My Trails into the Past

In 1988, we attended a Gorrell family reunion in Odessa, Missouri. It was a three-day affair, the first day was at the Senior Center in Odessa and the following days were held at my father-in-law's cousin, Linnie Oma Hackley's home. Those invited were the descendants of Amos Gorrell and Catharine Shotts. They had six children, four who had offspring. It was the grandchildren who arranged the reunion. My husband and I flew in and stayed with Linnie Oma's son, John, and his wife. Most of the family attended the first day, where they roasted a whole pig and had a group photo taken. There was a huge family tree on the wall and a booklet made for each of us to take. I really hadn't started doing genealogy at this time, so purely missed out on asking questions of family. On Sunday of the three-day weekend, a group set out to Blackwater, Missouri, to look at the land that Amos Gorrell owned and farmed. There was some discussion about where it was exactly by a couple of the gra...

I have completed one hundred sixty-eight (168) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities included volunteering at the History Center, hiking at Mt. Diablo, phenology, operating at the train club show, attending an outdoor memorial, and attending a historical society presentation about the San Ramon Branch of the Southern Pacific Railroad. I also did a little shopping at REI. Genealogy Blog Writing : Breaking Brick Walls . For week 21 of 52 Ancestors, I wrote about tips for handling brick walls, using some examples from my own research. This post was highlighted on Linda Stufflebean’s “Friday’s Family History Finds” at Empty Branches on the Family Tree . SNGF: Then and Now – Your First Foray into Genealogy Social Media I wrote about using USGENWEB and Rootsweb to interact with other researchers in the early days of online genealogy. Meetings/Discussion Groups This week was busier with meetings. I hosted the Monday Morning Roundtable meeting and we had...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Here is our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings : 1)  What was your first foray into genealogy social media on the computer?  Here's mine : I do not remember the year I got started doing genealogy research, but because I had been using computers since the early 1980s, once one could connect online, I connected, too. My early forays were using the bulletin boards at American Online (AOL) with a dial-up modem. I would read queries asked by others and occasionally ask one myself. In those days, people focused on surnames and wanted “everything” you had on something. Most of the time, I had no connection to the other researcher’s families. The best progress I made was when I discovered the state and county sites on the USGENWEB. This was a wonderful user-input site where people created indexes and published them on the county page. I used the sites much like someone...

If we do genealogy research long enough, we will get a tough problem we cannot solve that many call “brick walls.” These might be questions we cannot answer such as who a parent of an ancestor is, or wanting to know when an ancestor married or died. I have some strategies I use when I get tough problems. Often the answer is there but I have not looked in the right place. Let’s look at my tips, one by one. Review Previous Research My first strategy is to review all my previous research. I look at every document I have saved, whether digital or on paper. In fact, we sometimes forget about those older paper files we have. We might have written down a note about someone whom we could not place in the family at the time, but with time, we have more information and can now place them properly within the family. When reviewing the research, I review any handwritten notes I have made and that I have transcribed and extracted all the information pieces from every document. Sometimes just...

I have completed one hundred sixty-seven (167) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities included teaching at Acalanes Adult School, attending a concert with my daughter (masked), presenting to a genealogy group in Placerville, attending the CCCHS board meeting, and running trains at the train club. I actually entered stores and restaurants without a mask. Genealogy Blog Writing : A Semi-bearded Ebenezer Loveless . For week 20 of 52 Ancestors, I showed a photo of my great-great-grandfather, Ebenezer Loveless along with his wife and his youngest child, my great-grandmother.   SNGF: Then and Now – Oral Interviews I wrote about how I gathered the information for the Gleeson, Sullivan, and Hork family history I wrote in 1998. Meetings/Discussion Groups The only meetings I attended this week were the board meeting for the Contra Costa County Historical Society and the founders’ meeting for AppGen. Volunteer Because of my presentation in Placervill...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's Saturday Night again - time for some more Genealogy Fun!! Here is our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings :   1)  Then and Now - Did you ever conduct oral interviews of family members or friends and neighbors about your ancestors over the years?  Who did you interview, how did you record the interviews, and what did you learn from them?  Please share your experiences. Here’s mine: When I first started, I did ask my mother’s mother and my father and his sisters, questions about the family. It should be how we all start. I got names and dates when they remembered them and from there, I began researching using census records. Later, after I had received a family photo album, I decided to write a story about the Gleeson, Sullivan, and Hork families. I had photos. I had facts I had gathered from documents I had found. What I didn’t have were the stories. So, I sent out a survey to my dad and his sisters. I asked...

I have completed one hundred sixty-six (166) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities included teaching at Acalanes Adult School and working at the History Center. Genealogy Blog Writing : The Many Hats of George Gorrell . For week 19 of 52 Ancestors, I wrote about my bald father-in-law and how he dealt with it. SNGF: Then and Now – Source Citations I wrote about the evolution of how I handled source citing in genealogy software and in my writing. I also posted a postcard and a photo on both blogs for Mother’s Day: Happy Mother’s Day   and Happy Mother’s Day . Meetings/Discussion Groups This week I attended the Kinseekers Military SIG on Monday. On Wednesday, I met with my mentee and discussed her portfolio progress, and in the evening, I hosted the CGS Roundtable discussion group, where the nine attendees shared interesting stories. On Thursday, the CCCGS had its annual meeting and several members shared stories of their research. Voluntee...

Wish to express Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers in my family and in yours! Copyright © 2023 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's  Saturday Night  again - time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is: 1)  Then and Now - How have you documented your genealogy and family history research with source citations over the years?  What did you start with (Then) and what do you presently use (Now)?  Please share your experiences. Here's mine: When I started doing genealogy in the early 90s after my two children were born, I knew I wanted to have citations for the information I was finding. I used a wire-bound notebook for my research at first. Mostly, I was using either a census record or a book of indexes. I would just write everything that seemed important about the source in my notebook and then keep track of what I found. These were not formal citations in any style. As a science major, I liked the citations we used where we just sorted the author’s name and date of the article within parentheses. ...

My father-in-law, George J. Gorrell (1915-2011), began losing his hair at a young age. From this photo, before he married Thelma Nilsen, we can see he was already thinning on the top. Over time, he lost more hair. To protect his balding head, George always wore a hat. In fact, it is difficult to find photos of him without one, if taken outdoors. The hats varied in style depending on where he was going or what he was doing. A rare outdoor photo sans hat #52Ancestors-Week 19: Bald This is my sixth 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  My Trails into the Past . I have enjoyed writing about my children’s ancestors in new and exciting ways. Copyright © 2023 by Lisa S. Gorrell, My Trails into the Past. All Rights Reserved.

I have completed one hundred sixty-five (165) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities included teaching at Acalanes Adult School, working at the History Center, and volunteering at the Bring Back the Natives at the John Muir National Historic Park where we have a large native plant garden. Perhaps it’s time to stop counting the Covid weeks, since the pandemic is technically over. Genealogy Blog Writing : Nana Loved Birds; Mam-ma Loved Dogs . For week 18 of 52 Ancestors, I wrote the pets my grandmothers owned. SNGF: Then and Now – Family Tree Software I wrote about the genealogy software programs I have used since I started doing genealogy research. Meetings/Discussion Groups The only discussion group I attended was the monthly peer group, but it was only Josh and me on the call. I also attended an in-person class at Los Medanos College on how to take care of paper products. Volunteer I had two meetings about the hiring of our new ED and I volunt...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's  Saturday Night  again - time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Our assignment tonight from Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings is to answer these questions: Which genealogy software have you used over your genealogy career to document your genealogy and family history research?  What did you start with (Then) and what do you presently use (Now)?  Please share your experiences. Here's mine: I began documenting my genealogy on paper sheets: family group sheets and pedigree charts. Once I got a personal computer, I discovered Personal Ancestral File (PAF) and used that for many years, first as a DOS program and later as a Windows program. This was a program provided by the Genealogy Society of Utah (Mormons). The Silicon Valley Computer Genealogy Group ( https://www.svcgg.org/ ) came up with standards or procedures for using PAF to its fullest and I followed the methods for documenting my work in the notes area using their proc...

My two grandmothers enjoyed having pets. I’m sure they cherished the interaction that pets give to the pet owner. Nana’s Birds My Nana, Anne M. (Sullivan) Hork, had canaries in her later years. She was fortunate that these birds would sing and I think that is what gave her great pleasure. Luckily for me, I have heard them sing, too. She always had yellow canaries and they would live in the kitchen near the dining table. I especially remember her having a bird when she lived at 25 Ninth Avenue in San Mateo. Her kitchen window faced east which was a great spot. After asking family, we decided that she had named the bird “Sunny” which is a wonderful name for a bright yellow bird. I do not have any photos of Nana’s birds but this is a good example. Mam-Ma’s Dogs My Mam-ma, Pansy L. (Lancaster) Johnston, on the other hand, loved having dogs as pets. Some dogs I remember are Thunder (Pomeranian), Pierre (poodle), Molly Brown (Chihuahua), and her last dog, Angel (poodle mix). I am s...

I have completed one hundred sixty-four (164) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities included teaching at Acalanes Adult School, working at the History Center, and attending the Pacific Coast Region convention in Sacramento. Genealogy Blog Writing : What My DNA Ethnicity Estimates Show & Do Not Show . For week 17 of 52 Ancestors, I wrote and showed my DNA estimates from Ancestry. Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings highlighted this post on his Best of the Genea-Blogs . SNGF: Share A Unique Document -- Anne Hork Was a Superior Teacher I wrote about the documents I have about my grandmother’s teaching at Williams School. Meetings/Discussion Groups In this week’s meeting with Jacqueline, we discussed Family Tree Maker and I got a great screenshot to use in my beginning class. We had a quick Amigos meeting. Later on Wednesday, I attended the RootsMagic SIG and we discussed reports. Finally, on Sunday, I met with a group to discuss the new reference book o...