Monday Genea-pourri, Week of March 27–April 2, 2023

I have completed one hundred sixty (160) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities included working at the History Center, doing phenology, and running trains at Train Club.

Genealogy

Blog Writing:

Light a Candle--Nana Saying a Prayer. For week 14. I wrote about the racks of candles often found in old Catholic churches where one lights one to say a prayer. This post was a highlight of the 52 Ancestors for the past week.

SNGF: What Genealogy Record Collections to Index or Digitize? I would like some German church records indexed and western states' land, probate, and other court records digitized.

Meetings/Discussion Groups
It was a quiet week—no discussion with Jacqueline while she is on vacation. I attended the Certification Discussion Group on Wednesday and listened to Blaine Bettinger discuss the new AI tools and how best to use them.

Volunteer
On Monday, I hosted the online discussion group for the Contra Costa County Genealogical Society. We started out talking about how to pass our genealogy to the next generation and Michelle showed us the photo books she created and Donna & Linda showed us the binders they purchased specifically to showcase their work.

I went to the History Center twice this week, Tuesday for my regular stint and Saturday to see Maxine and bring her up to date for the projects we’ve been working on.

On Saturday morning I co-hosted the California Genealogical Society’s Introduction to Genealogy, which was presented by Ron this week, discussing organization. My internet was wonky and I kept getting dropped, so it was good I wasn’t the one teaching. He manages his Q&A so well, I’m only there just in case something goes wrong on his side.

Client Work
The second probate class I’m teaching at Applied Genealogy Institute went well, though I had over-scheduled activities and we didn’t have time to do the last one. Luckily one student turned in his homework early and I noticed I needed to be more specific on the location of the will in the first question, so I was able to send out an email with a direct link.

Own Work
I continue working on locating church records from the Joliet Diocese records located in an Ancestry collection. St. John the Baptist church has records from the late 1850s. I’m going through the volumes page by page and finding documentation for those Sievert families I had no sources for. I have more records still to view.

Webinars Viewed.

• Master Class, Word – Tables & Figures Part II by Tom Jones, Family History Academy
• Ancestor Profiles: Getting Ready to Write by Lynn Palermo, Family History Writing Studio
• Exhausting Research to Find an Impossible Immigrant! by F. Warren Bittner, Legacy Family Tree Webinars
• PERSI 2.0: The New PERSI for Everyone by Sunny Morton, Legacy Family Tree Webinars

 I am reading:

• Gateway to Victory: The Wartime Story of the San Francisco Army Port of Embarkation by Captain James W. Hamilton—FINISHED!
• The Mapping of Love and Death by Jacqueline Winspear – FINISHED!
• Wise Gals: The Spies Who Built the CIA and Changed the Future of Espionage by Nathalia Holt—FINISHED!
• Researching U.S. WWI Military Members by Margaret M. McMahon, PhD.
• Generation by Generation: A Modern Approach to the Basics of Genealogy by Drew Smith

Other
Rain this week prevented much outside activity except we got some weeding done the day before the rain. The Strentzel Meadow was running with a lot extra water from the two days of rain this week. I am glad I have rubber boots that are up to my knees. In some places, there rock beneath the water but in other areas silt has come down from the hills and I can sink to nearly the top of the boots.  

I ran trains at the Train Club for our last Friday of the month open house. The California Zephyr train was a dream to run.

Baseball season has started and we upgraded our TV plan so I can watch my San Francisco Giants. I missed the first game but watched on Saturday and Sunday. I hope they have a good season this—anything has to be better than last year.

Photos for this week

Bees in the neighborhood swarmed and landed on our tree until they found a new home

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.