My Trails into the Past

It's  Saturday Night  - time for more  Genealogy Fun! Our mission from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing is to: 1)  What keeps you from doing Genealogy?  What real life activity do you have to do, or like to do, that takes time away from genealogy research? Here is mine : So, what do I do besides genealogy? Even though I spent many hours every day on genealogy, researching and writing, I do have other interests. Model railroading . I am a member of a local model railroad club where we have a huge layout that is open to the public at least once a month. I am also a member of the National Model Railroad Association and attend activities in the region (Pacific Coast) and division (Coast). I attend often the yearly convention of the region and just finished a four-year term as a director of the Coast Division. Our convention was last weekend at Rohnert Park and it was lots of fun with clinics, layout tours, and model exhibits. The Region also has m...

We are fortunate to have miscellaneous ephemera saved for various people in our family. My husband’s aunt was the receiver of these items, as everyone knew she would save them. She had filing cabinets organized by family with multiple file folders for each person. When I was working on the Kinship Determination Project (KDP) for my certification portfolio, I visited the archive and made images of many of these “one of a kind” documents. I used the documents to help fill in some personal information about David Lundquist, the person of interest in the third generation. One such document is a report card from his 8th grade. His teacher was Gladys Greeley and his school was in District 9 in Montgomery County, Iowa. No year is filled out, either on the front or inside. He was fourteen, which would put it about 1912. Inside the card, only the fourth, fifth, and sixth months were filled in. He scored high marks (in the nineties) in spelling, arithmetic, grammar, history, civics, and phys...

I have completed one hundred ten (110) weeks of semi-lock down due to Covid-19. I really can’t say I was in semi-lock down this week. I attended the Pacific Coast Region of the National Model Railroad Association’s yearly convention, the first in-person one we have had in three years. I attended clinics, meal events, and layout tours, mostly without masks. Genealogy Blog Writing : Turning a Negative into a Positive .  I wrote about how I dealt with the negative I found in my grandmother’s papers using a scanner and Photoshop Elements. Last week’s post, Locating Information about a Locality Using Gazetteers and Maps , was highlighted on two blog roundups: Friday’s Family History Finds and This Week’s Crème de la Crème – April 23, 2022 . O nline Study Groups & Meetings Attended: I met with Jacqueline and we discussed our Trello boards where we are keeping track of future research trips we want to take. I attended the NGSQ study group meeting early Tuesday morning. ...

I have completed one hundred nine (109) weeks of semi-lock down due to Covid-19. I did not go out of the house this past week except to go to the History Center. Either I had a bad cold or allergies that kept me home. Genealogy Blog Writing : How Do You Spell That?   I discussed the various ways my grandmother’s ancestor’s names have been spelled in records. Locating Information about a Locality Using Gazetteers and Maps . We had homework from the presentation given to the Contra Costa County Genealogical Society and this is what I found. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: What Did You Do in 1997? We were to write about our activities in the year 1997. Luckily, I could look at my daughter’s photo albums to see what they had done.  Happy Easter! I shared photographs of past Easter Sundays. O nline Study Groups & Meetings Attended: None this week. Client Work/Presentations : I had the last session of the AppGen Foundations I course, reviewing homework and ans...

Views of Easter past: 1957 In front of my grandmother's house 1961 side yard on E 9th Street, Pittsburg - My sibs  plus two cousins 1968 On our way to church Early 70s 1988  1998 Copyright © 2022 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

It's  Saturday Night  - time for more  Genealogy Fun! Our mission from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing , is to: 1)  We all have a family history.  What did you and your family do in 1997? 2)  Share your answers with us in your own blog, in a Facebook or Instagram post, or in the comments on this blog post.  Please leave a link to anything you post elsewhere in a comment. Here's mine: I rarely did a Christmas letter, so I have to look at the photo albums to get a hint of what we did during the year 1997. Our oldest daughter was in second grade in Mrs. Davis’ class and the youngest in kindergarten in Mrs. Jones’ class, both attending John Muir Elementary School. I was working at the Bay Area Rapid Transit District (BART) as an Employee Development Specialist (EDS), training mostly new train operators. Norman worked at County Quarry Products running the rock crushing and asphalt plants. I tried to volunteer once a week helping in eith...

Last night, Melinda Kashuba gave the first of two presentations to my local genealogy society, Contra Costa County Genealogical Society , about using maps for genealogy. It was recorded and members will be able to view the recording on the website. She will give part two next month. If interested in seeing part two, register using the link above. The presentation was wonderful as she explained about cadastral, fire insurance, bird’s eye view, and other types of maps. At the conclusion, she gave us homework to do before the next session in June. We are to: Construct a timeline for one ancestor Find a gazetteer for one place in the timeline Find two historic maps for that one place She gave us several places to search for these resources. Timeline for the life of Julia Sievert (1854-1928) who married Johan Anton Hork : [1] Julia was born in Joliet, Will County, Illinois on 31 October 1854 She lived with her parents, Vincent & Susanna (Raduntz) in 1860 in Joliet. Her fath...

I have completed one hundred eight (108) weeks of semi-lock down due to Covid-19. I did go out of the house each day this week and only wore masks when entering a store. Genealogy Blog Writing : Check it Out: Look Who Worked at the Cannery!   I took advantage of the newly released 1950 census and wrote about locating my husband’s grandfather in Rio Linda, Sacramento County, California. I expected to see him, his wife, and the youngest daughter. I didn’t know his oldest son would be living there, too. Saturday Night Genealogy Fun: Your 1950 Census Finds We were to answer six questions with four things: names we go by, places we lived, ancestral places visited, interesting places visited, favorite ancestors, and favorite genealogy record sources.   O nline Study Groups & Meetings Attended: I attended only the peer group meeting this week and the three of us decided to take a hiatus for two months and return meeting in June. Many weeks, only two of us would show u...

It's  Saturday Night  - time for more  Genealogy Fun! Our mission from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing today is to: 1)  Let's have some genealogy fun tonight and answer some family history-related questions with four responses (Four Things!). 2)  Share your answers with us in your own blog, in a Facebook or Instagram post, or in the comments on this blog post.  Please leave a link to anything you post elsewhere in a comment. Here's mine: Four names I go by : 1. Lisa 2. The Girl 3. Mommy 4. Mrs. Gorrell Four places I’ve lived : 1. Concord, California 2. Pittsburg, California 3. Walnut Creek, California 4. Martinez, California (all in the same county!) Four ancestral places I have been : 1. Anaconda, Montana 2. Hamilton, Montana 3. Conway, Arkansas 4. Stephenville, Texas Four interesting places I have been : 1. Harz Mountain area in Germany 2. Cornwall, England 3. Guatemala 4. Niagara Falls Four favorite ancesto...