My Trails into the Past

Ernest Ferdinand Nilsen, the fourth son of Nils Malkom Nilsen and Hulda Charlotte Anderson-Carlson, was born 10 April 1900 in Cromwell, Middlesex County, Connecticut. [1] Since his father was a minister for the Swedish Covenant church, he lived in several places before finally settling in Southern California with his parents. Ernest, who was my husband’s maternal great-uncle, served in the Navy during World War I, stationed at San Pedro and aboard the USS Sequoia . [2] After serving in the war, he returned to school and finished high school. [3] He worked as a carpenter making custom cabinets for homes. [4] He served in the Navy again during WWII., working as a patternmaker. He enlisted at Los Angeles and was discharged at Naval Air Station, Quonset Point, Rhode Island. Other places he served was San Pedro, California, Bremerton, Washington, and Boston. [5] After the war, he continued working as a patternmaker, finishing his career with the Johnston Pump Co in Glendora, Califo...

I have completed one hundred seventy-two (172) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. We’re still on vacation and while in New York City, I have been wearing a mask on the subway, which is the most crowded place we’ve been. Genealogy Blog Writing : Cyril Hork Was a Pitcher Throwing Fastballs I wrote about my grandfather playing baseball in Hamilton, Montana as a young man. There were many newspaper accounts of the games. SNGF: What Do You Wish You Had Done I wrote about some of the things I wished I had done in my life, yet I have no regrets. Genealogy We are still on vacation this past week, so I attended no meetings. I watched two webinars: Finding Your One Among Millions, Methods & Tips for Urban Research by Amy Garner Giroux (BCG-Legacy) and What’s the Evidence? How to Probe Documents Beyond the Obvious by Elizabeth Shown Mills (Legacy Best of ESM). I also worked on my KDP for the Gleeson family while on board our train from Philadelphia to Chicago and from Chicag...

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 to: 1)  What do you wish you had done in your life?  Here's mine: I have done most of the things I had wanted to do. There are a few things that I had wished to do but never did: I wish I had played on a professional baseball team. For one, females have yet to be on a professional team, and I can’t really play that well. I have settled on following my San Francisco Giants and living vicariously through them. Some favorite players over the years have been Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, Chris Speier, Buster Posey, and a few from other teams such as Joe Morgan and Johnny Bench. I wish I had joined the military, but when I was young, I was really too scared (especially of boot camp). I have settled on enjoying fictional books set in military settings. A favorite author was W.E.B. Griffin’s books about Army, Marine Corps,...

My grandfather, William Cyril Hork, played baseball in Hamilton, Montana, as a young man, probably following the footsteps of his older brothers, Albert, Frank, and Tony, who also played. I found several accounts of his games in the Missoulian, Anaconda Standard , and Ravalli Republic newspapers. The first article covered a Boy Scout team and Cyril was one of the pitchers. [1] In the next article, Cyril is pitching for the high school team, beating the high school in Victor 8 to 3. “Besides twirling a splendid game, Hork rapped out two clean hits. In the ninth frame, with three on and none out, the youngster tightened up and retired the side.” [2] For the Memorial Day celebration, Cyril was the pitcher for the Knights of Birmingham (Masons) against the Valley Mercantile Company. [3] A follow-up article showed they won 3 to 1. Cyril got a double, stole a base, and struck out nine players. The whole article gave play-by-play results, but shown here is the box score. [4] He continued...

I have completed one hundred seventy-one (171) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. Although we are on vacation, we are wearing our masks aboard trains, busses, and streetcars, and anywhere there are crowds or enclosed places. Genealogy Blog Writing : Last One Standing: Reginald F Lancaster I wrote about one of my second granduncle who married but never had children. This post was highlighted by Amy Crow Johnson for last week’s 52 Ancestors challenge. SNGF: Your Most Vivid Memory of Your Father I wrote about the work my dad did and the sports he followed, and how we interacted with him on his days off. Genealogy Because we are on vacation this week, I attended no meetings and did no research on my own families. I did some volunteer work, working on press releases for BCG webinars. I also watched one webinar:  Finding Your Ancestral Homestead by Sheilagh Doerfler (NEHGS) I am reading : The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny—FINISHED! A Noble Radiance by Donna Le...

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 to: 1)  It is Father's Day in the USA on Sunday, so let's talk about our fathers. 2)  What is your most vivid memory of your father? Here’s mine: William Joseph Hork (1930-2005), was a hard-working man, who also enjoyed being with his wife and his children. He worked in the produce department of grocery stores, getting up early so that the produce was all ready by the time the store was opened. That was in the days when the cold produce was put back into the cooler overnight. He was always so careful to trim the produce to look nice. Sometimes, he brought home the rejects. One summer it was strawberries and we ate strawberry jam for a full school year. Because he worked weekends most of the time we were going up, we did not see him much. We were sent out to play but sometimes once he got home, we would sit with hi...

I have completed one hundred seventy (170) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. Although we are on vacation, we are wearing our masks aboard trains, busses, and streetcars, and anywhere there are crowds or enclosed places. Genealogy Blog Writing : So Many Descendants: Looking at the Loveless and Lancaster Lines I used RootsMagic to figure out how many descendants there are/were from Ebenezer Loveless and Robert Lancaster. What I discovered was I had not followed all the lines down and had more research before I can fully answer that question. SNGF: How are You Saving Family Photographs and Home Movies? I wrote about how I acquired photos from both my maternal and paternal sides and my husband’s maternal and paternal sides. Genealogy Because we are on vacation this week, I attended no meetings, viewed no webinars, and did no research on my own families. I did some volunteer work, working on press releases for BCG webinars. I am reading : The Dying Season by Martin W...

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)  Almost all genealogists have family photographs and/or home movies of their ancestors, relatives, and friends handed down over the generations.  2)  What steps have you taken to obtain, save and pass on those photographs or home movies to your family members? Here’s mine: I have received photos or copies of photos from many of my ancestral lines and my husband’s lines. For my paternal line of Hork, Sullivan, Gleeson, & Tierney, I have received photos from my father’s sisters and from my father’s cousins. I wrote previously about the Gleeson family photo album here . One of my father’s cousins, Marjorie, sent me photos of the Hork family so I have photos of my grandfather, whom I never met, as a young boy and in his Naval uniform. There are not many photos of my maternal side, though my grandm...

Which lines of my ancestors had the most descendants? I would first guess that it would be the Roman Catholic side since they tended to have large families. But, it turns out that my mother’s southern side had just as many children, who had many children, etc. I have many distant cousin DNA matches from descendants of the Loveless and Lancaster families. Lancaster Robert Lancaster (1784-1840) had seven children. He had at least twenty-three grandchildren. He had at least forty-four great-grandchildren. He had at least thirty-six 2x-great-grandchildren. However, as I was counting from a list of descendants, I don’t think I have researched forward on all the lines. There are likely many more in the fifth generation (and thus more in each of their further generations). He had at least sixty-four 3x-great-grandchildren. He had at least thirty-seven 4x-great-grandchildren. He had at least twenty-four 5x-great-grandchildren. I am in this eighth generation. I have only researc...

I have completed one hundred sixty-nine (169) weeks of semi-lockdown due to Covid-19. My outside activities included volunteering at the History Center and beginning a four-week vacation. Genealogy Blog Writing : A Visit to the Gorrell Homestead and Gravesite For week 22 of 52 Ancestors, I wrote about attending a Gorrell reunion in Missouri and how we visited the homestead of Amos Gorrell and the cemetery where he and his wife is buried. SNGF: What Genealogical or Historical Societies Have You Joined? I wrote about joining different genealogical and historical societies over the years, some of which I am still a member. Meetings/Discussion Groups None this week. Volunteer I volunteered at the History Center and worked on finishing the processing of a collection Client Work None this week. Own Work I continued working on the skeleton of the KDP, outlining the families and deciding which families I would continue forward in the three-generation project. I brought my p...

Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: It's  Saturday Night  again - time for some more  Genealogy Fun!! Randy Seaver of Genea-Musing has our assignments today: 1)  What genealogical or historical society have you joined in the pursuit of your family history research over the years? Here’s mine: The first society I joined was the Contra Costa County Genealogical Society, which is a local society to my home, which meets in the evening. Two other societies broke off from this one in order to have day-time meetings. I joined many years before I attended a meeting. I worked nights and was busy raising children, but I enjoyed reading the newsletter. Someone would report on what the monthly speaker spoke about and there were always lots of articles about new computer or internet resources. The first meeting I attended, they had me stand up and introduce myself. I didn’t say much—just my name and that I mostly researching Johnston, Lancaster and Loveless lines from t...