I have completed one hundred sixty-three (163) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities included working at the History Center, doing phenology, and volunteering at the Oakland FamilySearch Center and the John Muir National Historic Park’s John Muir Earth Day Birthday event at the California Native Plants booth.
Genealogy
Blog
Writing:
Should
be a Movie: John Coor’s Travels Through Indian Country to Mississippi Territory. For week 16 of 52 Ancestors, I wrote
how it would be cool to see as a movie the route that John Coor and John
Kethley took through Georgia and Alabama to get to Mississippi Territory in
1811.
SNGF: Sharing a Document That Provided New Information—Johnstons
& Jones in Comanche Co. 1880 Census I wrote how the page where my ancestor was listed was
full of other Johnston and Jones families.
Meetings/Discussion Groups
Met this week with Jacqueline
and we discussed citations and research plans in Texas.
Volunteer
I was a little under the weather
early in the week, so skipped my Tuesday at the History Center but stopped in
on Thursday afternoon. I took minutes for the board meeting later that evening.
I felt well enough on Wednesday to do my stint at the Oakland FamilySearch
Center, where I worked the front desk. A woman kept calling asking me to do
lookups on FamilySearch Family Tree. It was the last time I would see the
missionaries Debbie and Steve as they are leaving at the end of the month.
Client Work
I gave two presentations this
week via Zoom. On Tuesday, it was my farming talk for the Davis Genealogy Club,
and on Wednesday, it was my city directory talk for Fiske Library in Seattle.
The audience at the Davis club asked some really interesting questions and I
plan to add some info about homestead records and Hawaiian plantation records.
My regular client, for whom I
do record lookups in Contra Costa and Solano counties, contacted me and since I
had to make an appointment for family court in Solano County, I will do the
work on Tuesday this coming week.
Own Work
I worked some on my Haley
and Jones line, trying to document Benjamin W. Jones. I’m no further along in locating
his parents. Online trees point to a guy in Virginia, but I’m not yet
convinced.
Webinars Viewed. On Saturday this week, there were two big genealogy
events and I was able to attend some of the sessions before noon. I also viewed
the last APG Professional Management Conference recording and the BCG monthly
webinar. I won a door prize at the VGA event. The Arizona event was recorded,
so I hope to view some of the other presentations later.
- What Ten Questions Will Your Course Answer? By J Mark Lowe (APG PMC)
- Land, Licenses, Love Gone Wrong, Assorted Courthouse Records by C. Ann Staley (FSGS)
- When Enough is Enough by Judy G. Russell (Legacy Family Tree Webinars)
- Genealogy A to Z: A Trivia Adventure by Thomas MacEntee (Legacy Family Tree Webinars)
- A Historic View of Your Historic House: the WPA House Survey by Bryna O'Sullivan (VGA 5th Birthday Party)
- Top Tips for Family History and Cousin Bait on Find a Grave by Marian Burk Wood (VGA 5th Birthday Party)
- Getting Into the Habit - Researching Nuns in your Family Tree by David Ryan (VGA 5th Birthday Party)
- Reconstructing Communities Using Sanborn Maps, Census Records, and City Directories by Ari Wilkins, (Arizona Genealogy Day 2023)
I
am reading:
- Researching
U.S. WWI Military Members by Margaret M. McMahon, Ph.D.—FINISHED!
- Aunt
Dimity & the Enchanted Cottage by Nancy Atherton—FINISHED! I think I’ll skip the
rest of the books. It was okay, but too many characters to keep track of in
that small village.
- Women in White Coats by Olivia Campbell
Other
No
bird watching or hiking this week. I was outdoors pulling weeds in my front native
plant garden and spending time at the John Muir Earth Day event, where we
talked with the public about the salt-liking plants that grow down in our marina.
We had a game where they chose what pollinated six different plants: animals,
wind, and wind and animals.
Photos
for this week: flowers from my yard and me working with Mark at the Earth Day Birthday:
Genealogists are great at documenting our ancestors’ lives but not so great at 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 © 2023 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.
Weren't those VGA talks really interesting? Also, agree with you about Aunt Dimity ;)
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