the 1890s. He was a salesman. Warren died in 1930 and Martha continued living in Los An...

I have completed one hundred six (106) weeks of semi-lock down due to Covid-19. I was out more this week around other strangers. I ate at two restaurants and visited a grocery store without a mask. I also did phenology and went hiking with my Friday group. Genealogy Blog Writing : Joined Together: Finding & Transcribing Marriage Records I compared boiler plate language in a variety of marriage records. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your Fearless Females Education I wrote about my, my mother, and my grandmothers’ education. O nline Study Groups & Meetings Attended: I attended few meetings and study groups this week. On Tuesday, a small group met to discuss our start up meeting re-organizing the APG NorCal chapter, which will be next week. Our AppGen founders meeting was this week and so far, our classes are going well. Three of us met on Friday at the Peer Group and spoke about our current research and writing efforts. Client Work/Presentations : I began the seco...

The best source for locating marriage records is the Catalog at FamilySearch . I always begin with the county where the person of interest lived. Marriage records are found in the category of Vital Records, and the best source for original records is the local county government, whether it is the county clerk or the court clerk, depending on how the government is organized. Many of these vital records have been indexed and placed in larger databases that can be searched at the Records menu on the FamilySearch website or at other subscription databases like Ancestry . If the index includes an image, even better. If the person who married the couple was a minister, priest, or rabbi, do try to locate the church record of the marriage as it may contain additional information. After locating marriage records, do you transcribe them or just extract the information you want from them? I tend to do one or the other. Marriage records have a lot of boiler plate wording that is common from...

It's  Saturday Night  - time for more  Genealogy Fun! Our mission from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to: 1)  It's National Women's History Month, so I'm going to use   today's prompt from Lisa Alzo .  What education did your mother receive? Your grandmothers? Great-grandmothers? Note any advanced degrees or special achievements. My mother, Lela Nell Johnston attended many elementary schools in Texas, Idaho, Oregon and California, until they moved to Walnut Creek, California, and she attended Walnut Creek Grammar School until the eighth grade, and then attended Acalanes High School for two years and Mt. Diablo High School the last two years. She did not attend college. She was very artistic. She painted and loved making crafts. My maternal grandmother Pansy Louise Lancaster attended grammar school and high school in Stephenville, Texas. She was athletic and like playing basketball and softball. Later she played tennis and bowled....

I have completed one hundred five (105) weeks of semi-lock down due to Covid-19. I am out and about more. We’re maskless at the History Center, Oakland FamilySearch Library, and Train Club, but I still mask up going into restaurants and the public library. I did phenology and went bird watching with the local Audubon group. Genealogy Blog Writing : Flowers: Women in the Family Named with Flower Names I listed the women in our family that have flower names. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What is Your Favorite Source Type?   I wrote about how much I enjoy using city directories in my genealogy research. O nline Study Groups & Meetings Attended: This week I attended Monday Morning at Susan’s house, where only five of us came, and the NGSQ study group on Tuesday. I'll have more meetings this coming week. Client Work/Presentations : I began the first session of the AppGen Foundations I course. I have fifteen students who seem very eager. I need to shorten my presentat...

It's  Saturday Night  - time for more  Genealogy Fun! Our mission this week is to: 1) What is your favorite record type or resource?  Not a website, but a type of record - e.g., census, cemetery, land, etc.  Why? 2) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook post. Be sure to leave a link with your answers in a comment. Here's mine: My favorite source for genealogy research is the city directory. A city directory helps fill in our ancestor’s residence and occupation facts between census years. We can use it to narrow down a move into or out of a particular place. In later census, where the wife’s name is in parenthesis, we can learn about a new marriage. When the wife becomes a widow, she is usually listed as the head of household with the words widow of “husband name.” Julia Hork, widow of John Hork, Hamilton, MT directory Too many people only look at the residence information but ignore the rest of ...

It is very interesting that girls have been named using the words for flowers. My own grandmother was named Pansy, though she hated her name and was called Pansy only by her immediate family, but not by her friends or co-workers. Her married name was Johnston, so she was called Johnnie for many years. After my grandfather died, she changed the spelling to Joni. Below are members of my family with flower names: Pansy Louise Johnston, (1913-2013), my grandmother Rose Ann Douras (1825-1901), my second great grandaunt’s husband’s sister Rose Marie Streich (1889-?), my second cousin, two times removed Catherine Rose Sievert (1924-1994), my third cousin, once removed Violet Inez Barton (1914-2009), my second cousin, two times removed Lillie Violet Hutson (1886-1898), my great grandaunt There are several in my husband’s family that were named after flowers: Rose Marie Ettel (1907-1968), husband’s first cousin, 2x removed Rose Emelia Palmer (1903-1937), my husband’s granduncle’s wife Ada...

I have completed one hundred four (104) weeks of semi-lock down due to Covid-19. I am out and about more. We’re maskless at the History Center, Oakland FamilySearch Library, and Train Club, but masks are still worn going into restaurants and the public library. Besides those three above places, I did phenology and took a hike with a group of women in the foothills of Mt. Diablo. We wore masks while carpooling. Genealogy Blog Writing : Worship: Where My Paternal Ancestors Went to Church I found photos of the Catholic churches where my Gleeson, Hork, Sievert, and Sullivan families attended in California, Montana, Illinois, and Richmond (Ontario), Canada. 1950 Census Prep for Norman’s Paternal Relatives. This was the last group, where using known 1949–51 addresses, I determined the Enumeration District (ED) number where I might find them. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Are You Ready for 1950 U.S Census? I showed my complete compiled list of family I plan to search for in the ...

It's  Saturday Night  - time for more  Genealogy Fun! Our mission is to: 1) The 1950 United States Census will be available to search on 1 April 2022 - less than three weeks away. How have you prepared yourself to search it? Have you found 1950 addresses of your family members and persons of interest? Have you identified the State, County, Town and Enumeration District? Have you made a table of your findings so you can systematically find everyone on your list? What will you do with the information you gather? 2) Tell us about it in your own blog post, in a comment to this post, or in a Facebook post. Be sure to leave a link with your answers in a comment. Here's mine: I have been prepping for the upcoming release of the 1950 federal census and have written four blog posts about it. 1950 Census Prep for Norman’s Paternal Relatives 1950 Census Prep for Norman’s Maternal Relatives 1950 Census Prep: Paternal Relatives 1950 Census Prep: Maternal Rel...