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How a Family Archive Can Help Document a Person’s Life

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 physiology. He scored well in deportment and industry and was never absent from school.

Another interesting document is the certificate for high school admission. This lists David Lundquist at Prairie Home District no. 9 at Scott Township, stating he has passed the examination in reading, orthography, arithmetic, physiology, grammar, civics, geography, U.S. history, penmanship, and music. The test was given at Red Oak in Montgomery County, Iowa and the certificate is dated 10 June 1914.


The family moved to California in 1914, and there is no record of his attending the high school in California, though he likely did.

After World War I, David attended Heald’s Business College in Oakland, California and graduated from their business program on 27 August 1920.

He also saved the “report card” from that program. It appears he interned at various business in Oakland before the completion of the program.


Later, he worked with a Boy Scout troop in Hellman, California as an assistant scout master. This card documents that.

Besides working, he was also a farmer in Hilmar, California. Here is a certificate of membership for the Hilmar Fruit Exchange. He grew almonds and stone fruit.

David also served in the California National Guard and obtained the rank of sergeant.

His bookkeeping training was useful in his farming business. He kept track of his expenses and receipts in a journal.


What records might you have in your family archive that can help tell the story of an ancestor? Take those papers and do some research to add to the story. I could try to locate the school in Iowa, learn more about Heald’s College, discover what the Hilmar Fruit Exchange did, and obtain David’s military records.  

#52Ancestors-Week 17: Document--How a Family Archive Can Help Document a Person's Life

This is my fifth year working on this year-long prompt, hosted by Amy Johnson Crow (https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/) at Generations Cafe. I write each week in one of my two blogs, either Mam-ma’s Southern Family or at My Trails into the Past. I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways.


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

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